Different062017

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Index 3 5 13 17 19 25

Administration From the Editor Crowdfunding - Latest Listening is hard Value Added Services Economic Diplomacy

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the best of the best?

Narcissistic? No. Why is it important to think you are the best? ”Have confidence!” is one of the most essential pieces of advice you’ll receive in life that makes no sense if you’ve never done it. You know what confident people look like, the advantages they get, and that it’s something worth emulating. How do you get there, though?

What is Confidence Anyway?

In the purest sense, confidence is knowing what you’re good at, the value you provide, and acting in a way that conveys that to others.

Contrast this with arrogance which typically involves believing you are better in a particular area than you are, or low self-esteem which involves believing you’re less valuable than you think.

The closer your self-assessment is to that reality in the middle, and the more you behave accordingly, the closer you are to displaying healthy confidence.

Why does this definition matter?

Because if you want to raise your confidence to a level that helps (rather than harms) you, it’s important to know what you’re aiming for.

Blindly thinking positive won’t necessarily help, and it’s possible to go too far. In some cases, the latter is referred to as the Dunning-Kruger effect. it’s when someone overestimates their own abilities, displaying more confidence than their skill level deserves.

But I am lucky enough to have a partner that believes in me.

Johan van Zyl

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Fraud - the emotional impact Fraud is a violation of you as a person. Your trust in your own judgment, and your trust in others, is often shattered.

The fraud criminal for taking financial advantage of you, betraying your trust, and jeopardizing your financial independence and security

You may feel a sense of betrayal, especially if the perpetrator is someone you know. You may have hesitated to tell family members, friends, or colleagues about your victimization for fear of criticism. If they then were exploited by the same fraud, you might feel guilty and suffer a sense of isolation.

Your family, friends and colleagues for blaming you, being upset over what they perceive as your lack of judgment, or withdrawing financial or emotional support.

The investigative and prosecutorial phases of the justice process, especially in cases that progress slowly or do not result in financial outcomes Fraud can destroy your financial secu- favorable to you. rity and sometimes that of your loved ones. If you are elderly, disabled, The news media for failing to warn or on a fixed income - and you lack the public about fraud schemes or for opportunities to recover your losses - exploiting victims when fraud crimes you may face additional trauma, even are reported. the loss of your independence.

You may experience feelings about: Yourself. That old saying, “In Hindsight � is never more true than in financial fraud situations. Many victims believe they should have known or recognized what was going on, or blame themselves for being too trusting or naive.

Consumer protection agencies for failing to protect your interests.

Creditors who don’t understand your dire financial circumstances.

Community and police agencies if their resources are limited or they do not have the authority to help you.

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Crowdfunding - latest The concept of crowdfunding is not unfamiliar and has a long history, however crowdfunding in South Africa is a foreign concept and not yet established in the financial environment. Crowdfunding can be defined as funding a venture by obtaining financial contributions from a number of people and / or institutions.

In general, there are two types of crowdfunding, rewards crowdfunding and equity crowdfunding. In the first instance, a person presell a service or product to launch a business concept without incurring debt and in the latter instance the supporter obtains shares in a company in exchange for investing the funds.

The difficulties experienced in South Africa is the absence of regulations of crowdfunding of equity based finance.

There are numerous companies that offer crowdfunding, that applied to the Financial Services Board (“FSB”) for a license which consequently been informed by the FSB that crowdfunding falls outside the regulatory net of the FSB. The FSB has set a deadline for 30 June 2017 for a decision on whether the FSB intends to design certain specific rules for equity crowdfunding.

This follows a research report by the FSB on crowdfunding.

The date of 30 June 2017 came and went without any response in this regard.

Felicity Mabaso, the FSB’s head of FAIS Supervision, said that the FSB never set any deadline for the crowdfunding project and that the date of 30 June 2017 was merely an internal date for the FSB itself and that the crowdfunding project is still a work in progress.

In the light of the above there is still no clarity on the regulation and specific rules relating to crowdfunding in South Africa.

This concept is gaining huge popularity in South Africa and numerous crowdfunding platforms is awaiting in the FSB will see the importance of a speedy resolution and inform the public accordingly.

Francois Malan LLB (UP)

Practicing attorney of the High Court of South Africa MALAN & HITGE ATTORNEYS francois@malanlaw.co.za

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Listening is hard...

I have been accused of not listening.

Yes I am listening but...how often have I found myself in this situation in a meeting with clients this year! Often!

It’s hard to listen under those circumstances when you are holding onto your thoughts on what you are going to say and nor listening.

Not listening could cause damagae to a relationship which sometimes is not easy to

So if you are afraid you will loose your train of thought, what you had in mind to propose or why you want to propose this, then maybe think about what you want to say and write it down

One of the hardest things to do when you are upset is listen.

Listen to someone who you are angry at or someone you do not want to speak to

If you have your notes, then you don’t have to worry about concentrating on what you are going to say and can reflect and listen to what the other party may be saying.

Listening is hard when we are so fixated on what we want to have our voice heard and have a plan of what Listening you may find that you agree we want that we cannot hear what the or that you think about some options other person is saying to what the other party is saying/ Listening requires us to stop and put our thoughts aside and listen and I mean actively listening to what the other party is saying and give what they are saying thought I know it is hard.

You are at the table to make decisions for your agreement you have thoughts on what should be said, you may be angry on what he or she may have done and you are waiting for them to finish so you can speak

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Value added services Value-added services (VAS) are generally marketed as premium features and addons to basic core functions.

Besides this, there is a flourishing funeral insurance industry. In fact, funeral insurance is the most popular insur

Although they can often operate on a standalone basis, they are used by telecommunications companies in order to stimulate demand for core services.

ance cover in South Africa, worth US$490m in 2015.

They are typically not intended to merely diversify the functionality of the product package, but instead provide operational and/or administrative synergy among its range of services. Value-added services are believed to benefit both customers and service providers, as they not only add product functionality for the end user, but also can source enhanced data and analytics for business use.

Funeral cover is especially populat amongst banks and tellecomunication companies that sells VAS. Death and burial are not topics one wants to dwell on too often. The reality is, however, that every person will at some stage go through this process, and as a result, death has become a global industry worth billions of dollars a year.

A typical South African funeral costs anything from US$450, for a very basic service, to many thousands of dollars. The cost depends on the size of the event, as determined by the number of people that attend, and, very importantly, the traditional requirements, based on the individuals’ ethnicity and culture. The majority of funerals cost between $1,200 and $2,500.

Because of the relative affordability of funeral cover in South Africa, the number of people with funeral insurance has increased significantly from 2000. Currently there are 7.6 million policy holders. If we take into consideration that there are around 14 million households in the country, this shows that the penetration rate for this product is extremely high, as the majority of policies cover the main policy holder and their immediate family (or nominated persons).

South Africa is no exception. The sub-sectors within the industry are substantial, too. The first of these is a vibrant funeral supplies sector (caskets, flowers, catering, clothing), followed by an undertaker market that includes both legalised undertakers operating on a national level, as well as smaller regional undertakers (that are often unregulated).

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Economic Diplomacy Seeking out trade or investment opportunities, promoting tourism, or coordinating people to people exchanges are daily duties performed by diplomats. Complementing this critical function The Diplomatic Society pro-actively connects Governments, Business and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) with an inter-dependent information resource as well as a communication forum that incorporates the print and digital platforms.

tions, arranging one on one meetings , seminars and conferences are key capabilities that foreign missions need to perform.

Promoting travel and tourism has also become a focal point. By tapping into the natural beauty, art, culture, sport, food, conferencing and other tourism offerings diplomats are keen to promote their countries. It is often believed that this face to face experience often leads to new opportunities Founded and based in Pretoria, The and business activity.

Diplomatic Society is located in the In light of the above diplomats ofcapital city that arguably hosts one of ten require specialized products and the highest concentrations of diploservices to carry out their mandates. matic representations in the world to- These can range from venues, acday. This proximity to over 140 foreign commodation, transport, stationary, missions and international organizaexpert and professional consultantion in the administrative capital has cies, security and others, this apart allowed our media platform to develop from their daily basics necessities of advisory and consultancy services food shelter and clothing. unique to diplomacy.

The paradigm shift in global socio-poEnhancing and increasing bi-lateral litical and economic landscape has trade through Economic and Comcreated new ground for innovative mercial diplomacy is a fundamental and dynamic cooperation, fresh and task of trade and commercial atvibrant partnerships are being formed taches. They draw up and negotiate in the aftermath of the financial crisis. agreements, sign Memoranda of Technological and communication Understanding (MOU) and establish advancements have taken diplomacy frameworks. to new digital heights.

Connecting business, interacting with and setting up of business chambers, organising and leading trade delega-

www.thediplomaticsociety.co.za

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