I had lunch with the
Taipan Publishing Group's executive publisher,
Sandy Franks, today. I collaborate with Sandy on my
Taipan Insider articles that come out every Tuesday and Thursday.
We talked about my next trip... I'd been considering Australia, and contributing editor
Archie Bayvel has offered to help me put together some great contacts, but he said I'd have to be nuts to come visit during "The Wet." So I've pushed that trip back.
In the meantime, South Africa is on my radar.
In the past few days, I've seen a number of negative articles about Africa:
So my goal will be to find out how South Africa, the economic hub and biggest market south of the Sahara, is fairing. South Africa is supposed to be hosting the
World Cup in 2010. That means a lot of hotel construction and infrastructure investments. I have to say, there's been a lot of discussion about whether or not the country will be ready in time, but tickets have already gone on sale, and
there's no turning back.
South Africa has been one of the biggest gold producing countries in the world. But production has been falling for a while now, and if you recall, some mining companies were concerned about power infrastructure problems shutting down even more production.
It will be hard to say, therefore, how South Africa's economy will respond once commodity prices begin climbing again.
To get some insider perspective, I've contacted some friends over at
MoneyWeek South Africa. They're being kind enough to help me set up my trip, and get some interviews. I'm aiming for the first week in April for this trip, so I've got a lot of planning to do.
If anyone out there's from South Africa, or has been to South Africa, and wants to share some stories, post your comments here, or you can send an email to
insider@taipanpublishinggroup.com.
