Making A Better World - Milton Louw

At the start of every calendar year, we take the opportunity to look at the past year and decide which things we wish to change. We then call these promises we make to ourselves “resolutions” because we promise to stop doing a negative habit in the future. For 2013, I want you to not only think of your bad habits you want to change, but also add a new “good habit”. For the year ahead, promise yourself to “Mind Your Own Business”. On the one side, this advice means that you should not poke your nose into the affairs of others or to put it better, “If it is not your business, do not make it your burden”. The second meaning is for you to look after your money affairs wisely – as if YOU are your own business. It is this second meaning that I wish you to take to heart this year. Many of us are very hard working and conscientious towards our employee and make doubly sure that we look after the “boss’s money”. It is this same attitude we need to have towards our own money. Star...

Recently I received letters from to consumer regarding their experiences with pricing of items. “I wished to buy some material and was looking at various options in the Chinese shops in the area. I noticed a sign for material that was normally marked for N$ 29.00 was on special at N 19.00. As the pattern as agreeable to me, I proceeded to buy around 10 metres. When I came to the till, the shopkeeper rang up the purchase at the price of N$ 29.00 rather than the advertised discount price. I immediately brought his attention to this fact and insisted he ring up the total at the advertised lower price. I was shocked when the shopkeeper started shouting at me, and even physically assaulted me while chasing me from the shop. During the scuffle, I received a push and landed quite hard on the sidewalk. I reported the incident to the Police but they were only interested in the physical assault and could do nothing about the pricing difference between what was advertised and what was being c...

What is e-commerce? Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, is the buying and selling of product or service over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. Electronic commerce draws on such technologies as electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. For the consumer, e-commerce manes greater access to products, the ability to compare prices between products and services and save money on the cost of physically visiting the place of business. The topic of e-commerce and its impact on countries such as Namibia have been researched since the late 1990s and found that the greatest impact on whether a country (and its entrepreneurs and consumers) will benefit is largely dependent on the attitude of government and its legislature. In short the following are identified as the government...

It was recently reported in the newspaper that the City of Windhoek is modernising the urban transport plan. This is long overdue and I hope that it will be done as speedily as possible, and in consultation with consumers. In this article I wish to look at the broader concept of transport in the country, and propose certain areas which local authorities, and transport institutions should look at when developing their plans to the benefit of consumers. Taxis Namibia has a predominantly public taxi system compared to a private (radio taxi) system. This means that in most towns a consumer can take a taxi with other customers and be dropped at any destination they request. The biggest problem in local taxis seems to be the lack of indications potential customers can give to indicate where they wish to go. A customer can stand anywhere and hope to get a taxi to take any point they wish. In fact, I often see customers standing on the wrong side of the road to the direction they ...

Neuss: Silvester-Lunch bei Neussern in Namibia