<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



As rapid inflation fuels growing recession fears, new data showed consumer prices rose 9.1% in the 12 months ending in June, hitting a worse-than-expected 40-year high after an unprecedented surge in gas prices.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h2>



Overall prices rose 1.3% from May—surpassing the 1.1% economists were expecting and much higher than the previous month’s increase of 1%, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cpi.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a>&nbsp;released by the Labor Department on Wednesday.



The unexpected jump marks the largest 12-month increase since the period ending November 1981, according to the release, and comes after prices in May unexpectedly returned to a 40-year high.



The worse-than-expected increase was the result of increases across categories, with gasoline, shelter and food being the largest contributors, the government said.



The energy index rose 7.5% over the month and contributed nearly half of the overall increase, driven higher by the gasoline index, which rose 11.2%.



Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.7% against an expectation of 0.5%; shelter prices rose at the fastest pace in 31 years while rent prices climbed at the largest rate in more than 35 years.



Stocks <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2022/07/13/dow-falls-300-points-after-ugly-inflation-report-adds-to-recession-fears/">plunged</a> immediately after the report, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average paring pre-market gains and trading down 308 points by 8:45 a.m. ET.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Rising energy prices have helped push inflation readings up to the highest level in decades during the pandemic, and stocks have struggled in recent months as Federal Reserve officials work to combat the surge by unwinding the central bank’s pandemic-era stimulus measures. After rising 27% in 2021, the benchmark S&amp;P 500 has tumbled 20% this year. Meanwhile, oil prices surged back toward yearly highs of more than $120 per barrel in June amid supply concerns over the summer travel season—adding to those spurred by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesstaffreports/2022/03/09/live-ukraine-russia/">sanctions</a>&nbsp;against Russia, one of the world’s top oil-producing countries. Prices have since fallen back below $100 per barrel this month, but experts&nbsp;<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-prices-should-find-a-lower-home-as-market-normalizes-says-analyst-194242256.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">aren’t</a>&nbsp;so sure how long the reprieve will last.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



In a note to clients Sunday night, Goldman economists said they expect consumer prices to rise more quickly this summer as&nbsp;<a href="https://morningconsult.com/2022/05/25/public-transport-spending-inflation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">transportation</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/consumers-healthcare-costs-51655319960" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">health insurance</a>&nbsp;costs continue to surge, pushing core inflation from 5.9% in June to 6.3% in September. Some experts believe the price surge could last for years. “Consumers may have to live in a world where inflation consistently runs hotter than the previous decade,” LPL Financial chief economist Jeffrey Roach said in a note this month, citing concerns from central bankers like the European Union’s Christine Lagarde, who’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2022/html/ecb.sp220628~754ac25107.en.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">warned</a>there are “growing signs”—including the ongoing war in Ukraine—that suggest “supply shocks hitting the economy could linger” beyond 2024.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2022/07/13/dow-falls-300-points-after-ugly-inflation-report-adds-to-recession-fears/">Dow Falls 300 Points After ‘Ugly’ Inflation Report Adds To Recession Fears</a>(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2022/07/04/inflation-may-get-much-worse-this-summer-and-could-linger-many-years-experts-warn/">Inflation May Get Much Worse This Summer—And Could Linger ‘Many Years’—Experts Warn</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2022/06/27/unemployment-will-rise-and-extreme-price-pressures-continue-as-fed-hikes-risk-recession-sp-warns/">Unemployment Will Rise And ‘Extreme’ Price Pressures Continue As Fed Hikes Risk Recession, S&amp;P Warns</a> (Forbes)



By Jonathan Ponciano, Forbes Staff

UK Fuel Pump Prices Experience Biggest Rise In 17 Years

Inflation Spiked 9.1% In June—Hitting New 40-Year High As Price Surge Fuels Recession Fears

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Oil prices dropped 8% Tuesday—falling back below $100 per barrel for the first time since May—as some experts warn that prices could fall to as low as $60 per barrel by the end of the year if an economic downturn significantly curtails demand.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



The price of U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate slid roughly 8% to trade at around $99 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude now sits at just over $103 per barrel.



The last time oil traded below $100 per barrel was in early May—and although prices rose from there, both WTI and Brent crude posted losses in June for the first time in six months as experts worry that a recession will hurt global demand.



Despite prices moderating in recent weeks, oil is up nearly 15% this year—hitting a high of nearly $140 per barrel in early March after Western nations sanctioned Russian energy imports, though the country is still selling its supply to China and India.



With oil now hovering at around $100 per barrel, some strategists predict more pain ahead later this year: Citi analysts say prices will fall to around $60 by the end of 2022 if the economy does fall into a recession.



With a downturn “increasingly likely,” demand declines and excess supply will likely hurt prices, Citi strategists said in a note on Tuesday, arguing that Brent crude could tank to $65 per barrel by the end of this year and potentially fall to $45 in 2023.



Even amid recent declines, some experts remain bullish: “Recession fears are killing the crude demand outlook, but with prices roughly 17% lower from the March high, oil shouldn’t go much lower,” says Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR:</h2>



The “tightness” in global energy markets is being countered by the “strong likelihood of recession,” which along with the surge in prices earlier this year has begun to “curtail oil demand,” according to a recent note from Ritterbusch and Associates.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE:</h2>



Oil prices are “extremely weak” as investors “grow more somber about the economic outlook,” remaining caught in a “tug-of-war between supply and growth concerns, while Europe continues to face enormous gas price risks,” says Vital Knowledge founder Adam Crisafulli.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT:</h2>



The Euro fell to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2022/07/05/dow-falls-500-points-as-euro-sinks-to-20-year-low-against-the-dollar-with-global-recession-fears-front-and-center/">new 20-year low</a>&nbsp;against the dollar on Tuesday. The currency has taken a hit as soaring gas prices from Russia’s war in Ukraine send recession fears surging higher, with central banks scrambling to raise interest rates. Amid Western sanctions on Russian oil and gas, Euro zone inflation has skyrocketed—reaching a record 8.6% in June. The U.S. dollar, meanwhile, has remained strong even as the Federal Reserve similarly hikes interest rates in a bid to cool surging consumer prices. With ​​what now seems to be a “never-ending Russian war in Ukraine,” the related spike in oil and other commodity prices have “fanned painfully high inflation” across the globe, says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING:</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2022/07/05/dow-falls-500-points-as-euro-sinks-to-20-year-low-against-the-dollar-with-global-recession-fears-front-and-center/">Dow Falls 600 Points As Yield Curve Inverts Again, With Global Recession Fears ‘Front And Center’</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2022/06/30/stocks-close-out-worst-first-half-of-a-year-since-1970/">Stocks Close Out Worst First Half Of A Year Since 1970</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2022/06/30/warren-buffetts-favorite-stock-soars-netflix-fumbles-these-are-the-best-and-worst-performing-stocks-of-2022/">Warren Buffett’s Favorite Stock Soars, Netflix Fumbles: These Are The Best And Worst Performing Stocks Of 2022</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2022/06/23/warren-buffett-adds-to-massive-stake-in-occidental-petroleum-buying-the-dip-after-oil-prices-drop/">Warren Buffett Adds To Massive Stake In Occidental Petroleum, Buying The Dip After Oil Prices Drop</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/"></a>By Sergei Klebnikov, Forbes Staff

Oil Prices Moving Down

Oil Falls Below $100 Per Barrel For First Time Since May As ‘Strong Likelihood Of Recession’ Hurts Demand

The incessant pace of technology has birthed powerful tools for self-education and enrichment. At the same time, the perilous pace of progress renders some skillsets outmoded. In a recent Oxford study entitled <a href="https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Future of Employment</a>, researchers found that 47% of jobs are at risk of becoming computerized, including formerly secure careers in transportation, administration, and law.
Securing employment will become an exceedingly arduous task as we move into the future. As automation looms before us, so does economic uncertainty. In order to weather both, a wide array of skills must be attained. Luckily, there are some skills you can acquire to steel yourself against the ups and downs of a changing society. There are evergreen skills that once learned, may shield you from robot and recession alike.
Here are four skills that may help you brace yourself for the next wave of automation:
<ol>
<li> Social intelligence</li>
</ol>
Over the past few decades, automation has claimed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/30/were-so-unprepared-for-the-robot-apocalypse/?utm_term=.7b0f5668ae4b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">millions of jobs</a>. Advancements in artificial intelligence could claim many more, as machines gain the ability to perform a broader range of complex tasks. While we have endowed machines with the ability to perform a variety of tasks, we have been unsuccessful in passing down human perceptiveness. What composes human perception and social intuition is somewhat uncertain to us, and therefore, impossible for us to mimic in software.
Smart software is far from being able to replicate human emotion or interact with genuine warmth, caring, or consideration. In other words, <a href="https://hbr.org/2017/02/the-rise-of-ai-makes-emotional-intelligence-more-important" target="_blank" rel="noopener">robots can’t relate</a>. Therefore, to stay relevant in one’s profession in the coming decade, hone your persuasive speaking skills, speaking candidly with civility, empathy, and grace.
<ol start="2">
<li> Creative thinking</li>
</ol>
Creativity is at the core of innovation, and innovation is always in demand. Creative thinking is the process by which we connect seemingly disparate information and synthesize solutions. This sounds simple enough, but it remains a distinctly human activity. Machines are able to produce reports and predictions; these predictions aren’t of much use without humans creating plans and strategies based on them. Collaboration and creativity are intricate tasks that <a href="https://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2017/05/24/cios-hold-out-hope-for-humans-as-automation-powers-more-it-processes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">humans will still perform better than robots</a> in the near future.
<ol start="3">
<li> Software development</li>
</ol>
Instead of fighting automation, help usher it in. Machine and <a href="https://www.toptal.com/machine-learning" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deep learning software applications</a> are booming and, at the moment, the complex software that powers advanced machines needs to be created, tweaked, and maintained by humans. Assist in building the next application for creating smart machines, utilizing open courseware and learning everything you can about the latest in data analysis and artificial intelligence.
<ol start="4">
<li> Adaptability</li>
</ol>
Recessions, depressions, and waves of automations can all be survived if you are devoted to maximizing your adaptability. There’s no clear trajectory of the global economy or artificial intelligence, therefore the most useful skill to acquire is the ability to use the environment to your advantage, whatever that environment may be.
In order to adapt, you must be willing to be open to any and all things, pivoting when necessary. When a recession hits, you must search for the options available to you and pursue them as vigorously as you possibly can. The same can be said for automation. If your job is in danger of being absorbed by automation, you will do well to respond quickly to the threat.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/technology/2017/06/13/create-jobs-age-robots-low-growth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: How To Create Jobs In The Age Of Robots And Low Growth</a>
Advancing in one’s career requires constant learning. In the digital age, keeping your skills sharp is both incredibly easy and unnervingly difficult. Social intelligence and creative problem solving are still very much in demand, and almost impossible, at the present moment for artificial intelligence to mimic. Skills that complement development in artificial intelligence, such as software engineering and machine learning, should continue to have a healthy job market as these jobs will help usher in the next wave of automation. More valuable than any of these skills is adaptability. Responding to change in a logical manner, using all the tools available to you, will ensure the highest chance of success, regardless of economic conditions.

Four Skills to Make Yourself Robot and Recession-Proof

Slaves To Debt: Oh, What We Owe!

As Nigeria continues to grapple with its worst recession, two pressing concerns revolve around its struggle to diversify – the state of the local manufacturing industry and the level of government’s commitment towards industrialization.
Nigeria is sub-Saharan Africa’s largest economy which boggles my mind when I consider the abject decline in the real GDP, income, employment, manufacturing, and retail sales.
The Nigerian economy is chiefly governed by oil and natural gas. While the oil sector provides almost 30% of the GDP and accounts for 90% of the total export capacity, the manufacturing sector provides around just 4%.
The sector is undergoing industrial collapse. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) reported that 272 companies shut down in 2016, 50 of those were manufacturing companies. Other reports claim that more than 1,500 of the 2,500 registered manufacturing companies folded up while millions of employees have lost their jobs.
At the forefront of this decline is Nigeria’s reliance on oil and the failure to make hay while the sun was shining. This focus on oil derailed Nigeria’s progress to becoming an industrialized nation. The government’s recklessness is to blame for the industrial failure, such as power problems, infrastructural deficit, economic mismanagement, taxation discrepancies, policy uncertainty, weak investor confidence, restriction of foreign capital inflows, affixation to irrational importation, and, notably, the low income of consumers.
As commodity prices plummeted, the manufacturing sector has impressively emerged. Despite challenges, the huge demography and being the largest African market makes Nigeria ripe for investment. The United Nations had projected that Nigeria’s population will rise to 240 million by 2050. Also, Renaissance Capital and Frontier Advisory forecast that the country’s economy will grow to $1 trillion by 2025. These are signals of the potential of industrialization.
All that is needed to harness this potential is the willingness of the government to act. A robust manufacturing sector and a willful program for industrialization are equally crucial for the dream to be realized.
It is, therefore, unsurprising that the present government is jumping on the industrial horse to achieve economic reform that will replace the oil and gas with manufacturing and agriculture.
“My engagements with the organized and informal sectors has been mutually affirmative that we should work harder in partnership and disagree less, grow confidence with greater transparency by government, and accelerate actions rather than words, to build our capacities and secure development,” said Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, at the Nigeria &amp; Entrepreneurship Summit &amp; Honors in December.
Since then, however, not much has changed. Private businesses are still hindered by unfavorable laws. To this end, the National Assembly is working on legislative economic reform – with 30 bills, including the Petroleum Industrial Bill, Infrastructure Investment Protection and Regulation Bill, Railway Sector Reform Bill, and Tax and Revenue Law/Bill. If successful, such a revolution would be a shot in the arm for industrialization.
The hopes of entrepreneurs and local manufacturers are also bolstered by the Made in Nigeria campaign, which is receiving encouraging support from top to bottom. President Muhammadu Buhari has reassured Nigerians that his administration is working on enhancing the support of locally made goods as well as improving access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises across the country.
Despite enduring hardship at the moment, Nigeria can be reassured that greater opportunities lie ahead.

Nigeria Needs Industrialization now

At Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria, a group of angry customers are frantically trying to get answers from an Arik Air official. The scheduled 13:30PM flight to Johannesburg was cancelled just after 11AM for operational reasons, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded. Unsatisfied with the airline’s explanations, Dayo Obagun, Managing Director of Ryman’s Stationery Stores, is on the move to find an alternative flight.
“This is the third time Arik has cancelled a flight and it is especially frustrating because I have an important business meeting in South Africa this evening. Last time, I lost my ticket without reimbursement, so I know the shouting will not change anything and due to the economic challenges, all the other airlines are not operating at full capacity,” he says.
Obagun is on his way to South Africa to find new markets for his stationery business, which has seen sales drop by 50% in the past eight months. Due to the recent economic problems, he splits his time between managing his Lagos-based operations and developing new opportunities in other countries.
“The only way we can survive is by partnering with new clients. I am meeting a Dutch manufacturing company based in Johannesburg who are looking to expand to West Africa. This deal could be the difference between us staying afloat or sacking 30 people.”
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5302" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/shutterstock_244455406-Mehdi-Photos-Shutterstock.com--300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />
Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) suggest that Nigeria has slipped into a recession. According to the NBS, gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 2.06% in the second quarter of 2016. The country also took a significant hit from the fall in commodity prices when global crude prices slumped. The government’s strategy to curtail the decline in oil prices was to create a fixed currency rate which, according to the BBC, created a black market for the US dollar and squeezed the economy.
Rabih Patel is the head of reserve brands for a drinks manufacturer in Lagos. Survival is also the name of the game for his organization.
“This is the worst condition I have seen in the past eight years of being in Nigeria. We had to lay off 700 expatriates in our organization. We simply cannot afford to pay their wages anymore. My good friend is going back to India with his family because of the crisis. I suspect this may last for the next two years and what business is going to survive two years of this?” says Patel.
Interestingly, Patel has seen an increase in their more prestigious drinks brands, which is up 40% from last year.
“That only makes up about three percent of my overall sales so it doesn’t make that much of a difference. However, we have seen a decline in sales of our lager and other spirits and I had to slash my marketing budget by half since the beginning of this year.”
The statistics office confirmed that annual inflation also rose to 17.1% in July, from 16.5% in June, with food inflation increasing to 15.8%.
“The crash in global oil prices has devastated the economy which is dependent on the oil sector for about 70 percent of its sales revenue”, says Frederic Mann, Chief Economist at Genesis Consulting, a financial advisory firm in Abuja.
“We have always stated that the government’s decision to artificially keep the naira at the same level made the situation worse because it restricted the flow of foreign exchange in the system, which most companies need in order to import raw materials for manufacturing,” says Mann.
According to reports, about half a million jobs have been lost in Nigeria in the past six months. The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, confirmed that the government has spent more than N400 billion ($1.3 billion) in capital expenditure this year as part of a staggering N6.06 trillion ($30 billion) budget.
“The government needs to pull resources into non-oil assets to help move the country out of recession. The government plans to borrow $10 billion from debt markets, mostly from foreign sources, but how will that money be spent to stimulate growth in the economy?” says Mann.
At least technology entrepreneurs in Nigeria had something to cheer about after a surprise visit to the country by the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg.
At the end of August, Segun Idrisu, the Founder of I-farm, an app that connects buyers and sellers of agricultural products, had an unlikely visit from Zuckerberg while the billionaire was touring Africa.
“I don’t think words can describe the excitement when we realized what was actually happening. It is definitely a confidence boost for all the techpreneurs here and to have someone like [Zuckerberg] come all the way here, it shows that this is an industry worth paying attention to,” says Idrisu.
Zuckerberg’s visit to Nigeria, which is Facebook’s biggest market in Africa with 16 million visits every month, has renewed talk to increase investment in the technology and services sector.
Renaissance Capital told CNBC Africa that the services sector, which is worth 50% of Nigeria’s GDP, shrank by 1.3% year on year in the second quarter of 2016. The services sector and agriculture are most likely to rescue Nigeria, according to Mann.
For those like Idrisu, the tech scene provides a safe haven in the current economic climate. Zuckerberg’s visit to Lagos created some optimism for young entrepreneurs who are desperately trying to find new ways to make a living. The rest of the country’s Facebook status: sad.

Nigeria’s Facebook Status: Sad

Two young Capetonian entrepreneurs, Mark Bosman and Jesse Hemson-Struthers, saw the good side of gambling on the streets of London. It inspired them to bring a fresh approach to South Africa through BetTech Gaming.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-3157" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_8243-683x1024-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
In 2009, while the world was experiencing a credit crunch, Bosman was a business development manager and had been in that industry for about 10 years, while Hemson-Struthers was a university drop-out and entrepreneur. Both were looking for new opportunities to make money in an environment that wasn’t very promising. They met when they were in high school in Cape Town and their paths crossed again in London.
“I had been involved in the property industry at that stage and it was obviously not doing well. We wanted to come back to South Africa and do something which would be a sustainable business and would survive the recession,” says Hemson-Struthers.
At the time, he was running an online marketing business for the property industry in Spain, but the market was slowing down drastically. Hemson-Struthers was in Britain trying to keep the business going.
It was then that the duo put their heads together, throwing around ideas that ranged from starting an online nappy business to an alcohol distribution company. They identified a sustainable business in the online sports betting industry in South Africa thanks to Hemson-Struthers’ background in e-commerce.
He had previously founded SAcamera in 2004 and it became the country’s biggest online store for specialist photographic equipment and accessories. SAcamera had distribution networks throughout Southern Africa and a physical showroom in Cape Town.
“In the beginning we funded everything ourselves off the website, set up supplies ourselves, picked up camera’s from suppliers ourselves, delivered them to the post office and then built it over a couple of years to being a retail and an online store,” says the 31-year-old.
“It was a hobby and a way for me to make money when I was young. I dropped out of university after a year into SAcamera because it was actually taking off and I wanted to focus my energy there.”
In 2012, SAcamera was acquired by MIH Internet Africa, a subsidiary of Naspers, one of the world’s largest internet firms.
MIH integrated SAcamera into its e-commerce site, Kalahari.com. The acquisition allowed Hemson-Struthers to focus more on BetTech Gaming which he founded in the midst of the recession while he and Bosman were in Britain.
“Sports betting and casinos are a culture and a way of life there. We saw some exciting stuff we wanted to do in South Africa. We came back and raised some institution money through 4Di Capital,” says Bosman.
“It was a whole process which we ran through South Africa since 2009, essentially building a product, getting it nationally licensed through the national gambling board. We’ve been selling our products since 2011 and we’ve got nine platform clients now who use our software and services.”
When Bosman and Hemson-Struthers started BetTech Gaming they spent around two years trying to understand products, markets and their systems and trying to clarify what it is they were trying to build. The founders conceptualized a business for two years until they were able to make money from it before going public.
Today, BetTech Gaming develops gaming software that can either be white-labeled or used for trading sports betting positions through its platform. It started off as a sports and horseracing wagering module and has since evolved into a business that includes casino, virtual and lucky number based modules across the web, mobile and retail channels. The business allows media partners to have their own betting brand that BetTech operates.
“We are a solution provider. It’s not just about providing software. We have a full suite of products and services. For instance, if a company like SuperSport in South Africa wanted to launch a sports betting business, we’ve got the resources to run the entire business for them, software, trading, content, risk management, client support, the IP management and full works and the partner who owns the business literally just markets it,” says Bosman.
The 31-year-old Bosman is responsible for managing the marketing, business development and operational side of BetTech Gaming. He is an entrepreneurially-focused marketing strategist having worked in the fast-moving consumer goods industry and the business development position for several other companies.
Having started three other businesses, Hemson-Struthers is an entrepreneur at heart and relishes the challenge of establishing new ventures and spending hours to improve it. Bosman is similarly enthusiastic, adding that BetTech is their passion. It’s their baby and they want to see it through.
“When you start a business like we did, it requires about 15 hours a day. You never stop thinking. The job is never done,” says Bosman.
“Being an entrepreneur, you have to create something out of nothing. So it’s about building a product which you see the market needs and then going out and selling it to the right consumers and in some instances you need to convince them of the new product which they might not know they need yet.”
They hope to be South Africa’s premier online and mobile sports betting brand and are branching out into the rest of the continent. Hemson-Struthers says they already have clients in Uganda and Tanzania, will soon launch in Kenya and are eyeing Nigeria. They have also launched the world’s first licensed Bitcoin sports betting operator, BetVIP.
Following their experience with BetTech, Hemson-Struthers advises new start-ups to get their products into the market as quickly as possible and at a minimum cost. This allows for feedback from the market, more testing and time to refine the product.
“I would almost say that if you look at a 100 percent of your budget, you want to hold back as much as 70 percent for marketing. People don’t fully understand how much money it takes to get a business, whether it’s a B2B or a B2C business, out there.”
Sage advice from a young entrepreneur.

Tag: Recession