When we last spoke to Roger Amelunxen, owner of Canadian-based Amelunxen Mineral Processing (Aminpro), in March 2012, he spoke about the raft of changes that has occurred in his field of expertise over the previous 15 years. Now, as we enter 2013, he is just as keen to discuss how the business has evolved in little more than 10 months since.

What would you do if you won the lottery? In the case of Nelson Mahadeo, he went into business for himself. A win of a couple of million rand in 2003 enabled him to say au revoir to his employers and set up Associated Marine & Industrial Inspection Services. By hiring a good team, he was able to get the business up and running in a short time.

Technology has yielded some great communication tools, but they are not relationship builders. Here, I share seven reasons why the personal touch will always be more effective than pixels on a screen.

Toyota now forecasts a net profit of $9.3 billion for the financial year to 31 March 2013. This comes on the back of profits being boosting by the yen falling as much as 15 percent against the US dollar since November 2012. A weak yen helps Japanese companies like Toyota which rely heavily on overseas sales.

The company issued the guidance as it posted a 23 percent jump in profit for the September to December quarter. The numbers mean that Toyota's earnings for the April to December period nearly quadrupled from a year earlier.

The fast-growing airline reported net profits of $42 million for 2012, up from $14 million in 2011. For the same time period the company revealed that revenues grew 17 percent, from $4.1 billion to $4.8 billion, while passenger numbers topped 10 million for the first time.

While market-leader Apple saw its share slide from 51.7 percent to 43.6 percent, despite a rise in sales, Samsung’s Galaxy range sold a total of 7.9 million units, up from 2.2 million the previous year, taking its market share to 15.1 percent.

The company provided further optimism by also revealing that its backlog of plane orders also hit an all-time high of $390 billion as it began delivering the first of its new flagship Dreamliner 787 jets.

"In a year of considerable achievement, Boeing was the commercial aviation market leader for both orders and deliveries, with more than 600 airplanes delivered, including the first Charleston-built 787 Dreamliners," said chief executive Jim McNerney.