There are of course a number of reasons behind South Africa’s growing competitiveness amongst global markets in the last decade or more, however one that stands out in particular is the country’s modern transportation sector. South Africa’s roads, railways and ports are already regarded as a crucial engine for economic growth and social development, and stand to develop further still through the government’s stated intent to invest billions of Rand in the years to come.

Some years ago, I worked with a major equipment supplier whose products were relevant to virtually every vertical market. The president of this company had decided to define a new sales model, motivated by his observation that “As I spent time in the market, I learned that we had customers everywhere, but that we weren’t special to customers anywhere”. That’s a common issue for firms with broadly relevant products and services, and there are always good reasons and strong advocates for almost every possible opportunity to make a sale to a customer.

A too small sales force is a loss of income and a too large or incorrectly allocated one is a waste of resources. Many companies use their sales managers’ gut feelings to determine how many sales people they should have and how they should be allocated. This means that one of the most important decisions for growth and profitability is based on the hidden assumptions of a few people.

Apple has long been interested in applying motion sensor technology to its growing range of devices. PrimeSense is best known for having provided the technology for the 3D sensor in Microsoft's Kinect camera associated with the Xbox 360. It clearly makes sense for it to absorb a company that will further the Cupertino, California-based hardware giant’s capabilities to enhance existing platforms and develop new ones.

The Agete-1 well is located close to the Ugandan border and the discovery there of “sampled moveable oil” marks the fifth such find in Tullow’s exploration across the region, following oil strikes in its Twiga South, Ekales and Ngamia fields.

The Japanese carmaker set its target on the same day it unveiled a concept fuel cell-powered car, dubbed the FCV, at the Tokyo Motor Show. It also comes in the same week that Hyundai stated that it plans to start mass production of such vehicles early next year.

Many carmakers have been looking to develop the fuel cell technology further and bring it to mass production. The technology itself uses hydrogen to generate electricity to power the engine and the waste products are heat and harmless water.