KasiNomics is a book as eclectic, mysterious and colourful as the places and people it explores. eKasi, the lokasie, the South African township, once an apartheid ghetto, is today an amazingly transformed place. This township today is an eclectic mix of mansions, shacks, spaza shops, rocking taverns, hawkers, taxis and hot wheels. In this kasi there are vibrant businesses, energetic people, a tightly networked social community and abundant hope. That is not to say there isn’t extreme poverty, suffering and dissatisfaction, particularly on the peripheries in the huge shack settlements, but to paint the place as a slum is a massive mistake.

These are difficult times. The Covid-19 pandemic has proved to us that we cannot rely on tomorrow to be like today; there is no such thing as ‘business as usual’. The social and economic upheaval has been devastating, and its effects long-lasting, making these times even more uncertain. The antidote to this uncertainty is clarity. Maanda Tshifularo has had the privilege of interacting with successful innovators, culture shifters, business leaders and thought leaders, and their ‘common success denominator’ is the ability to see, say, and do things, with purposeful clarity.

‘Professor Marwala has sought to understand what good leadership should mean by drawing on the collective experience of authors who have written on many topics.’ – THABO MBEKI We cannot underestimate how critical strong leadership is in all aspects of our lives. It enables us to run our lives, homes, communities, workplaces and nations. Given its importance, it is pertinent to ask: What is the source of good leadership? Albert Einstein once said, ‘The only source of knowledge is experience.’ Many philosophers have observed this and, if we accept experience as the only source of knowledge, can we extend this conclusion to leadership? Or is the basis of good leadership intuition or instinct? Or is it perhaps a combination of these?

‘It became apparent to me that, due to the complexity of problems that face humanity today, those who do not know should not lead.’ – PROFESSOR TSHILIDZI MARWALA In 2020 the world found itself in a state of flux. A global pandemic disrupted the world order while the digital transformation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), with its challenges and huge potential benefits, presented a fundamental paradigm shift. How are Africa’s leaders to respond, today?

“We need to innovate!” – Every CEO ever Innovation is not about changing your product, it’s about changing your mindset. It’s not about doing something new, it’s about stopping doing something old. This entire book rehashes these two lines in as many ways as ground-breaking (if you dropped him off a high platform wearing heavy shoes) business thinker Richard Mulholland was able to do in around 125 pages. Changing the legacy mindset is not easy, but hot-damn, it’s worthwhile. Legacide, the book, hopes to do just that. “Undeniably brilliant… it will change your life.” – MIKE STOPFORTH, Author of Brand Schizo

What does ‘success’ mean to you? If you’re an entrepreneur, this probably feels like a straightforward question with a simple answer: you want your business to thrive. You want to make a profit; stand out; be noticed. But then what? Are you done? Are you fulfilled? Are you happy? For Adii Pienaar, selling two multimillion-dollar businesses wasn’t enough. He was an entrepreneur because he wanted freedom; and yet, instead, he was stuck in a destructive cycle, almost losing everything by his constant search for more.