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Farmers, Ferraris and harvesting good investments in Africa

From the soil: Agriculture value chains could unlock massive wealth for Botswana
From the soil: Agriculture value chains could unlock massive wealth for Botswana

In April 2012, legendary US investor and market commentator Jim Rogers made a bold pronouncement: Farmers, not bankers would be the next group driving Ferraris and Lamborghinis.

In a popular interview with Forbes magazine, he said: “More people in America study public relations than study farming. We have no farmers. You went to Princeton; nobody you went to school with became a farmer. I went to Yale; nobody I went to Yale with became a farmer. The average age of farmers in America is 58 years old. In Japan, the average age is 66. In Australia, it’s 58.”

Fast-forward to 2021 and while there are not a lot of sports car-owning farmers on the African continent [yet], the investment case for the agriculture sector is intact.

Editor's Comment
Our digital safety is in our hands

That sounds like good news. But the report also warns that this may simply be because our digital economy is still young, not because we are safe. As more people shop, bank and pay online, criminals will follow.We Batswana do not need a report to tell us that danger is real. Many of us have heard of or fallen victim to KYC scams. A caller impersonates your bank or mobile money provider. They say they need to “verify” your account. They ask...

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