The SA Government offers attractive incentives to encourage the promotion of small businesses and increase clean energy production. Hedge fund pioneer Kevin Shames has applied his business skills and financial knowledge to combine these advantages to offer a projected 19% after tax return through his Section 12J company Bright Light Solar. BizNews founder Alec Hogg hosted the webinar with Kevin Shames who fielded questions including exactly what the company does, the mechanics of how it invests and makes money for investors, and ease with which the tax benefit can be claimed.

Mastercard, BNY Mellon, Twitter are among the growing list of corporates starting to factor cryptocurrencies into their plans. Recently Tesla put US$1.5bn into Bitcoin? Should you buy Bitcoin? Former chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Sheila Bair was asked for her views on crypto currencies and told Bloomberg that it is at nose-bleed levels.

In this Friday's episode of Taking Stock, BizNews financial journalist Justin Rowe-Roberts provides the key highlights on: * Telkom's results and how the company has pivoted successfully from a fixed-line operator to a savvy and growing mobile business; * Italtile, a company in which management continues to deliver and has benefitted from a 'home improvement' trend; and * Implats, Amplats and AngloGold's trading updates on the back of stronger commodity prices and a weaker rand, ballooning earnings.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has laid out the government's main objectives for 2021 in his State of the Nation Address. These include: * Dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic; * Accelerating economic recovery; * Creating jobs and inclusive economic growth - including maintaining black economic empowerment rules; * Fighting corruption and strengthening the state. Land reform will be accelerated, he said, highlighting the country's agricultural successes but steering away from the emotive topic of land expropriation without compensation. Here are some highlights. Head over to BizNews.com for full details.

In this episode of Inside Covid-19, we look at an important scientific breakthrough in the early treatment of Covid-19, we speak to Professor Mona Bafadhel of the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Medicine, about how a medication commonly used to treat asthma appears to significantly reduce the need for urgent care and hospitalisation in people with Covid-19. And, we hear from our partners at Bloomberg about an app that can use a person’s voice to detect early symptoms of Covid-19. Dr Davd Liu, CEO of Sonde Health, shares what vocal biomarkers can tell us about respiratory illness. First, the Covid-19 news making world headlines.

Funding for African startups slowed for the first time after nearly 10 years of growth as investors in the fledgling tech scene were put off by the Covid-19 pandemic. * South African banks 'have legs', says an equity analyst for a major firm. * Italtile produced stellar results. * Mastercard is starting to integrate cryptoassets and Twitter bosses are also thinking about using it to pay staff and include on its balance sheet. * Equites was a star performer on the JSE.

Italtile CEO Jan Potgieter speaks to Jackie Cameron about the company's stronger-than-expected interim performance. While many South African companies buckled under Covid-19 containment, Italtile saw turnover rise by 14% to R6.2bn for its half-year to the end of December. Trading profit surged 38% to R1.4bn. It also has more than R1bn in the bank, with a possibility of a special dividend.

* Mountain Valley MD, listed in Canada and Germany, says it has patented the 'Holy Grail' for pharmaceutical companies - the improved solubilisation of drugs. * It has developed a tabled that dissolves easily, with a fraction of the dose, of wonderdrug Ivermectin. * Ivermectin is seen by many as the drug to stop Covid-19 in its trackes; Mountain Valley MD is involved in the largest human trial on earth. * A world shortage of Ivermectin has developed, with prices shooting up 2000% as more people become convinced of its anti-Covid benefits. * Mountain Valley MD speaks to BizNews about a way to clear Covid-19 faster than any drug on earth. * This application is on the whiteboard list for trials in treating cancerous tumours.

* South African business confidence hit a 35-year low in 2020, says the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry - calling on the government to rethink economic policy and hurry up with vaccine roll-out. * Standard Bank snaps up shares in Angolan subsidiary; * The SA govt wants to swap the Covid-19 vaccine it has ordered from India for one that better protects against the variant responsible for 90% of cases; * Gold Fields expects earnings per share to jump by more than 300%.

Property has been the worst performing asset class on the JSE for over three years now. The property index has retreated around 40% from its highs in early 2018. One Reit that has bucked the trend is Equites, which specialises in properties in the e-commerce economy in South Africa and the UK. Jackie Cameron of BizNews speaks to Equites CEO Andrea Taverna-Turisan about how the Reit built up its assets, where it sees further opportunities and what it is doing to remain attractive for long term investors in the share.

Here’s a story that will lift your spirits. Meat Naturally, an Mpumalanga-based social enterprise, is helping thousands of communal farmers create a livelihood. It has plans to expand its innovative approach to environmentally friendly livestock production across Africa. This week, it was awarded joint first place in the 10th SAB Annual Social Innovation Awards - and a grant of R1.3m that will help with delivering on these ambitious dreams. Speaking to Jackie Cameron of BizNews is Sarah Frazee, one of the founders of Meat Naturally. She shares how to create sustainable food production in rural areas.

NIO has been on the radar of investors after its rival Tesla soared in value in 2020. A graph from stockbroker De Giro shows that, after GameStop, Nio was among the most popular stocks traded across Europe in January. Nio - which is taking on Tesla in China, the world’s largest electric vehicle market - is held in funds and you can also invest in it via international exchanges. Bloomberg assesses competition between Tesla, Nio and other electric vehicle manufacturers in that all important market. For more insights on Tesla, Nio and other global tech companies that might be worth considering for your global stock portfolio, visit BizNews Premium where you have full access to The Wall Street Journal.

* The South African coronavirus variant is the single biggest threat facing the UK, the Labour leader has said, amid growing calls for the country to tighten its defences against new variants, reports the Guardian. * Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize revealed that South Africa recorded 1,376 new COVID-19 cases over the last 24 hours – the lowest daily increase since 16 November 2020, reports Mybroadband.co.za. * The Democratic Alliance (DA) has warned that the above-inflation minimum wage increases gazetted yesterday by the Minister of Employment and Labour will lead to further job losses at a time when unemployment is already rampant and rising. The National Minimum Wage (NMW) has been increased by 4.5%. The minimum wages for domestic workers and farm workers have been increased by 23% and 16% respectively. * US stocks ticked down Tuesday, suggesting that the major indexes may pause after closing at record highs.

The ANC's plan to push through legislation that will allow the government to expropriate land and then rent it out to the previously disadvantaged should make every South African worried. Kerenga Wealth Ecology founder Dawn Ridler, an independent financial advisor in Johannesburg, shares her experiences of living in Kenya, Rwanda and other countries that have seen land expropriation. She sets out what's worked, what hasn't - and why the current plan will transform SA into an economic basket case with negative implications for the economy and your own financial wellbeing.

Scientists have warned that more of us are feeling stressed, with Covid-19 containment measures wiping out businesses, incomes and forcing big changes to our lifestyles. In this interview health, health coach Dr Kate Couchman shares her seven main steps to guiding people out of a stressed state. The KZN practitioner - who is also a nutritionist - picks up on how she has managed to control her own epilepsy by sticking to the principles that she shares with her clients. * This interview is proudly brought to you by Smart Health Coach Dr Kate. Book your free zoom call with her today at drkatehealthcoaching.com

Anybody who knows about the SA wine industry knows Mike Ratcliffe. The son of Norma Ratcliffe - a pioneer of winemaking women in South Africa and founder of Warwick Wine Estate - Michael launched his own brand, Vilafonte, twenty years ago. Fine wine critic Carrie Adams sits down with Ratcliffe, to discuss establishing a brand in a short period of time, ‘in a world where there are millions of labels and just a handful of brands’.

Like a lot of parents these days, Cameron Crise is dealing with a teenager at home who wants to get into day-trading and reap the type of windfalls boasted about by the WallStreetBets crowd. Crise, a former hedge-fund trader and now a columnist for Bloomberg, had a novel way of handling the situation. Inspired by the classic movie “Trading Places,” he proposed a $1 bet on where GameStop shares were headed and another wager that his son Patrick could not double his money in three days. Who won? And what can teenagers tell us about what's happening in stock markets?

Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard is home to many of South Africa’s wealthiest residents - and it has been a magnet to well-heeled investors from Africa and elsewhere. Some agents say that there has been a notable uptick in demand, especially from European Countries. But Lance Cohen, a specialist in the area, says not so fast with the rosy overviews of luxury Cape Town properties. Get out there and start shopping; properties are cheap at the price. This is a very good time to pick up the property of your dreams. He spoke to Jackie Cameron, of BizNews, about selling prices and volumes in this prime residential real estate sector.

South Africa born tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has been promoting cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Dogecoin. Is he serious about digital currencies or is the world's richest man simply having fun manipulating prices - just as he has stocks via his Tweets? Here's an assessment of latest developments, from BizNews partners at Bloomberg. And remember, there's plenty of analysis of Bitcoin at BizNews.com

* Elon Musk and Tesla have powered up cryptocurrency values, with Tesla revealing a US$1.5bn stake in Bitcoin. * Nedbank profited out of state capture, paying a Gupta-linked entity R95m to suck up work from state entities, a crack team of investigative journalists has revealed. * Telkom's revenues have improved, through mobile services. * The rand was trading around R14.90 for a US greenback.

* The South African Covid-19 variant could threaten the global recovery, warns Bloomberg as a Wits trial fails to demonstrate the AstraZeneca vaccine's efficacy against serious illness. * In a carefully calculated event designed to generate maximum publicity, corruption-tainted former president Jacob Zuma and EFF leader Julius Malema had a tea party in a show of solidarity. Zuma is under pressure to testify at the Zondo inquiry into state capture - and says he'd rather go to jail than testify. * Sub-Saharan Africa needs concessional finance to help it recover from Covid-19's economic smack, says outgoing African Union President Cyril Ramaphosa. * The rand was stronger at the end of the business week.

For most of the 20th century, the Catholic Church in the US minimised the damage wrought by paedophile priests by covering up the abuse, reports Bloomberg. Cover-ups worked when victims and their families could be intimidated or shamed into silence. But in the 1980s and ’90s, victims started filing civil lawsuits where the alleged incidents took place. Church leaders across the country kept these suits quiet by settling out of court and demanding nondisclosure agreements in return. Church leaders paid out about $750 million from the early ’80s through 2002, according to BishopAccountability.org, a nonprofit that tracks clergy sex abuse. Now, Dioceses of the Catholic Church are aggressively moving and reclassifying holdings to shrink the value of their bankruptcy estates, as BizNews' partners at Bloomberg report.

Recently day traders organising themselves on social media website Reddit united to drive up the shares of video-game store GameStop by around 400%. Short-sellers were estimated to have lost about $19bn on GameStop. Carson Block is a short-seller, investor and the founder of Muddy Waters Research speaks to BizNews partner Bloomberg about what he thinks has been going on in the markets. Block told editor at large Erik Schatzker He suspects hedge fund ‘co-orination’ over GameStop.

Investments in South African funds have been very disappointing, all the more so when you compare performance with similar opportunities elsewhere in the world. BizNews editor at large Jackie Cameron asks: Has SA lost its rock star fund managers? Why can’t they deliver returns that grow your wealth? In this interview, award-winning independent advisor Magnus Heystek of Brenthurst Wealth management discusses the challenges of generating superior investment performance in SA - and why the best opportunities lie elsewhere.

In this Friday's episode of Taking Stock, BizNews financial journalist Justin Rowe-Roberts provides the key highlights on: * Education provider Curro - which has seen parents take their children out of private schools as they battle after Covid containment measures have knocked the economy; * Sasol, which has risen on the back of rising crude prices; * Sibanye Stillwater, a mining company with a smart CEO; and * Booze company Distell, which produced better-than-expected results.