By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/david-neagle/">David Neagle, Contributor</a> 



The path to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/24/warren-buffett-and-bill-gates-agree-giving-up-this-one-thing-will-make-you-more-successful.html" class="">great achievement</a>&nbsp;and leadership is not an easy one. You need a ridiculous amount of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/01/the-2-minute-rule-how-to-stop-procrastinating-and-start-new-habits.html" class="">focus</a>, drive and the ability to inspire others.



While there is no one-size-fits-all&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/26/money-mistakes-millionaires-like-warren-buffett-bill-gates-google-eric-schmidt-never-make.html" class="">approach to success</a>, there are a few traits worth adopting from some of the world’s most&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/04/self-made-millionaires-swear-by-these-5-morning-routinesand-they-all-take-less-than-10-minutes.html" class="">accomplished leaders</a>, from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/24/warren-buffett-and-bill-gates-agree-giving-up-this-one-thing-will-make-you-more-successful.html" class="">Elon Musk</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/12/amazon-billionaire-jeff-bezos-explains-why-the-smartest-people-change-their-minds-often.html" class="">Jeff Bezos</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/18/how-the-wojcickis-parents-raised-23andme-founder-youtube-ceo.html" class="">Susan Wojcicki</a>.



Here are the top five:



1. They aren’t fazed by failure



Things won’t always turn out the way you expected them to. Most startups fail —&nbsp;<a href="http://innovationfootprints.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/startup-genome-report-extra-on-premature-scaling.pdf" class="">90 percent of them</a>, research finds. Many of your ideas might not work. People may give up on you. But successful people don’t let any of those things get in their way. Instead, they learn from their failures.



When Bezos launched Amazon in 1994, he only gave himself a 30 percent chance of success. “That’s actually a very liberating expectation, expecting to fail,” he told&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20000407181649/http://www.time.com/time/poy/bezos.html" class="">Time magazine</a>&nbsp;in 1999, when they crowned him as Person of the Year.



Indeed, the Amazon founder has had his fair share of failures, from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gobankingrates.com/making-money/business/jeff-bezos-worst-business-failures/" class="">Fire smartphone to Amazon Wallet</a>, but he never stopped taking chances in the pursuit of success.



“If you’re going to take bold bets, they’re going to be experiments,” he said on stage at <a class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-on-big-bets-risks-fire-phone-2014-12">Business Insider’s Ignition Conference</a> in 2014. “And if they’re experiments, you don’t know ahead of time if they’re going to work. Experiments are by their very nature prone to failure. But a few big successes compensate for dozens and dozens of things that didn’t work.”



2. They shoot for the moon



Tesla co-founder Elon Musk took this one literally when he said his mission was to take&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39111030" class="">tourists to the moon.</a>&nbsp;One of the most admirable traits about Musk is always sets the most ambitious goals, from building underground<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/19/tech/boring-company-tunnel-elon-musk/index.html" class="">&nbsp;tunnels to beat traffic congestion</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-launches-neuralink-to-connect-brains-with-computers-1490642652" class="">connecting our brains to computers.</a>



Setting (and attempting to achieve) highly ambitious goals can take a lot out of you. But many&nbsp;<a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/38/4/622/1856977" class="">studies</a>&nbsp;have found that this can make you happier in the long run. In one&nbsp;<a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/38/4/622/1856977" class="">experiment</a>, researchers observed two groups of people: One who set sky-high goals, and one who set more conservative goals.



The first group reported feeling more fulfilled after having achieved their goals. The reason? When you set conservative goals, as opposed to more ambitious ones, the satisfaction you get from achieving them is much lower.



Oprah Winfrey is also a master when it comes to going big. She started off as a television reporter, then expanded her media empire by including movies, podcasts and websites. “The Oprah Winfrey Show” still remains the highest-rated daytime talk show in American history. By age 32, she had already reached millionaire status.



 3. They lead from personal experience



In 2017, a Google software engineer published a&nbsp;<a href="https://gizmodo.com/exclusive-heres-the-full-10-page-anti-diversity-screed-1797564320" class="">10-page memo</a>&nbsp;against the tech giant’s diversity initiatives. The document went viral, prompting a quick response from&nbsp;<a href="http://www.google.com/" class="">Google</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/01/how-google-ceos-brilliant-answer-in-a-job-interview-helped-him-get-hired.html" class="">CEO Sundar Pichai</a>.



But the most daring and bold response came from YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. Rather than speaking out in a corporate and sterile tone (which was expected, given that Google owns YouTube), she spoke about her personal experience and addressed the pain and empathy she felt for others who had read memo.



“I’ve had my abilities and commitment to my job questioned. I’ve been left out of key industry events and social gatherings. I’ve had meetings with external leaders where they primarily addressed the more junior male colleagues,” she&nbsp;<a href="http://fortune.com/2017/08/09/google-diversity-memo-wojcicki/" class="">wrote in an article for Fortune</a>.



Wojcicki’s response focused on how to empower the next generation of young women. Her viewpoint not only showcased her vision for the future, but also captured the hearts of many. The most successful leaders know when to lead from an objective strategy, and when to lead with empathy and humanity.



4. They know the greatest ideas come at the most unexpected times



Studies about the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/05/genius-genetics-intelligence-neuroscience-creativity-einstein/" class="">brain and internal thought processes</a>&nbsp;(i.e., daydreaming, imagining) have revealed that our “aha” moments often appear at the most unexpected times. “Information comes in consciously, but the problem is processed unconsciously, with the resulting solution leaping out when the mind least expects it,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/05/genius-genetics-intelligence-neuroscience-creativity-einstein/" class="">writes Claudia Kalb</a>, a best-selling author and journalist who reports on human behavior.



In a <a class="" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2rgsan/i_am_elon_musk_ceocto_of_a_rocket_company_ama/">Reddit AMA session</a>, Musk said that he thinks up the most brilliant ideas he’s when taking a shower. CEOs and executives from some of the most successful companies in the world — including <a class="" href="http://www.linkedin.com/">LinkedIn</a>, <a class="" href="http://www.facebook.com/">Facebook</a>and <a class="" href="http://www.google.com/">Google</a> — <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/23/why-ceos-at-google-facebook-and-linkedin-love-walking-meetings.html">hold meetings on foot</a> (i.e., standing, walking) because they believe that’s when people are most focused, creative and productive.



Like all successful leaders, it helps to allow things to flow in and out of your brain naturally, instead of getting too attached to when and where they come from. If there are certain activities, locations or times where you find yourself most relaxed, be willing to have an open mind and let your creativity ignite on its own.



5. They think outside the box and beyond the status quo



Stitch Fix CEO Katrina Lake&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/03/12/stitch-fix-ceo-katrina-lake-on-how-algorithms-boosted-margins.html" class="">recently told CNBC</a>&nbsp;using&nbsp;artificial intelligence (A.I.) to create in-app algorithms helped boost the company’s earnings. The algorithms lifted Stitch Fix’s net revenue per client by six percent year-over-year.



When you’re at the top of the mountain, there isn’t a status quo to reference or a path to follow; you’re the one blazing the trail. It’s a distinct leadership trait at the C-suite level, but you don’t need to spend years climbing the ladder to acquire the same foresight.



Instead, reap the benefits now by mapping out five, 10 or even 20 unconventional solutions to your current business quandary. You’ll have a greater chance of successfully solving your problems by doing so. When your entrepreneurial muscles does this type of heavy lifting on a regular basis, you’ll soon be able to master “thinking outside the box” more nimbly, which will put you at the front of the pack.



<a class="" href="https://davidneagle.com/">David Neagle</a> is the founder of <a class="" href="https://davidneagle.com/">Life Is Now, Inc</a>., a leadership coaching company. David’s coaching has expanded to more than 30 countries, and his work has been featured in Forbes, CBS, NBC, The Wall Street Journal, Inc., and Entrepreneur. He’s also the best-selling author of ”<a class="" href="https://www.amazon.com/Millions-Within-Manifest-Exactly-What/dp/1614482772">The Millions Within. ”</a> Follow him on Twitter .



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/04/5-traits-that-separate-millionaires-like-jeff-bezos-mark-zuckerberg-bill-gates-from-those-who-never-succeed.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/04/5-traits-that-separate-millionaires-like-jeff-bezos-mark-zuckerberg-bill-gates-from-those-who-never-succeed.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

gettyimages-1066734506-594×594

5 powerful traits that separate successful Billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg from everyone else

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/courtney-connley/">Courtney Connley</a>



The flexibility to work remotely is a perk many workers dream of having.



But according to bestselling management author and CNBC contributor Suzy Welch, working from the comfort of your home or coffee shop can easily become “a career killer.”



“I understand that as an employee, sometimes remote work is the only way work is possible,” Welch tells&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/" class="">CNBC Make It</a>. “And I understand as a boss, sometimes remote work is the only way to get the person you need.”



However, she says, though working remotely has a few “very real upsides,” it has serious drawbacks as well.



“Here’s the truth,” says Welch. “The best work in an organization, the important work, it never gets done on the phone, or over email or on Slack.”



Instead, she says, “it is almost always facilitated by relationships and understandings that only happen when people are together physically.” Great teams are built on “the banter, the lunches, the late nights, the jokes, the asides, the shared ah-has!”



That type of bonding, she says, “builds layers of trust, and trust is a career’s rocket fuel. You can fly without it, but you can’t soar.”



Welch emphasizes that if you’re content with where your career is now, or you’re not interested in a leadership role, working remotely may be a perfectly acceptable option for you. “You can contribute working remotely,” she says. “You can even get promoted.”



But, if you want to move up the ranks and become a leader in your organization, “you need to be in the building.”



“Leadership is an inside job,” says Welch, “and it starts in the room where trust happens.”



Suzy Welch is the co-founder of the <a class="" href="http://jwmi.com/?mcv=jdg469">Jack Welch Management Institute</a>and a noted business journalist, TV commentator and public speaker. Think you need Suzy to fix your career? Email her at gettowork@cnbc.com.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/01/suzy-welch-why-working-from-home-can-be-terrible-for-your-career.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/01/suzy-welch-why-working-from-home-can-be-terrible-for-your-career.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Suzy Welch: Why working from home can be terrible for your career

LAGOS (Reuters) &#8211; Global ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc is in talks with regulators over plans to expand into two West African countries and provide a boat service in Nigerian megacity Lagos, a company executive said on Thursday.



In much of sub-Saharan Africa there are low levels of personal car ownership, rapidly expanding populations and a lack of efficient mass transport systems in fast-growing cities.



Uber, which said it has 36,000 active drivers in sub-Saharan Africa, operates in a number of countries in East and South Africa but is largely absent from West Africa, aside from Nigeria and Ghana.



The firm has identified the region as a target for potential expansion, Chief Business Officer Brooks Entwistle told Reuters. He said the company was in talks with regulators in Ivory Coast and Senegal regarding the possible launch of services.



“Both Abidjan and Dakar are logical opportunities for us,” said Entwistle, adding that discussions were at an early stage. He did not disclose further details.



“We have talked about West Africa today as being a big growth priority for us and launch priority for us moving forward,” said Entwistle.



Ivory Coast and Senegal have two of the world’s fastest growing economies, according to the International Monetary Fund. Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is also the continent’s most populous nation.



A number of motorcycle ride-hailing firms have also targeted West Africa as an area for expansion in the last few months.



Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos, a megacity of around 20 million inhabitants built on a lagoon where Uber began operating in July 2014, is beset by heavy congestion.



Entwistle, who spoke to Reuters during an interview in Lagos, said the company was in talks with state regulators about providing a transport system on the city’s waterways as a way of bypassing its choked roads.



“We are looking at the waterways here, which are very interesting to us as it relates to a potential service,” said Entwistle.



The company has launched a boat service in the Indian city of Mumbai in the last few months.



“We did launch Uber Boat in Mumbai and we have watched the product develop. It’s in its early stages and we think there is high relevance here,” he said, referring to Lagos.



The Uber executive, who described Lagos as “one of the great growth opportunity cities in the world”, said the company has also held discussions with a bus firm and regulators in the city.



He said the talks were in line with a global push by the company to develop products that can work alongside public transit systems.



Entwistle said the combination of population growth and congestion made Lagos, and other cities in the region, attractive.



The United Nations predicts that Nigeria’s population will more than double to 400 million by 2050, which would make it the third most populous country in the world after China and India.



Uber faces stiff competition in African cities from Estonian ride-hailing firm Bolt, which until early 2019 was called Taxify. Bolt has grabbed business largely by taking a smaller cut from drivers using its app.



Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Jan Harvey

Uber aiming for expansion in fast-growing West African markets

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/kathleen-elkins/">Kathleen Elkins</a>



Between running a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/richard-branson/#4d22de8f6ff5" class="">multi-billion dollar empire</a>, attempting to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/13/richard-branson-hopes-to-be-in-space-next-year-with-virgin-galactic.html" class="">head to space</a>&nbsp;and updating his blog multiple times per day, Virgin Group founder, Richard Branson, gets a lot done.



His top productivity trick is a simple habit that has nothing to do with making to-do lists, checking email or turning off notifications: “The only reason I’m able to do all the things I do and to keep on top of a busy schedule without getting too stressed is because I stay fit,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.virgin.com/importance-being-healthy" class="">the billionaire entrepreneur writes on his blog</a>.



Making time for exercise, he says, <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/10/richard-branson-says-this-daily-habit-doubles-his-productivity.html">doubles his productivity</a>.



“If people are feeling their best, they will be their most productive selves at work,” writes Branson. Plus, there are other benefits: “I find exercise the most natural and effective mood booster there is.”



Science backs him up: Studies show that exercise can help you out professionally by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/regular-exercise-releases-brain-chemicals-key-for-memory-concentration-and-mental-sharpness" class="">improving memory and mental sharpness</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.princeton.edu/news/2013/07/03/exercise-reorganizes-brain-be-more-resilient-stress?section=topstories" class="">reducing stress</a>&nbsp;and even&nbsp;<a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2014/04/24/walking-vs-sitting-042414/" class="">promoting creativity</a>.



Branson, who prefers playing tennis, kite-surfing and lifting weights, dedicates at least an hour a day to working out. “Many people say they don’t have the time for exercise, and you’re right, you don’t have the time unless you make the time,” he says. Make it a priority, he encourages, because “there is nothing more important than looking after yourself.”



He’s not the only <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/29/7-habits-of-highly-successful-people-from-a-man-who-spent-5-years-studying-them.html">highly successful individual who makes time for exercise</a>.



“Staying in shape is very important,” Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said in a&nbsp;<a href="http://time.com/3942073/mark-zuckerberg-arnold-schwarzenegger/" class="">Q&amp;A</a>&nbsp;on his social media site. “Doing anything well requires energy, and you just have a lot more energy when you’re fit.”



Oprah Winfrey, Mark Cuban and Alexa von Tobel are among other top business leaders who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/preview/104202389" class="">prioritize fitness</a>.



To make it a consistent habit, find easy ways to fold exercise into your routine, says Branson: “Go for a walk around the park with a friend instead of going to the pub, find the health club closest to your house, join a team sport. &#8230; There are so many options — try a few and see what sticks.”



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/26/richard-bransons-top-productivity-trick.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/26/richard-bransons-top-productivity-trick.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Billionaire Richard Branson’s top productivity trick is a simple habit that has nothing to do with email or to-do lists

By<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/jade-scipioni/"> Jade Scipioni</a> 



In 1975, at the age of 19,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/24/bill-gates-says-his-biggest-mistake-was-not-beating-google-on-android.html?forYou=true" class="">Bill Gates</a>&nbsp;dropped out of his sophomore year at Harvard to launch Microsoft with his buddy Paul Allen.



Gates worked weekends and never took vacation in his 20s to get the company off the ground. And it worked. Today, Microsoft is valued at more than&nbsp;<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/MSFT/" class="">$1 trillion</a>&nbsp;and Gates is the second richest man in the world with a net worth of around&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/william-h-gates/" class="">$107 billion</a>&nbsp;(just $12 billion shy of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos’ fortune of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/jeffrey-p-bezos/" class="">$119 billion</a>).



“It really is true that I didn’t believe in weekends; I didn’t believe in vacations,” Gates told Eventbrite co-founder and CEO Julia Hartz&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&amp;amp;amp=&amp;amp;v=W5g4sPi1wd4" class="">Thursday</a>&nbsp;at a Village Global event.



Gates was at the office so much that he knew the license plates of everyone who worked for him, and he would see what time they would come and go and therefore how many hours his employees were putting in.&nbsp;



“Microsoft was a high-stress environment because Bill drove others as hard as he drove himself,” Gates’ co-founder&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/paul-allen/" class="">Allen</a>&nbsp;wrote in a 2011 article for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/05/paul-allen-201105" class="">Vanity Fair</a>. “He was growing into the taskmaster who would prowl the parking lot on weekends to see who’d made it in.”



Gates’ spy tactics and often intense office demeanor during the company’s prime years in the late ’80s and ’90s famously earned him the reputation as an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/17/advice-microsoft-billionaire-bill-gates-would-give-his-younger-self.html" class="">office bully</a>, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gq.com/story/young-bill-gates-was-an-angry-office-bully" class="">GQ.</a>



However, once he got into his 30s — and started dating his now-wife&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/06/14/melinda-gates-the-best-advice-warren-buffett-gave-me.html" class="">Melinda</a>&nbsp;— he said he began to relax a bit and started taking time off, which helped him tone it down.



“Now I take lots of vacation. My 20-year-old self is so disgusted with my current self. You know, I was sure I would never fly anything but coach and you know, now I have a plane,” Gates said.



He refers to the change of heart as a “counter revelation” and he said he can’t imagine working to those extremes today.



“I don’t recommend it and I don’t think most people would enjoy it,” he said.



However, he said he still believes that hard work is essential during the early years of building a business, especially if you want it to become something great.



“You’ll have individuals who have, you know, health or relatives or things that [distract them]. But yes, I have a fairly hardcore view that there should be a very large sacrifice made during those early years&#8230;.” he said.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/25/why-bill-gates-younger-self-would-be-disgusted-with-him-today.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/25/why-bill-gates-younger-self-would-be-disgusted-with-him-today.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Why Bill Gates says his 20-year-old self would be ‘so disgusted’ with him today

By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/misheck-mutize-331377">Misheck Mutize</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-cape-town-691">University of Cape Town</a>

International credit rating agencies have had their fair share of <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/credit-rating-controversy">controversies</a> over the years. They have been at the centre of the major financial crises from the financial markets collapse of <a href="https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/40208/Reagan_washington_0250E_17396.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isAllowed=y">New York City in the mid-1970s</a>, the <a href="https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/36469/2/MPRA_paper_36469.pdf">Asian financial crisis</a> of 1997 – 1998, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/29/business/enron-s-collapse-rating-agencies-debt-rankings-finally-fizzle-but-deal-fizzled.html">Enron scandal</a> of 2001, to the <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/the-indisputable-role-of-credit-ratings-agencies-in-the-2008-collapse-and-why-nothing-has-changed/">global financial crisis of 2008</a>. All of these cost investors globally billions. 

Rating agencies are meant to give comfort about an issuer’s ability to repay debt. Ratings are essential in determining the level of interest rate that a borrower must pay. Inaccurate ratings therefore distort both the prices of debt instruments and the interest rates payable on them. As history has shown, this creates asset bubbles that eventually burst, disrupting the functioning of financial markets.

The three dominant international credit rating agencies – Standard &amp; Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch – have been accused of many faults including:

<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.rt.com/business/421033-sp-credit-agency-lawsuit/">false ratings</a>; </li>
<li><a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-08-28-moodys-to-pay-16-mn-over-flawed-credit-ratings/">flawed methodology</a>; </li>
<li>encroaching on <a href="https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/54340/2016_Luten_PA_IEG.pdf?sequence=1">government policy</a>; </li>
<li>political <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0010414017710263">bias</a>, </li>
<li><a href="https://erf.org.eg/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Abdullah-Yalta.pdf">selective aggression</a>;</li>
<li>and <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/852a0672-3904-11e4-9cce-00144feabdc0">rating shopping</a>. </li>
</ul>

These shortcomings originate from their ‘issuer-pay’ business model. The institution being rated pays for the rating which is used by investors. This means that the model has an inherent conflict of interest. 

Although this has been evident through various crises – most notably the financial meltdown in 2008 – regulatory mechanisms are yet to address this problem. And, despite these known weaknesses, rating agencies are still being referenced in key financial market decisions.

<h2>Why current regulations aren’t working</h2>

A <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228203856_The_Issuer-Pays_Rating_Model_and_Ratings_Inflation_Evidence_from_Corporate_Credit_Ratings">number of studies</a> have identified the issuer-pay revenue model as a key driver of conflict of interest. Here are four reasons why I think the current attempts to regulate ratings agencies will not address conflict of interest.

The first big problem is the relationship between the rating agencies and the issuers. This relationship naturally creates pressure for both the lead rating analyst – around which the whole <a href="https://www.moodys.com/sites/products/ProductAttachments/mis_ratings_process.pdf">rating process</a> is centred – and the ratings committee to give favourable ratings over time. 

This is how the process works: after an issuer contracts a rating agency, the ratings agency assigns an analytical team (lead and support analysts) to gather information about the entity from different sources they deem credible. The analytical team makes recommendations to a ratings committee, convened by the lead analyst. The lead analyst also <a href="https://www.moodys.com/sites/products/ProductAttachments/mis_ratings_process.pdf">determines</a> the size and composition of the ratings committee based on the size and the complexity of the credit analysis. 

The second problem is that rating agencies are bound to be concerned about the sustainability of their revenue sources because they’re profit driven businesses. They will fight to protect their income at the expense of aggressive or objective ratings that could compromise revenues, although in the long-run will damage their businesses. 

The third problem is that the individual employees of a rating agency face no <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23074028?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">criminal liability</a>. Conflict of interest usually manifests itself through members of the analytical team.

Lastly, the credit ratings industry is highly concentrated. Moody’s Investors Service and Standard &amp; Poor’s together control 80% of the global rating market. Fitch Ratings accounts for a further 15%. The ‘big three’ credit rating firms seek to maintain dominance in the industry through discouraging any <a href="https://www.livemint.com/opinion/online-views/opinion-rotation-of-credit-rating-agencies-must-be-avoided-1556058549186.html">activities</a> that may lead to a loss in their market share. They are unwilling to <a href="https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/why-competition-may-not-improve-credit-rating-agencies">allow competition</a>, suggesting that it could instead lead to poor ratings. 

<h2>Responses</h2>

Following the 2008 Global Financial crisis the <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2017-238">US</a>, <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/credit-rating-agencies-regulation-ec-no-1060-2009_en">European Union</a>, <a href="http://www.csrc.gov.cn/pub/csrc_en/about/">China</a> and <a href="https://www.fsca.co.za/Regulated%20Entities/Pages/LR-Credit-Ratings.aspx">South Africa</a> introduced legislation to address the flaws in rating agencies’ operations.

Although strict civil laws are necessary to deter misconduct and encourage compliance, enforcing civil regulations only is both an ineffective and expensive way of <a href="https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7408&amp;context=jclc">curbing conflict of interest</a>. Tighter scrutiny of credit rating agencies by investors, regulators and media is also not effective.

Despite these regulatory responses, rating agencies are still being caught on the wrong side of the law. Recent cases are proof of this. But there’s still the possibility that a great deal of wrongdoings go undetected.

Earlier this year the European Securities and Markets Authority <a href="https://www.esma.europa.eu/press-news/esma-news/esma-fines-fitch-%E2%82%AC5132500-breaches-conflict-interest-requirements">fined</a> the Fitch group of companies in France, Spain and United Kingdom a total of €5 132 000 for failing to maintain independence and avoiding conflict of interest. Fitch UK, Fitch France and Fitch Spain issued ratings on Casino Guichard-Perrachon, Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, and Renault. This was despite the fact that they knew one of their shareholders – which indirectly owned 20% shares in each of the Fitch group companies – was also a board member of the rated companies.

In 2018, China <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-20/chinese-rating-company-dagong-issues-apology-after-one-year-ban">suspended licences</a> held by Dagong Global Credit Rating, one of China’s biggest agencies. Dagong was found guilty of submitting false information to regulators and charging borrowers very high fees, actions that regulators said compromised the rating agency’s independence.

In South Africa, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority recently found the <a href="https://gcrratings.com/regulatory-environment/">Global Credit Rating Agency</a> guilty of failure to avoid a conflict of interest. The agency was <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Companies/Financial-Services/hefty-fine-for-credit-rating-agency-over-conflict-of-interest-breach-20190430">fined</a> an administrative penalty of R487 000. The CEO of the GCR undertook to an issuer, whose credit rating had expired, that the GCR would issue a credit rating. This was contrary to the rules that required the CEO to act separately from the agency’s rating analysis team. 

At the time of undertaking, the issuer was the process of procuring the services of a rating agency, a process in which global agency was one of the bidders.

<h2>Shortfall in regulatory mechanism</h2>

The continuing infringement by credit rating firms on rules and analysts’ actions that compromise the independence of their opinions shows there is a major shortfall in the current regulatory mechanism.

Although problematic, abandoning the ‘issuer-pay’ business model is not the <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3270894">solution</a> and will push some rating agencies out of business. 

The only solution is to criminalise rating misconduct such as breaching conflict of interest. The strict monitoring, scrutiny and penalising of credit rating firms alone will not be enough to deter bad behaviour. Individuals responsible for breach of conflict of interest rules should face criminal prosecution. If this does not happen, analysts will not hesitate to take chances.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117549/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/misheck-mutize-331377">Misheck Mutize</a>, Lecturer of Finance, Graduate School of Business (GSB), <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-cape-town-691">University of Cape Town</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-credit-rating-agencies-are-still-getting-away-with-bad-behaviour-117549">original article</a>.

Credit rating agencies continue to get away with bad behaviour, here’s why

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/jade-scipioni/">Jade Scipioni</a>



You might assume that as the second richest person in world with a net worth of <a class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/">$107 billion</a>, Bill Gates doesn’t have a lot of <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/19/bill-gates-this-is-a-great-way-to-use-your-tech-skills.html">regrets</a>. But there is a big one that still eats away at him, he says.



Gates admitted his “greatest mistake ever” was allowing Google to develop Android — one of Apple’s biggest smartphone competitors — before Microsoft could develop a competing mobile operating system, he told Eventbrite co-founder and CEO Julia Hartz&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&amp;amp;v=W5g4sPi1wd4" class="">Thursday</a>&nbsp;at a Village Global event.



“That was a natural thing for Microsoft to win,” he said.



Gates said he blames his own poor “mismanagement,” since he didn’t guide his team to jump on the opportunity. He also partially blames Microsoft’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/23/technology/antitrust-tech-microsoft-lessons.html" class="">antitrust problems</a>&nbsp;in the early 2000′s for allowing Google to get ahead.



Google moved on mobile shortly after Apple did, when it acquired Android in 2005. Google later released it first Android device in September 2008, a little more than a year after Apple released its first iPhone on June 29,&nbsp;<a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/14/04/14/exclusive-android-docs-reveal-before-iphone-googles-plan-was-a-java-button-phone" class="">2007</a>.



“These are winner-takes-all markets. So the greatest mistake ever is whatever mismanagement I engaged in that caused Microsoft not to be what Android is,” he said.



Gates added that there is now only room for one “non-Apple” operating system, and that market is worth $400 billion, he said.



He added that if Microsoft would have “got that one right,” Microsoft would be the top technology company in the game right now.



“We would be&nbsp;the&nbsp;company. But oh well, ” he said.



Despite Gates’ blunder, Microsoft still currently has the highest market cap of the contenders at&nbsp;<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/MSFT?p=MSFT&amp;amp;.tsrc=fin-srch" class="">$1 trillion</a>; Apple currently has a market cap of&nbsp;<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AAPL?p=AAPL&amp;amp;.tsrc=fin-srch" class="">$918 billion</a>, with Alphabet Inc. (the conglomerate which owns Google since 2015) coming in at&nbsp;<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/GOOG/" class="">$776 billion</a>.



“It’s amazing to me, having made one of the greatest mistakes of all time&#8230;our other assets — Windows, Office — are still very strong. So we are a leading company,” he said.



Correction: This story has been revised to correct that Google acquired Android in 2005.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/24/bill-gates-says-his-biggest-mistake-was-not-beating-google-on-android.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/24/bill-gates-says-his-biggest-mistake-was-not-beating-google-on-android.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Bill Gates reveals his ‘greatest mistake’ that potentially cost Microsoft $400 billion

LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; Orange, France’s number one telecoms operator, sees the planned liberalisation of Ethiopia’s telecoms market taking shape in 2020, Chief Financial Officer Ramon Fernandez said on Friday. 



Ethiopia is one of the last countries whose telecoms industry remains in the hands of the government. Orange is one of the leading contenders seeking to benefit from the end of state-controlled Ethio Telecom’s monopoly, pushed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.



Sources told Reuters earlier this month that the government aimed to award telecom licenses by the end of 2019, with the new operators expected to launch services next year. However some industry executives have expressed scepticism over the timetable. [nL8N23J39U]



“The most likely scenario as of today seems to be the opening of the incumbent’s capital to a minority shareholder who could play a significant role within the company,” Fernandez told Reuters in an interview in London.



“And, in parallel, the opening of the market through the sale of at least one license to an operator,” Fernandez added.



The Orange executive also said a split of Ethio Telecom between an infrastructure provider and telecom services provider was unlikely, contradicting earlier reports. [nL8N23O56V]



“I’m not certain this is the main scenario as of today. It’s up to the Ethiopian authorities to decide, but we’re convinced that a split between telecoms operators and infrastructure operators is not the best option,” Fernandez said.



Africa and the Middle East is Orange’s fastest-growing region for the telecoms group, which controls 17 operators on the continent.



The group, which competes with other major players such as Vodafone-controlled Vodacom, Airtel Africa and South Africa’s MTN in the region, generated 5.2 billion euros ($5.9 billion) in the area last year, up 5% from a year earlier.



“This a pace we can keep on the long run, with a profitability performance at the same level, or even above,” Fernandez said.



The group is betting that its financial services provider Orange Money, which offers money transfers and payment services, will help it in the race to get into Ethiopia’s market, he added.



($1 = 0.8835 euros)



Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Additional reporting by Joe Bavier; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and David Holmes

Here’s why Orange sees Ethiopia’s telco liberalisation taking shape in 2020

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/elizabeth-gravier/">Elizabeth Gravier</a>



Apple CEO Tim Cook&nbsp;<a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2019/06/16/remarks-tim-cook-2019-stanford-commencement/" class="">addressed the graduates</a>&nbsp;of the 128th&nbsp;class of Stanford University on Sunday, and borrowed a few words from his mentor&nbsp;<a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2005/06/14/jobs-061505/" class="">Steve Jobs</a>.



“Fourteen years ago,” Cook said, “Steve <a class="" href="https://news.stanford.edu/2005/06/14/jobs-061505/">stood on this stage</a> and told your predecessors: ‘Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.’ Here’s my corollary: ‘Your mentors may leave you prepared, but they can’t leave you ready.’” 



Cook described the time after Jobs’ death as “the loneliest” he’d ever felt in his life, and said he could “sense” the expectations others had for him.



“All I knew,” he said, “was that I was going to have to be the best version of myself that I could be.&nbsp;I knew that if you got out of bed every morning and set your watch by what other people expect or demand, it’ll drive you crazy.”&nbsp;



He urged grads to focus on authenticity and forging something new, rather than imitating others.&nbsp;



“Don’t try to emulate the people who came before you to the exclusion of everything else, contorting into a shape that doesn’t fit,” Cook said. “It takes too much mental effort – effort that should be dedicated to creating and building. You’ll waste precious time trying to rewire your every thought, and, in the meantime, you won’t be fooling anybody.”



Cook had already built an impressive resume in tech prior to joining Apple in 1998, with roles at IBM, Intelligent Electronics and Compaq. But he felt that Jobs had a new and exciting outlook on the tech industry, one he thought he could add value to.



He told graduates that Jobs’ illness and death, and his own takeover as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2011/08/24Steve-Jobs-Resigns-as-CEO-of-Apple/" class="">Apple CEO</a>&nbsp;in 2011, taught him the critical distinction between being “prepared” and being “ready,” and warned grads that when the time came for them to lead, in whatever capacity, they wouldn’t be ready&nbsp;— and that’s OK.



“You’re not supposed to be,” Cook said. “Find the hope in the unexpected. Find the courage in the challenge. Find your vision on the solitary road.”



Cook also addressed the need for tech companies to take responsibility for the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/16/apple-ceo-tim-cook-stanford-commencement-speech.html" class="">“chaos”</a>&nbsp;they create, hinting at (though never mentioning specifically) tech giants Google and Facebook. He warned that in the case that continued data breaches and privacy violations are accepted as inevitable, “we lose so much more than data. We lose the freedom to be human.”



In closing, Cook urged grads to remain focused on their goals and how they want to contribute to society.&nbsp;



“Don’t get distracted,” Cook said. “There are too many people who want credit without responsibility. Too many who show up for the ribbon cutting without building anything worth a damn. Be different. Leave something worthy.”



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/tim-cook-and-steve-jobs-time-is-limited-so-dont-waste-it-on-this.html?forYou=true">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/tim-cook-and-steve-jobs-time-is-limited-so-dont-waste-it-on-this.html?forYou=true</a> and is republished with its permission.

Apple’s Tim Cook and Steve Jobs agree: ‘Time is limited, so don’t waste it’ on this

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/courtney-connley/">Courtney Connley</a>



Not every job you hold will be your dream job, but according to bestselling management author and CNBC contributor Suzy Welch, treating any job as a simple means to an end is a mistake.



Not only is it a mistake, Welch tells&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/" class="">CNBC Make It</a>, but your intentions will be clear to prospective employers — and that could kill your chances in a job interview.



“Would you marry someone who said, ‘You’re OK, but only until someone better comes along?’” she asks. “Obviously no — but that’s exactly what prospective employers hear when you utter the phrase of death in any job interview.”



That phrase? “Stepping stone.”



The first time Welch heard these two words in an interview was when she was a hiring manager looking to add editors to the business magazine she was running. She was hoping to hire a particularly talented candidate, who seemed interested in the job. The interview went well, and Welch says she ended it by asking&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/31/how-to-answer-the-interview-question-where-do-you-see-yourself-in-5-years.html" class="">a classic question</a>, “Where do you see yourself in three years?”



“Probably in communications for a bank,” the candidate replied. “I’d love to transition to that industry, which makes this job such an excellent stepping stone.”



Welch knew immediately that was the end of the road with that candidate, no matter how impressive her talent.



“Don’t get me wrong — I actually admire people who think strategically about their careers,” she says. “After seven years as a crime reporter, I knew I needed an MBA and a few years of consulting before I could legitimately cover business, and I’ve even advised my own kids to work at certain companies just to gain skills.”



But though every job you hold won’t be a lifetime commitment, you can’t move throughout your career “using employers for your own needs.” Doing this, Welch says, will inevitably backfire — even if you don’t use the dreaded phrase “stepping stone,” your strategy will become clear to employers.



And treating your job “as a means to an end” isn’t a particularly satisfying way to live. “It’s beyond strategic. It’s beyond ambition. It’s just kind of mercenary.”



“I’m not only saying, ‘Don’t utter the words ‘stepping stone’ in an interview,’” Welch emphasizes. “I’m saying don’t even think them. Even if you know a job isn’t forever, it’s your professional home while they’re paying you.”



Instead, approach every job opportunity as though it could actually turn out to be your dream job, regardless of how long you plan to be there.



“That’s the only way to make true friends with your colleagues, earn a reputation as a team player and hopefully do something every day that’s bigger than you,” she says. “Maybe you’ll leave someday. Maybe you won’t. But if you do, in time, it will be with integrity — and that’s a step worth taking.”



Suzy Welch is the co-founder of the <a class="" href="http://jwmi.com/?mcv=jdg469">Jack Welch Management Institute</a>and a noted business journalist, TV commentator and public speaker. Think you need Suzy to fix your career? Email her at gettowork@cnbc.com.



This article first appeared on CNBC<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/facebook-announces-libra-digital-currency-calibra-digital-wallet.html"> </a><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/suzy-welch-2-words-you-should-never-say-in-a-job-interview.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/suzy-welch-2-words-you-should-never-say-in-a-job-interview.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Suzy Welch: 2 words you should never say in a job interview

LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; U.S. energy firm Anadarko Petroleum Corp on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for the construction of a $20 billion gas liquefaction and export terminal in Mozambique, the largest single LNG project approved in Africa. 



The announcement, which occurred at an event in Mozambique, was widely expected after Anadarko last month flagged the decision date.



&#8220;As the world increasingly seeks cleaner forms of energy, the Anadarko-led Area 1 Mozambique LNG project is ideally located to meet growing demand, particularly in expanding Asian and European markets,&#8221; Chief Executive Officer Al Walker said in a statement&nbsp;<a href="http://pdf.reuters.com/htmlnews/htmlnews.asp?i=43059c3bf0e37541&amp;u=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20190618:nPn4scVtza.">here</a>



Anadarko has agreed to be taken over by Occidental Petroleum Corp. Once that deal goes ahead, Occidental has agreed to sell assets including the Mozambique LNG project to French oil major and large LNG trader Total SA. Officials at Total were not immediately available for comment.



Natural gas use is growing rapidly around the world as countries seek to meet rising energy demand and wean their industrial and power sectors off dirtier coal.



The project, which has committed long-term supplies to utilities, major LNG portfolio holders and state companies around the world, underscores the industry’s conviction that LNG demand will soar in years to come despite a slump in prices this year.



Low prices for the gas that is super-cooled for transportation prompted fears final investment decisions (FIDs) such as Anadarko’s would be delayed or scrapped. But the U.S. company gathered enough long-term buyers to underpin the financing of the project.



“Flexible commercial arrangements, including an innovative co-purchase agreement with Tokyo Gas and Centrica, have been instrumental in securing the project a roster of high-quality customers in a crowded LNG market,” said Frank Harris, head of LNG Consulting at Wood Mackenzie.



LNG prices slumped this year as a jump in supply from new terminals in the United States, Australia and Russia were not totally met by higher demand in Asia.



The trade is also nowhere near as developed as the market for crude oil, causing erratic price movements.



“At $20 billion, today’s FID is the largest sanction ever in sub-Saharan Africa oil and gas,” added Jon Lawrence, an analyst with Wood Mackenzie’s sub-Saharan Africa upstream team.



The project is also expected to be transformational for Mozambique, one of the poorest nations on earth beset by economic crisis, conflict stemming from a civil war and serious governance malaise, whose annual gross domestic product is just $13 billion.



The government of Mozambique said the project is expected to create more than 5,000 direct jobs and 45,000 indirect jobs.



With a 12.88 million tonne per year (mtpa) capacity, Mozambique LNG is one of the largest greenfield LNG facilities to have ever been approved. It involves building infrastructure to extract gas from a field offshore northern Mozambique, pump it onshore and liquefy it, ready for further export by LNG tankers.



On the African east coast, the liquefaction plant will be able to sell LNG to both the lucrative Asian market, home to 75%of global LNG demand, and to the flexible European market, which helps balance global LNG trade by soaking up excess supply.



Mozambique LNG joins other mega-projects approved in the past year such as Exxon Mobil Corp’s 16 mtpa U.S. Golden Pass plant and Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s 14 mtpa LNG Canada facility.



Still expected this year are approvals from Exxon for a 15.2 mtpa project also in Mozambique, and from Russia’s Novatek for its 19.8 mtpa Arctic LNG-2 plant.



Anadarko’s partners in the Mozambique LNG project are Mitsui, Mozambique state energy company ENH, Thailand’s PTT and Indian energy firms ONGC, Bharat Petroleum Resources and Oil India.



Reporting by Sabina Zawadzki in London; additional reporting by Scott DiSavino in New York and Debroop Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Jan Harvey, Marguerita Choy and Arun Koyyur

U.S. energy firm Anadarko approves $20 bln LNG export project in this African country

<figure>
 <img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279117/original/file-20190612-32342-1vm3l7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip">
 <figcaption>
 Belo Horizonte’s traditional food market.
 Shutterstock
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 </figure> 


By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brittany-kesselman-754783">Brittany Kesselman</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-the-witwatersrand-894">University of the Witwatersrand</a>

South Africa faces a <a href="https://www.health-e.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/National-Strategy-for-prevention-and-Control-of-Obesity-4-August-latest.pdf">double burden</a> of hunger and malnutrition, on the one hand, and obesity with associated non-communicable diseases (NCDs), on the other. In many countries, in both the global North and South, malnutrition and obesity frequently co-exist in the same people. This is a condition known as “<a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/hidden-hunger-south-africa">hidden hunger</a>”. 

Hidden hunger is a result of various factors. These include poverty, inequality, urbanisation and industrialisation of the food system. The interplay of these factors leaves low income households with very limited access to fresh, healthy foods. Instead, many South Africans – and other people living in similar conditions – subsist on diets high in <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/research-outputs/view/1218">sugar and processed starch</a>. These diets contribute to increasing levels of obesity. But they don’t meet nutritional needs.

My <a href="https://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/handle/10413/16310">research</a> among urban farmers and low-income residents in Johannesburg identified the complexity of factors that influence dietary choices. It also identified the obstacles to accessing healthy food. Cost is a major impediment while physical access, nutritional knowledge, concentration in the food industry and dietary norms also played a role in shaping diets. Without addressing all of these, South Africa will be unable to address the double burden of malnutrition and non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Despite the fact that diet has been a major contributing factor to the growth of NCDs in recent years there are virtually no connections between South Africa’s agricultural and health policies. Policies to address hunger and malnutrition have tended to be housed in the Department of Agriculture. They have focused on increasing production, whether through <a href="http://www.afsun.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Web-Battersby-et-al-Looking-Beyond-Urban-Agriculture.pdf">urban agriculture</a> or support to small-scale farmers in rural areas. 

For its part, the Department of Health remains confined to treatment with medication and limited advice – like diet and exercise. This is despite the fact that the department recognises there needs to be a <a href="https://extranet.who.int/ncdccs/Data/ZAF_B3_NCDs_STRAT_PLAN_1_29_1_3%5B2%5D.pdf">multi-pronged approach</a> to NCDs. 

This needs to change. South African practitioners and policy makers could learn from international examples, where the public and private health sectors have begun to make the link between food and wellness. In particular, policies that were introduced a quarter of a century ago in a city in Brazil provide a useful template of what an integrated approach could look like.

<h2>Connecting the dots</h2>

Innovative policies and programmes in various countries are beginning to link food and health.

To draw a few examples from the United States, which faces high rates of <a href="https://www.who.int/nmh/countries/usa_en.pdf?ua=1">obesity and NCDs</a>, the new field of <a href="https://nutrition.org/the-art-of-cooking-for-health-culinary-medicine/">culinary medicine</a> looks at how dietary changes can restore and maintain health. A number of hospitals are creating <a href="https://www.bu.edu/today/2017/rooftop-farm-at-boston-medical-center/">food gardens</a> to serve healthy meals to patients. Doctors are writing <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5496208/">scripts for fruits and vegetables</a> so that patients can afford them. 

At the same time, in the US and Canada, food banks and other organisations that combat hunger are attempting to distribute healthier foods. These organisations are also <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/214764/the-stop-by-nick-saul-and-andrea-curtis/9780307360793">engaging in advocacy</a> for a more just and equitable food system.

The link is also being made between the livelihoods of food producers and the environmental sustainability of the food system. In the US a non-governmental organisation incentivises recipients of the government’s food assistance programme, SNAP, to buy fresh produce at local farmers’ markets through a <a href="https://www.wholesomewave.org/sites/default/files/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Double-Value-Coupon-Program-Diet-Shopping-Behavior-Study.pdf">double value coupon programme</a>. The UN’s <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4291e.pdf">Purchase from Africa for Africans</a> Programme leverages public procurement for school meals to improve children’s health and education while supporting small-scale family farmers. It draws lessons from Brazil and has been implemented in five African countries. 

The city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil provides a noteworthy example of how innovative, integrated food and nutrition security policies can assist communities. It has been implementing <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/152897901786732735">policies</a> designed to ensure that residents are able to enjoy the right to food for the past 25 years. The city’s programmes include:

<ul>
<li>popular restaurants serving subsidised healthy meals;</li>
<li>shops selling subsidised fresh fruit and vegetables in under-served areas;</li>
<li>a food bank. This reduces food waste by rescuing food otherwise discarded by retailers. The food is then checked and provided to social programmes (such as crèches and old age homes);</li>
<li>farm stalls and farmers’ markets. These enable small-scale farmers to sell directly to consumers, cutting out the middleman and thereby raising incomes;</li>
<li>public procurement from small-scale farmers, especially those using agroecological production methods;</li>
<li>school lunches and school gardens. These ensure that children have access to nutritious meals and that they learn about food production and nutrition.</li>
</ul>

On a <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/news/latest-news/research-news/2018/2018-12/a-healthy-meal-in-every-neighbourhood.html">research visit</a> to Belo Horizonte, I saw how these programmes improve access to fresh fruits and vegetables – a key measure in the fight against malnutrition and obesity. 

They also support decent incomes for small-scale producers through direct market access and public procurement. In addition, environmentally sustainable production is encouraged through reservation of additional public funds to purchase agroecologically-farmed foods. 

Beyond the health and economic benefits, the programmes support social cohesion through communal eating spaces, cultural events that feature local gastronomy, and local farmers’ markets where people can meet the farmers who grow their food and enjoy a sense of community.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Belo Horizonte’s food and nutrition security programme is its low cost: less than 2% of the city’s budget. Another is the degree of cooperation among government departments, as well as partnership with <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i3023e.pdf">civil society organisations</a>. 

When the policies and programmes developed in Belo Horizonte were rolled out nationally, Brazil experienced a notable <a href="https://www.wfp.org/stories/brazil-shows-world-how-beat-hunger-says-wfp-head">decline in hunger</a>. 

The model provides many useful lessons that could greatly benefit South Africa. The Department of Health, along with other government departments and civil society partners, needs to take a bold move to tackle the problems of malnutrition, obesity and associated NCDs through a multi-faceted approach.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118613/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important">

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brittany-kesselman-754783">Brittany Kesselman</a>, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-the-witwatersrand-894">University of the Witwatersrand</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-should-learn-from-brazil-about-how-to-tackle-hidden-hunger-118613">original article</a>.

What South Africa can learn from Brazil on how to tackle ‘hidden hunger’

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/julia-boorstin/">Julia Boorstin</a> 



Facebook is unveiling an ambitious plan to create a new digital currency and financial system to transform the way money moves around the world, and not just on its own apps.



It’s leading a consortium to create an open-source digital currency called Libra, set to launch in the first half of next year. The goal is for developers to create services for consumers to send money around the world easily and for free — with the same convenience as sending a photo or a message.



The Libra currency will not be run by Facebook, but rather by a nonprofit association supported by a range of companies and organizations. But&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=FB" class="">Facebook</a>&nbsp;does have a plan to profit from it with a new subsidiary, Calibra, which is building a digital wallet of the same name for storing and exchanging the currency.



The financial information from your digital wallet will not be used for ad targeting on Facebook’s platforms because the two divisions will be kept totally separate, the company said.



“We’ve seen internet change the game for everything that could be digitized, except for money,” said David Marcus, the leader of Facebook’s Calibra division.



“The numbers really speak for themselves. There’s 1.7 billion people around the world that are unbanked, the same number are underserved by financial services,” said Marcus, who before taking over Facebook’s blockchain initiatives ran its Messenger division and was previously president of PayPal. “Now, anyone with a cheap smartphone has access to all the info they want in the world for free with a basic data plan. Why doesn’t money work the same way?”



The announcement comes after Facebook has faced a slew of privacy issues, raising real questions about whether people will trust the social platform with their financial information. Marcus says that’s why it’s so important that Facebook not be in control of the currency.



“It may sound super controversial but there’s no better way to demonstrate the evolution of our thinking, what we know we should control and what we should not and can not control,” Marcus said. “A network that enables billions of people to move money around the world should not be something we can or should control.”What is Libra?



The new digital currency is set to launch in the first half of 2020. It will be run by a nonprofit, the Libra Association, based in Geneva, Switzerland. Its goal is to be broadly accessible, stable and secure.



Unlike bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which can be hugely volatile and speculative, Libra will be backed by relatively stable government-backed money.



“If you buy $50 of Libra, your $50 makes its way to the Libra Reserve,” said Marcus. “It’s designed to be stable and confer values on Libra that makes it more like a traditional currency than any of the digital currencies are now. This is the way paper money was created.”



The fact that the Libra blockchain is open-source means that anyone can build a service or app that uses the currency. The wallets that are developed to use the service will be interoperable, so you’ll be able to send money from Facebook’s Calibra wallet to any other system that accepts Libra.



Consumers will not interact with the Libra Association, but will only interact with Libra through a digital wallet or an operator. For people who don’t have the ability to digitally purchase Libra with a credit card or digitally linked account, Marcus says he expects companies in emerging markets to create locations where people can exchange Libra for cash.Who’s involved in this digital currency?



Facebook is joined by 27 other companies and organizations that are founding members. The goal is to have at least 100 companies and organizations on board for its launch next year. Each member of the association will manage one of the “nodes,” or locations where transactions involving Libra are validated.



Founding members include companies in the payments space:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=V" class="">Visa</a>, Stripe and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=PYPL" class="">PayPal</a>, which will be able to help merchants accept Libra. Some tech companies are also on board, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=EBAY" class="">eBay</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=LYFT" class="">Lyft</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=UBER" class="">Uber</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=SPOT" class="">Spotify</a>, and Latin American payments platform Mercado Pago, which could drive adoption of acceptance of the currency. Two European telecom companies are also involved, Iliad and Vodafone.



Venture capital investment companies involved have experience with digital payments: Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Initiatives, Ribbit Capital, Thrive Capital, and Union Square Ventures. Nonprofit and academic organizations on board are focused on helping people who don’t have access to banking: Creative Destruction Lab, Kiva, Mercy Corps, and Women’s World Banking. And four blockchain companies are involved: Anchorage, Bison Trails, Coinbase and Xapo Holdings.



“The idea is that [Libra] has mass adoption — lots of trusted companies that want to join the journey, so there’s a chance of this becoming mainstream,” Marcus said.



This list of founding members invested a minimum of $10 million to fund the operating costs of the nonprofit association as well as to launch an incentive program to jumpstart the underlying Libra blockchain and to drive adoption of the currency.Facebook’s Calibra digital wallet



Facebook’s Calibra is a digital wallet that will be accessible as a stand-alone app and integrated into Messenger and WhatsApp. Facebook says it’s designed to enable anyone to securely store money for free on their phone and to allow people to securely send and receive Libra around the world, with no fees for consumers, although Facebook is considering “very low” fees for merchants.



Down the line, Marcus anticipates Facebook will offer other financial services, such as loans, from which it could profit: “If the network is successful, it will be a big opportunity for us to provide lending to all these consumers,” he said.



Facebook’s larger goal is to get people to spend more time on its platforms. This launch will enable the 2.7 billion people who use its various apps every month to more easily make purchases from the 90 million businesses on its platform. The easier it is for these businesses to drive sales on Facebook, the more likely they are to buy ads.



Although Calibra is fully owned by Facebook, it’s operating as a subsidiary kept separate from Facebook’s advertising businesses, so it can be regulated appropriately.



One key use case for Calibra is remittances. Facebook says that every year $25 billion is lost by migrants on fees from the likes of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=WU" class="">Western Union</a>. Marcus says the current process is antiquated: Immigrants send a photo of their receipt from Western Union to family members via WhatsApp so they can collect the money, minus a fee. Calibra would cut Western Union and other money-transfer services out of the equation.



A key for Calibra’s adoption is making it easy to understand exchange rate and transfer money in and out of the currency, says&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/15/instagram-kevin-weil-helped-facebook-beat-snapchat.html" class="">Kevin Weil,&nbsp;</a>Calibra’s VP of Product who formerly oversaw Instagram Stories, Facebook’s successful attempt to battle Snapchat.



“The easier it is to go back and forth [from the local currency to Libra] the more confidence people will have,” he said. “If you’re banked you can imagine connecting your bank account, if you’re not banked then you can imagine a map that shows nearby money transfer experiences.”





Will this whole thing take off?



Libra is the first new cryptocurrency that has a real opportunity to bring digital currency to the mainstream, according to one of Libra’s founding partners, Anchorage, which acts as an institutional custodian for crypto assets.



It solves some of the underpinning issues that other cryptocurrencies have not been able to, to reach this promise, ” says Anchorage President and co-founder Diogo Monica.



“It’s based on a very scalable, highly efficient blockchain, that can do many thousands of transactions per second. And it’s backed by bank deposits and government securities like the U.S. dollar, so it will have low volatility,” Monica said. “The association has so many big players that already have relationships, which solves the chicken-and-egg problem of adoption.”



Monica says that Anchorage will operate one of the many nodes to handle Libra transactions and could sell its services to other members of the association for safekeeping of their Libra assets.



Marcus says if people don’t want to trust Facebook’s Calibra, there will be other apps to access the currency.



To boost its security, Calibra will have the same verification and anti-fraud processes that banks and credit cards use. To gain access users will have to have a valid government ID and use two-factor authentication, leveraging the likes of FaceID. The service will have built-in fraud production and dedicated live support. And if someone accesses a user’s account, Calibra promises to refund any lost assets.



Launching a whole new system comes with its challenges. “Every direction you look there’s stuff you have to figure out from scratch,” said Weil. “Not everyone is familiar with exchange rates, and even the folks that are, aren’t necessarily familiar with digital currency. I’ll take a lot of time to educate people.”



There’s also the question of regulatory approval. Weil says they’re talking to regulators and are in the process of getting money-transfer licenses, which they expect to have secured for a launch next year.



“People will misunderstand and think this is a Facebook thing, ” said Weil. “We incubated it, but it’s designed to be run in a decentralized way.”



This article first appeared on CNBC  <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/facebook-announces-libra-digital-currency-calibra-digital-wallet.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/facebook-announces-libra-digital-currency-calibra-digital-wallet.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Facebook leads consortium creating Libra digital currency, launches Calibra digital wallet

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/jade-scipioni/">Jade Scipioni</a> 



Jeff Bezos started Amazon as an online bookstore in his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/15/photos-inside-seattle-house-where-jeff-bezos-started-amazon.html" class="">garage</a>&nbsp;in 1994. Today, Amazon has a more than $900 billion market cap and Bezos is the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/13/jeff-bezos-launches-day-one-fund-charity-how-he-spends-his-billions.html" class="">richest person in the world</a>&nbsp;with a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/jeffrey-p-bezos/" class="">$116 billion fortune</a>.



Along the way, Bezos has learned a thing or two about what it takes to be someone who succeeds in business. Here is some of his top advice.



Be a missionary



While there is a debate among billionaires on whether or not you should follow your passion — “Shark Tank” star Mark Cuban says such advice is one of the “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/16/mark-cuban-follow-your-passion-is-bad-advice.html" class="">great lies of life</a>, ” for instance — Bezos believes its vital to being a successful entrepreneur. In fact, it’s the people who care who win, he says.



“You have got to have some passion for the arena that you are going to develop and work in, because otherwise you’ll be competing against those who do have passion for that, and they’re going to build better products and services,” Bezos said at Amazon’s re:Mars conference in Las Vegas on June 6.



He added that it’s essential for an entrepreneur to “be a missionary,” you “can’t be mercenary,” meaning that you have to mission-motivated, not money-motivated.



“Missionaries build better products and services — they always win,” said Bezos. “Mercenaries are just trying to make money, and paradoxically the missionaries always end up making more money.”



 Embrace risk and failure



To be successful in business, you also must be willing to take risks, and therefore to fail.



“If you come up with a business idea and there’s no risk there&#8230;it’s probably already being done&#8230;[and] being done well&#8230;. So you have to have something that might not work and you have to accept that your business in many ways is an experiment and it might fail,” Bezos said. “And that’s ok.”



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/08/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-boldest-business-moves.html" class="">Bezos is known for making bold moves</a>: For example, skeptics doubted customers would pay $79 a year for Amazon Prime when it launched in 2005; as of April 2018 the service had 100 million subscribers worldwide.



He’s also had some fails, like Amazon Restaurants, which will&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/11/grubhub-shares-jump-amazon-shuts-down-its-restaurant-delivery-service.html" class="">shut down</a>June 24, or the recent demise of Amazon’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-is-closing-all-pop-up-stores-2019-3" class="">pop-up kiosks</a>.



And Bezos continues to encourage risk-taking at Amazon. In fact, the size of the risks and the failures need to grow with the company, he said.



“We need big failures if we’re going to move the needle” — “billion-dollar scale failures,” Bezos said at re:Mars. “And if we’re not, we’re not swinging hard enough.”



Change your mind



Bezos has learned from interacting with the world’s most influential minds that the people who usually get things right are those who listen the most and who change their minds often.



“What I have found that people who are right change their mind even without getting new data. They have the same data set that they had at the beginning, but they wake up and they reanalyze things all the time and they come to a new conclusion and then they change their mind.”



In fact, people who win typically have worked hard to recognize what beliefs or biases they hold and “actively try to look for evidence that disconfirms” them, Bezos said.



Billionaire Ray Dalio is an example. He built Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world, to function as an “idea meritocracy.”



“The greatest tragedy of mankind — or one of them — is that people needlessly hold wrong opinions in their minds,” <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/12/ray-dalio-says-greatest-tragedy-of-mankind-is-people-clinging-to-wrong-opinions.html">Dalio has said</a>.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/13/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-on-how-to-succeed-in-business.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/13/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-on-how-to-succeed-in-business.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Billionaire Jeff Bezos: This is who ‘always wins’ in business

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/emmie-martin/">Emmie Martin</a> 



“The key to your financial freedom in the future is investing when you are young,” Suze Orman, personal finance expert, best-selling author of<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Women-Money-Revised-Updated-Orman/dp/0812987616/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;amp;psc=1&amp;amp;refRID=4DW7BVRGNY76PRRGC6Q0" class="">“Women &amp; Money”</a>&nbsp;and host of the&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/suze-ormans-women-and-money/id1439621652" class="">“Women and Money” podcast</a>, tells&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/" class="">CNBC Make It</a>.



“I would much rather see you invest a specific amount of money when you are young, a lesser amount of money, than waiting and have to invest five or six times [as much] when you are older,” she says.



That’s because with <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/how-compound-interest-works-and-how-it-can-help-you-save-money.html">compound interest</a>, any interest accrued then earns interest on itself. So the earlier you start, the more your money will grow.



Orman gives the example of a 25-year-old who invests&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/retirement/roth-ira-plan-calculator.aspx" class="">$100 a month in a Roth IRA</a>&nbsp;for 40 years and earns a 12% average annual return. When that person retires at age 65, their investment will be worth just over $1 million.



But not everyone starts putting money away in their 20s. “You think, ‘I don’t have to invest, I’m young,’” Orman says.



If you start investing $100 per month at age 35, though, you’d only have around $300,000 by the time you reach age 65. “Those 10 years just cost you $700,000,” Orman points out.



“How much would you have to be investing later on to make up for that?” she says. “Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars a month.”



It is worth noting that all investments are risky and you’re never guaranteed to earn a 12% rate of return. The S&amp;P 500 index, for instance, has earned an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/18/the-sp-500-has-already-met-its-average-return-for-a-full-year.html" class="">annual average return of 9.8%</a>&nbsp;over the past 90 years, and&nbsp;<a href="https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/tools/benchmarkreturns" class="">other indexes average even less</a>. But even at lower rates of return, the difference between starting at 25 and 35 is significant.



Here’s about how much you’d earn with various average annual rates of return if you invest <a class="" href="https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/retirement/roth-ira-plan-calculator.aspx">$100 per month into a Roth IRA</a> and retire at 65.



 With a 6% rate of return



Starting at age 25: $196,000 Starting at age 35: $100,000



 With an 8% rate of return



Starting at age 25: $335,000 Starting at age 35: $146,000



 With a 10% rate of return



Starting at age 25: $584,000 Starting at age 35: $217,000



“The key isn’t the amount, the key is the time,” Orman says. So, even if you can only contribute $50 a month, do “whatever you can do.”



There are several easy ways to get started. The simplest choice is to contribute to an employer-sponsored 401(k) plan,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/30/the-no-1-retirement-savings-mistake-is-skipping-the-401k-match.html" class="">especially if you’re offered a match</a>, which is essentially free money.



If your company doesn’t offer a 401(k), you can look into other&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/09/definitive-guide-to-retirement-savings-accounts.html" class="">tax-advantaged retirement savings accounts</a>, such as a Roth IRA, a traditional IRA or a SEP IRA.



Outside of retirement accounts, many experts, including Warren Buffett, recommend <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/19/warren-buffett-and-tony-robbins-agree-invest-in-index-funds.html">investing in low-cost index funds</a>, which allow you to own a small piece of many different companies. You can curate a mix of funds yourself or <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/02/i-invested-my-first-7000-dollars-heres-where-i-decided-to-put-it.html">use a robo-advisor</a>, which does the work for you.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/10/suze-orman-why-you-should-start-investing-in-your-20s.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/10/suze-orman-why-you-should-start-investing-in-your-20s.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Suze Orman: Why you should start investing in your 20s

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/lucy-handley/">Lucy Handley</a>



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=AMZN" class="">Amazon</a>&nbsp;has overtaken&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=GOOGL" class="">Google</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=AAPL" class="">Apple</a>&nbsp;to become the world’s most valuable brand at $315.5 billion, according to a ranking of global companies, up 52% on last year.



Apple comes second, valued at $309.5 billion, with Google in third place, at $309 billion, according to the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brand ranking 2019, compiled by WPP research agency Kantar and released Tuesday.



Google and Apple had spent a combined 12 years at the top of the list, with Google taking the top spot in 2018.



Doreen Wang, Kantar’s global head of BrandZ, said Amazon’s jump was due to it selling a variety of services. “Amazon’s phenomenal brand value growth of almost $108 billion in the last year demonstrates how brands are now less anchored to individual categories and regions. The boundaries are blurring as technology fluency allow brands, such as Amazon, Google and Alibaba, to offer a range of services across multiple consumer touchpoints,” she said in a statement emailed to CNBC.



<a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/17/amazon-makes-several-start-up-investments-revenue-growth-slows.html">Amazon has been increasing investments in a range of companies</a> as its core business slows, including self-driving car start-up Aurora and electric truck company Rivian, as well as expanding <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/15/amazon-will-compete-with-fedex-and-ups-to-become-logistics-company.html">Amazon Air</a>, its airplane business. It bought online pharmacy PillPack for $753 million in 2018 and last month led a $575 million funding round into food delivery company Deliveroo.



Four of the BrandZ top ten were made up of more traditional brands including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=V" class="">Visa</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=MCD" class="">McDonald’s</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=T" class="">AT&amp;T</a>. Microsoft comes in at fourth place, as it did in 2018.



Technology companies have always dominated the ranking, with <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=MSFT">Microsoft</a> taking the top spot when BrandZ began in 2006. This year, Alibaba (valued at $131.2 billion) overtook Tencent ($130.9 billion) to become the most valuable Chinese brand. There is a total of 15 Chinese brands in the list of 100 companies, including mobile handset company Xiaomi (valued at $19.8 billion) and Meituan ($18.8 billion), a tech platform people can use to order food deliveries, book hotel rooms and arrange bike rentals.



David Roth, chair of BrandZ, said the companies that did well were those that mastered this new model of different services. “Brands need to understand the value this type of model can create and should embrace its approach to be successful in the future,” he said in an emailed statement.



Tech, finance and retail brands dominate the overall ranking, making up more than two-thirds of its value, while&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/04/the-luxury-sector-is-growing-faster-than-many-others-and-gucci-leads.html" class="">luxury is the fastest-growing category</a>.



To qualify for the ranking, brands must be publicly traded, or publish their financial results. BrandZ’s list combines measures of brand equity based on interviews with more than 3 million consumers about thousands of brands, with analysis of each company’s business and financial performance, using data from Kantar Worldpanel.



The world’s most valuable brands 2019



<ol class="wp-block-list"><li>Amazon $315.5 billion</li><li>Apple $309.5 billion</li><li>Google $309 billion</li><li>Microsoft $251.2 billion</li><li>Visa $177.9 billion</li><li>Facebook $159 billion</li><li>Alibaba $131.2 billion</li><li>Tencent $130.9 billion</li><li>McDonald’s $130.4 billion</li><li>AT&amp;T $108.4 billion</li></ol>



Source: BrandZ



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/11/amazon-beats-apple-and-google-to-become-the-worlds-most-valuable-brand.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/11/amazon-beats-apple-and-google-to-become-the-worlds-most-valuable-brand.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Amazon beats Apple and Google to become the world’s most valuable brand

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/kathleen-elkins/">Kathleen Elkins</a>



Warren Buffett is anything but average: The legendary investor has an approximate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/warren-buffett/#19540ea74639" class="">net worth of $82 billion</a>, making him the third richest person in the world. At 88, he still runs Berkshire Hathaway, his holding company that owns businesses like Geico, Dairy Queen and See’s Candies.



A key to Buffett’s extraordinary success, though, is a refreshingly simple habit and “something anyone can do,” his longtime friend Bill Gates&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Grilling-and-chilling-with-Warren-Buffett?WT.mc_id=06_01_2019_00_BerkshireHathaway2019_BG-EM_&amp;amp;WT.tsrc=BGEM" class="">pointed out in a recent blog post</a>: He reads every day.



Buffett, who spends between <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/15/warren-buffett-and-mark-cuban-agree-reading-is-key-to-success.html">five and six hours a day paging through books</a> and newspapers, finds it “enjoyable to think about business and investment problems,” he says in HBO’s documentary <a class="" href="http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/becoming-warren-buffett">“Becoming Warren Buffett.”</a>



Plus, staying up to date on business news and current events is a relatively simple way to gain a competitive advantage. “Everybody can read what I read. It is a level playing field,” Buffett used to tell his late wife,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/14/6-influential-people-in-billionaire-investor-warren-buffetts-life.html" class="">Susan Buffett</a>, according to the HBO documentary.



“And he loves that because he is competitive,” Susan said of Buffett. “He’s sitting there all by himself in his office, reading these things that everybody else can read, but he loves the idea that he is going to win.”



Tech entrepreneur and self-made billionaire Mark Cuban is also an avid reader and has used the habit to get ahead in his career. He recognized the value that reading could return early in his career, while building his first technology business, MicroSolutions.



“I remember reading the PC DOS manual (I really did), and being proud that I could figure out how to set up startup menus for my customers,” he writes&nbsp;<a href="http://blogmaverick.com/2011/04/07/shark-tank-success-motivation/" class="">on his blog.</a>&nbsp;“I read every book and magazine I could. Heck, $3 for a magazine, $20 for a book. One good idea that led to a customer or solution and it paid for itself many times over.”



“Everything I read was public,” he adds. “Anyone could buy the same books and magazines. The same information was available to anyone who wanted it. Turns out most people didn’t want it.”



For Cuban, taking the time to “get a knowledge advantage” helped him outperform competitors, he says. “A guy with little computer background could compete with far more experienced guys, just because I put in the time to learn all I could.”



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/03/bill-gates-this-is-the-key-to-warren-buffetts-success.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/03/bill-gates-this-is-the-key-to-warren-buffetts-success.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

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Why Bill Gates says his 20-year-old self would be ‘so disgusted’ with him today

Credit rating agencies continue to get away with bad behaviour, here’s why

Bill Gates reveals his ‘greatest mistake’ that potentially cost Microsoft $400 billion

Here’s why Orange sees Ethiopia’s telco liberalisation taking shape in 2020

Apple’s Tim Cook and Steve Jobs agree: ‘Time is limited, so don’t waste it’ on this

Suzy Welch: 2 words you should never say in a job interview

U.S. energy firm Anadarko approves $20 bln LNG export project in this African country

What South Africa can learn from Brazil on how to tackle ‘hidden hunger’

Facebook leads consortium creating Libra digital currency, launches Calibra digital wallet

Billionaire Jeff Bezos: This is who ‘always wins’ in business

Suze Orman: Why you should start investing in your 20s

Amazon beats Apple and Google to become the world’s most valuable brand

Bill Gates: A key to Warren Buffett’s success is ‘something anyone could do’

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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