Professional Business Network

While the price of petrol will drop back below R10 next week, analysts are predicting price hikes for the rest of 2011.

Motorists should not celebrate the announcement of a decrease in fuel prices and prepare for significant hikes for the remainder of 2011, analysts said on Friday.

The energy department announced a decrease of 33c a litre in 93 unleaded petrol (ULP) and lead replacement petrol (LRP) from next Wednesday, along with a drop of 31c a litre in 95 ULP and LRP petrol.

Accordingly 93 octane fuel will retail at R9.62 a litre at the coast and R9.92 in Gauteng. Read Full Post…

North Carolina residents who want to own certain weapons regulated by the National Firearms Act should consider the advantages of an NFA Gun Trust specifically designed for use in North Carolina.

From NorthCarolinaGunTrustLawyer.com:

WHAT IS AN NFA TRUST?

NFA firearms (also called NFA weapons) are certain guns and accessories regulated by the National Firearms Act. They are sometimes called “Class 3 weapons.” NFA firearms include all fully automatic and select fire weapons, short barreled rifles and shotguns and sound suppressors (silencers). NFA firearms include things that you might not expect.

Suppose that your father brought home a “deactivated” machine gun from World War II?

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Employer confidence remains strong despite a predicted drop in sentiment over the July-September 2011 quarter, with just under a third of employers set to grow staff numbers over the next three months.

The Hudson Australia Employment Expectations report shows that all industries have positive employment expectations for the next quarter, as they look to strengthen their workforce and position themselves for future growth.

Almost a third of Australian employers will increase staff numbers during the next quarter, with those employers in resources and construction better off than those in trade-based industries in the battle for the best talent.

“The job market is buoyant in certain sectors, which works in favour of employees, as employers face increased competition for the most talented candidates, forcing some companies to raise salaries and offer more appealing contract opportunities in order to attract and retain the most skilled employees,” Hudson ANZ CEO Mark Steyn said.

Resources remains the most confident industry nationally, with 59 percent of employers planning to increase staff over the next quarter. The

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Joe Stump, CEO and founder of SimpleGeo, put together this slide deck on starting your startup. 99% of the presentation is key for anyone starting a business. The other 1% is for people starting a technology startup.

Choosing your technology stack is one of many decisions you’ll have to make when creating a company from scratch. Along with this, you’ll need to figure out who you should found a company with, who you should take money from, what the company culture should be, management processes, and who to hire when. Joe will be covering basic technology stack choices as well as other critical decisions one faces when starting a startup.

Key Takeaways

• Starting a company is really hard. Don

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Walmart’s acquisition of a majority stake in Massmart raised no competition concerns, but did raise some public interest issues, the Competition Tribunal said on Wednesday.

“It does raise certain public interest concerns, but these concerns are adequately remedied by the imposition of the conditions submitted as undertakings by the merging parties,” the tribunal said in a statement on its reasons for approving the deal.

The tribunal conditionally approved the deal on May 31, but only gave its reasons for this on Wednesday.

“Walmart does not compete with Massmart in South Africa and its only presence in the country is a small procurement arm that sources local products for its stores globally.

It couldn’t hurt
“In light of the above, we find that the transaction would not substantially prevent or lessen competition in any of the markets that Massmart presently operates in.”

However, the Competition Act says a merger may still be prohibited or subject to conditions, on the grounds of public interest.

“Unless the merger is the cause of the public interest concerns, we have no remit to do anything about them. Read Full Post…

Zynga, the gaming company behind such Facebook behemoths as FarmVille and CityVille, is poised for an IPO that could raise as much as $2 billion—which would turn it into a $20 billion company, reports Reuters. Analysts expect Zynga, with 215 million active monthly users, to file its paperwork today for the IPO, which would be an important bellwether for the value of social media companies.

The biggest two social media IPOs this year have had mixed results—LinkedIn has declined from its opening highs, although it is still above its initial price, while Chinese Renren has lost half of its value since opening in May. Man

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I’ve been at the North Carolina Guardianship Association conference for the last couple of days.  One issue that I never really gave much thought to is that the Veterans Administration, as a federal agency, does not recognize state guardianships.  Neither the adjudication of incompetency under state law nor the appointment of a guardian is given credence by the VA.

Thus, a guardian has no authority to deal with VA benefit payments, and must initiate a federal proceeding to attempt to gain that right.  The VA will make its own determination of incompetency, based on different standards than state law.  Then, if the veteran or spouse is determined to be incompetent, a federal fiduciary is appointed.  This may or may not be the same person as the guardian.

The federal fiduciary deals only with the VA payments, and must use the money in accordance with a strict spending plan set by the VA.  There is virtually no discretion involved.