Rounding out September's #InnovationMonth content theme, today's top story introduces you to Biltong Board, a small business disrupting South Africa's biltong industry. I sat down with founder Maxime Eon recently to hear all about how the company links biltong lovers with over 70 producers of quality biltong product and his exciting plans to open a dedicated biltong bar in Cape Town's city centre this summer!

We also have the full winners list from the 2017 Sunday Times Top Brands survey. Congrats to KFC, winner of the Consumer Overall Favourite Brand Grand Prix, and Coca-Cola, which walked away with the Consumer Green Award as well as the Consumer Social Investment Award. Vodacom claimed the Business Overall Favourite Brand title.

The world's best product packaging was also awarded at the Pentawards 2017 in Barcelona last week. Click through to see the cream of the crop in packaging design.

In other top news this week, Pick n Pay now allows its customers the option of purchasing groceries on credit through its newly launched Store Account, a move that is seeing a fair amount of public criticism.

Opinion pieces worthy of a read this week: 'Integrated payments - the new holy grail for retailers' by Mastercard SA's Victor De Kock, 'How SA's retailers can overcome stunted growth forecasts' by Absa's Rod Salmon and 'Leveraging digital technology for a seamless, 360-degree customer journey' by T-Systems SA's Lindy Lee.

Be sure to keep an eye on our #EntrepreneurMonth special section which will be updated throughout October and November with African entrepreneurial success stories.

Enjoy!

Lauren Hartzenberg
Retail Editor: Bizcommunity.com


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