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The details are a little scanty on this one, but it has the makings of a biggie, so we’ll share with you what we know: Gauteng Province and Massmart will be partnering to establish 500 retail stores in the province’s townships over we’re not told what period. That’s no less than a R650mealion investment to be injected into the townships of Katlehong, Attridgeville, Sharpeville, Randfontein, Alexandra and Khutsong as a pilot project, providing township entrepreneurs the opportunity to own a little slice of the independent trade pie. And with more than 1,000 jobs for the taking thanks to the initiative, the township folk are smiling all round, no doubt.

Comment: Commendable stuff from the Men in Black and one of our provincial governments. Let’s hope this one goes viral, and not like the flu kind doing the rounds at the moment.

Comment: So the small to medium-sized guys do pose a real and powerful threat when the conditions stack up in their favour. Another reason for the township folk from our previous story to smile.

Premise no. 1: We’ve never quite wrapped our heads around SENS announcements, but we’re pretty sure you’re smarter than us, so here’s the story and then make of it what you will. Premise no. 2: On 13 February 2015, the shareholders of SPAR approved a special resolution authorising its Board to provide financial assistance to related and inter-related companies. Now the Verdant One has resolved to provide a guarantee to the Bank of Ireland to secure “banking facilities” (moola?) for Caher Limited (an Irish subsidiary of SPAR) amounting to €220million – or in other words one-tenth of 1% of SPAR’s net worth.

Comment: And what will Caher Limited be doing with all that dosh? We await with baited breath.

Comment: Not a huge deal for Nestlé overall then, but it does bring us back to that age-old adage: Africa is not for cissies.

We’re not entirely sure how this one dropped off our radar earlier this month, but here it is, blipping again in graphics as green as its reduced carbon footprint. Unilever has opened a R1.4billion home care factory in Boksburg which promises to deliver a 50% reduction in the carbon emission footprint and a 70% reduction in water usage per ton. But that’s not all. The new establishment will also help to create much needed indirect and direct jobs in the value-chain which is great for both our employment and GDP figures. Thanks to the brand new plant, Unilever can look forward to a 67% increase in production capacity of Omo, Handy Andy, Domestos, Comfort, Sunlight and others and will be upgrading the supply chain to world class levels. “Our aim is to have the right stock at the right place in record time matching the quantities expected by the shoppers,” says Unilever CEO Paul Polman.

Comment: Nice work guys. Keep it green.

Remember how petrol prices plummeted so nicely at the end of last year, and our wallets were just bursting with extra Madiba notes? Well, maybe not the last part, but we certainly were all hoping that maybe, just maybe, prices would come down. They say all good things come to an end, and this is no less the case when it comes to inflation. CPI came in at 4.6% in May, the highest level this year, and prospects for the rest of it are not looking rosy. On the up side though, retail sales results came out looking ok, increasing by 3.4% year-on-year in April which was much more than expected.

Comment: But then maybe we have got used to expecting not very much at all, haven’t we?

Apparently Walmart owns more than $76billion of assets through units in offshore tax havens around the world, with its operations overseas cutting more than $3.5billion off its income tax bills in the past six years. This based on a report by the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union, that a Walmart spokesman has called incomplete and “designed to mislead”. Insert own opinion here.