#WomensMonth is well under way with the winners of the Fairlady Women of the Future Awards 2016 having been announced on Friday. Congratulations to Sarah Collins of Wonderbag and Moyin Oloruntoba of The A1, who is this year's Rising Star, and all the other extraordinary finalists for being an inspiration to the women of South Africa.

Leigh Andrews covered #CEMAfrica, where she learnt more about the value of customer experience (CX) in emerging markets. Qaalfa Dibeehi, VP of CX at Forrester, "predicts we'll see much more mention of the implications of customer motivation and why they choose to associate with certain brands over others in future", she reports.

In other news, Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini was recently hosted by Slow Food Johannesburg and Cape Town, which this year made the pledge to create 10,000 food gardens in SA to help save Africa's biodiversity. What's more, the Ark of Taste, an international catalogue of endangered heritage foods maintained by the global Slow Food organisation, received a new addition during Petrini's visit, namely farmer Phila Cele's 'Chilli of Soweto', making it the 45th on the list of species and products unique to our country.

Next month will see the launch of Australia's Ribs & Burgers in Menlyn Maine, Pretoria, the local concept of which will be spearheaded by the Southern African Veteran and Vintage Association and Tashas' Natasha Sideris.

Watch this space!

Jessica Tennant, Retail Editor (@Biz_Retail)
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