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Billions of rands have been lost to South Africa through fraud, corruption and mismanagement in the past decade – according to past Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, the total may be as much as R 100 billion.  But how many of us really understand how much a billion of anything actually is? Until the mid-1970s, the United Kingdom viewed a billion as the equivalent of a million million.  The United States, however, defined a billion differently as a thousand million.  Today, the American definition of a billion is accepted universally and a trillion is now equal to one million million. [...]

In September 2016, ITRISA was appointed by Trade & Investment KwaZulu Natal, to conduct a third set of Entrepreneur Development Training courses in Durban, this time ‘Advanced Exporter Training’ for those individuals/company representatives who have already undergone introductory export training. Four three-day courses were conducted between November 2016 and the end of March 2017.  The programme covered a range of export logistics and financial issues, including a day dedicated to international marketing which culminated in business and export marketing planning. Feedback from the client and course participants has been excellent.  According to Francois Bietrix, Export Development Manager at TIKZN, the most [...]

US President Donald Trump has shaken the foundations of global trade, slapping steep tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of goods from the EU, Canada, Mexico and China.  All these countries have retaliated with levies on thousands of US products.  This has placed many of the world’s largest economies at each other’s throats. Trump has since, on two different occasions, slapped further tariffs on goods from China with the result that approximately 40% of Chinese imports (half of which are consumer goods) entering America are now subject to tariffs. But what is a trade war? How does protectionism work? [...]

Registration for the mid-year cycle of the Higher Certificate in International Trade, the two-year Advanced Certificate in International Trade (Exports) or (Imports) and the three-year Diploma in International Trade Management (Exports) or (Imports) now open. Training material, however, will be despatched to registered students as soon as the updated versions are available. All newcomers to ITRISA’s Distance Learning Programme wishing to register for the mid-year study cycle are required to do so before the 3rd August 2018.  Existing students writing their final examinations in June will have until the end of the first week of August in which to register for the [...]

From time to time, ITRISA is approached by client companies looking to employ its graduates. Although ITRISA is not in the recruitment business, we are always happy to introduce (on a pro bono basis) students/graduates who are actively seeking positions in export import to those of our clients who have indicated that they have vacancies for ITRISA-qualified/partially-qualified individuals to fill certain trade-related positions in their establishments. We currently have two companies looking to fill vacant export/import positions. One is a small, Johannesburg-based trading company that has been involved in exports and cross trade for more than 26 years but [...]

After a much-needed short break over the Christmas period, the ITRISA team wasted no time breaking out of the starting gate in 2017. ‘Training kicked off with a five-day ‘Complete Export Administration Course’ in Johannesburg towards the end of January, followed soon afterwards by a one-day ‘Getting Ready for Export Import’ session in KwaZulu-Natal. Following a run of in-house and project-related training activities, and the conduct of a number of one-day courses in Johannesburg during February and March, the focus in April/May is on the coastal cities where ITRISA will be busy with both in-company training and the conduct [...]

ITRISA kicked off 2019 with a 5-day ‘Complete Export Import Administration’ course which was conducted in-company from the 7th-11th of January in Durban.  A busy round of public courses now follows, including some new ones that are the result of popular request. Upcoming courses include the ‘Complete Import Administration’ course in Johannesburg (21st -25th January); a series of introductory 1-day ‘Getting Ready for Exports/Imports’ sessions in Durban (Jan 30th), Cape Town (Jan 30th) and Port Elizabeth (Feb 8th); and a ‘Complete Export Import Administration’ course in Port Elizabeth from the 11th to the 15th February. Other courses taking place in Johannesburg (Rivonia) in February are: Getting Ready for Exports –  Tuesday, 19th February Getting Ready for Imports – Wednesday 20th February                                          Claiming Duty Refunds, Drawbacks and Rebates [...]

Executive Director, Rose Blatch, and ITRISA Operations Manager, Lindie Dlodlo, recently attended the 41st annual forum of the International Association of Trade Training Organisations (IATTO) in the USA. Despite a gruelling 24 hour journey there, and a disturbed night at the forum hotel because a fire alarm went off in the early hours of the morning, they returned well satisfied with the time and effort invested. Speakers and participants represented countries from around the world (UK, Nigeria, Greece, Mexico, Australia, China, Taiwan, South Africa, etc.) and of course, the USA; while a wealth of interesting trade-related topics were [...]

Economists warn that another global economic slump could well be on the cards this year.  The world is more indebted today than it was before the onset of the global financial crisis at the end of 2007, and debt as we all know, has a crippling effect on governments, companies and individuals. According to the Bank for International Settlements (a Switzerland-based international financial institution that serves as a bank for the world’s central banks), global debt at the close of 2017 was equal to a massive 217% of the world GDP, up more than 20% from 2007.  In emerging [...]

Did you know that ITRISA’s 3-year, distance learning Diploma in International Trade Management programme provides access to the global IATTO ‘World Trade Professional’ designation, recognised across six continents as the professional designation for international trade practitioners? Award of the designation confers on an individual the right to use the letters WTP after his or her name on cvs and business cards. Apart from securing an IATTO-certified qualification, applicants for the WTP are required to have a minimum of 2 years’ relevant work experience, commit to a WTP Code of Ethics and take part in a Continuing Professional Development Programme.  The purpose of [...]