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‘Successful people who pretend they have it all worked out and have executed flawless plans to get to their objective – are not being truthful. Be careful of these posers … In reality, business and life is a series of successes and setbacks.’ After bailing out of the corporate world, new-media journalist Matthew Buckland built a digital-marketing and media business, Creative Spark, that employed 70+ people and counted top global and local brands as clients. He fulfilled many an entrepreneur’s dream when, after five years, he sold his baby for millions to one of the most famous names in global advertising: the listed UK group M&C Saatchi. But a few years later, he was out on his own again with a new venture – and now with an unexpected battle to fight, the biggest of his life. 'So You Want to Build a Startup?' is a frank, refreshing account of the difficulties – and the fun – of building a business. It is filled with practical advice for entrepreneurs on how to open the door to opportunity, life lessons, and insights into South Africa’s own dotcom boom and bust. Expect tales of crazy business expansion, wacky characters, management failures and personal growth as well as a complete ecosystem overview for South African startups.

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Stefaans Coetzee was maar 19 jaar oud toe hy op Oukersdag 1996 saam met twee ander verregses bomme by die Shoprite-winkel in Worcester geplant het. Vier mense – onder wie drie kinders – sterf in dié verwoestende ontploffings en Stefaans se lewe verander onherroeplik. Hy word tot moordenaar veroordeel en vir veertig jaar tronk toe gestuur. In die gevangenis kruis sy pad met wit en swart tronkbewaarders, bendelede en medegevangenes – en dié interaksie oortuig die hardkoppige jong man om met sy slagoffers versoen te raak. Stelselmatig verander Stefaans, 'n geharde rassis en lid van die Wit Wolwe, in iemand wat met nuwe oë na homself, sy verlede, en die mense om hom kyk. 'n Roerende en onvergeetlike ware verhaal van versoening en hoop.

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‘I hated being pregnant with you. I used to cry the whole day. I hated carrying you in my stomach.’ Thuli Nhlapo grew up constantly hearing these words from her mother. She was seven years old when she realised that no one called her by name. Known as "Yellow”, she was bullied at home and at school. Fearing that she had a terrible disease, she withdrew into herself. Years later, Thuli is still haunted by her childhood experiences. She confronts her mother about her real father and real surname. Getting no answers, Thuli embarks on years of searching for the truth. In the process, she uncovers unsettling family secrets that irrevocably change all their lives.

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When, in the 1990s, Wilhelm Verwoerd spoke out against his grandfather's racist policies, his father called him a traitor. After many years of working in Northern Ireland, brokering peace between former enemies, he returns to his homeland to make his own peace. Back home, as he listens to his black neighbours' and friends' painful stories of the past, he struggles to reconcile the hated symbol of apartheid with the loving husband he encounters in Betsie Verwoerd's intimate diaries. This moving memoir examines the complexities of having Verwoerd blood in your veins in the full knowledge that HF Verwoerd had blood on his hands. It is an unflinchingly honest look at loyalty, kinship and the demands of restitution in South Africa.

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Celebrated author Elsa Joubert has been a traveller to foreign places all her life. With this memoir, completed in her 95th year, she explores the continent of old age. It is a searing, honest account of ageing, as she settles into a cosmopolitan Cape Town retirement home along with the Englishman across the passage, her Dutch friend Jo Struik, and the support of StomJapie. It also tells of the force of returning memories; of her sister's early death, rivalry with her brother, family holidays in Strand, and the delights of a garden. Interspersing acute insights with dark humour, this book is wise, courageous and deeply moving.

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Christo Wiese – once the owner of a diamond mine, a wine farm and the most expensive house in Cape Town. Former chairman of South Africa's largest retailer, director of the Reserve Bank and the richest man in the country. As a young man, Wiese cut his teeth at Pep Stores. Over the years he built a mighty business empire, which included Shoprite and a number of other enterprises. His recipe for success: an endless love for cutting deals, a fearless appetite for risk and a keen eye for a bargain. This man of great charm has never been afraid of sailing close to the wind. Over the course of 50 years these calculated risks paid off, making him one of the most successful businessmen of his generation – until he encountered the furniture group Steinhoff, and things went awry. Business journalist and writer TJ Strydom tells the story of one of South Africa's best-known business giants in a fresh, engaging way.

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Op sy dag eienaar van 'n diamantmyn, 'n wynplaas én die duurste huis in Kaapstad. Voorsitter van Suid-Afrika se grootste kleinhandelaar. Direkteur van die Reserwebank, en die rykste man in die land. As jong man het Christo Wiese sy tande by Pep Stores geslyp. Mettertyd bou hy 'n magtige sakeryk op, wat Shoprite en 'n rits ander maatskappye insluit. Sy wenresep: 'n eindelose liefde vir transaksies, 'n vreeslose aptyt vir risiko en 'n oog vir 'n winskopie. Dié sjarmante sakeman was nog nooit bang om 'n kans te waag nie. Die berekende risiko's wat hy oor 50 jaar neem, maak hom hoogs suksesvol. Tot hy die meubelgroep Steinhoff teëkom, en dinge lelik skeefloop. Sakejoernalis en skrywer TJ Strydom vertel die verhaal van een van Suid-Afrika se bekendste sakereuse op 'n vars, pakkende manier.

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This sequel to Jennifer Friedman’s enchanting first memoir picks up where 'Queen of the Free State' leaves off: as the rebellious young teenager is packed off to boarding school in Cape Town. Told with humour and pathos, the theme of displacement – of the outsider – is explored further as we follow Jennifer’s journey into adulthood, becoming a wife and mother, living in Johannesburg and Israel, emigration, and leave-takings in Australia. Once again a strong sense of love, loyalty and place prevails, especially on her trips home to her beloved Free State. Expect stories about train journeys, windmills and floods, dead bodies on deck chairs, certifiably crazy home-help, babies, secrets and redemption, a Jewish British Bulldog and the Messiah’s favourite place.

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Met meer as 7 000 verhoogoptredes op sy kapstok is Pieter-Dirk Uys volksbesit. In hierdie boek, sy skreeusnaakse, roerende memoires, tree die mens agter die ikoon te voorskyn. Ons leer ken sy moeilike, musikaal-gedrewe pa, sy briljante, geheimsinnige ma, sy suster, die pianis-wonderkind, en Sannie Abader, «Pietertjie» se Kaapse Vlakte-ma. Dan is daar sy Paarlse ouma wat hom neem om by die Verwoerds te gaan kuier, sy ander Oma en haar onverbeterlike strudel, sy vriendskap met Sophia Loren, die geboorte van Evita Bezuidenhout, en die vreugdes en hartseer van ’n merkwaardige lewe.

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South African icon Pieter-Dirk Uys has been on stage over 7000 times. In this funny and tender memoir, Uys reveals the person behind the persona. We meet his forbidding, musically driven Afrikaner father, his brilliant but troubled mother, and Sannie Abader, his Cape Flats ma who raised him in Pinelands, Cape Town. Filled with photographs from the family album and 40 years of satire, this book also features Pieter's Paarlse ouma, his strudel-baking German Oma, his devotion to Sophia Loren, the invention of Evita Bezuidenhout, and the joys and sorrows of a remarkable life.

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