The growing importance of failure as a strategy for success
Traditional businesses that make a habit of trying out new ideas are more likely to survive disruptive innovations, even if most of those experiments end in failure, says Amy Wilkinson, entrepreneur and author of the The Creator’s Code: The Six Essential Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs. “You can fail catastrophically if you aren’t trying anything new,” she says. “What you want to be doing is failing incrementally.” Starting this week, Wilkinson will be at the Worldwebforum, where CNNMoney Switzerland is a media partner.
Fighting the war against terrorist financing
The world’s top 10 terrorist organizations have an estimated annual budget of USD 3.6 billion, according to AlixPartners. Veit Buetterlin, a director at the consulting firm, warns that the fight against the financing of terrorism needs to be a collective effort by countries as it becomes more globalized and complex.
Investors cast eyes ahead to U.S. election “Super Tuesday”
March 3, also known as Super Tuesday, is a key date in the U.S. primary elections that will give investors important clues as to which candidates are leading the race. It will also set the course for markets, says Thomas Wille, head of research and strategy at LGT.
Swiss entrepreneurs double as investors in start-ups
Wingman Ventures, a Zurich-based firm focused on financing early-stage Swiss technology start-ups, has invested $10 million of the $50 million it has raised to date. This is according to Alex Stöckl, who started the company in 2017 with Pascal Mathis and Lukas Weder, co-founders of GetYourGuide and EAT.ch, respectively. He says finding investors for the fund has been far harder than finding start-ups to invest in. Companies in the portfolio include Wingtra, Ava and 9T Labs.
Bitcoin investors forecast rally in 2020 ahead of “halving”
Expect higher Bitcoin prices this year, but also more volatility, ahead of the “halving” of Bitcoin, says Alain Kunz, founder and CEO of TokenSuisse. He expects Bitcoin to rally to over $10,000 in 2020 but also adds that the halving process—where miners’ reward is cut in half—may already be largely priced in.
U.S. election to dominate markets in 2020
This could be a tough year for stocks, with the U.S. presidential race likely to keep investors guessing through the summer, says Matthias Geissbühler, chief investment officer at Raiffeisen Switzerland. “It’s hard to see markets rally ahead of the election.”
Triple or nothing: Swisspartners CIO predicts 15-year growth
Equity investors could triple their returns over the next 15 years, according to Peter Ahluwalia, CIO at Swisspartners, shrugging off current geopolitical risks. He says that investors “have just finished paying the bills for the millennium hangover party” and predicts a period of economic growth ahead.
Can business leaders act as mediators in the Middle East?
Business leaders should have a bigger role in mediating conflicts in the Middle East since many have close relationships with the actors involved, says Achim Wennmann, senior researcher at the Graduate Institute Geneva. “Business people, in particular senior business people, are some of the best connected people in the world.”
MoneyPark: Swiss mortgage rates set to rise in 2020
Swiss mortgage rates have increased since mid-2019 as recession fears fade, and they will probably continue to inch upward in 2020 “albeit from a very attractive and low base,” says Stefan Heitmann, CEO of MoneyPark.
Rough road ahead for Swiss auto-part makers
Auto-part makers—a sector that comprises 580 companies and employs 35,000 people in Switzerland—urgently need to overhaul their business models and cut costs to survive the changes sweeping the car industry, says Sven Siepen, senior partner at Roland Berger.
IBM announces blockchain-based app to trace coffee
Coffee lovers will soon be able to trace their daily brew back to the farmer by using a Swiss-made mobile app based on blockchain technology. Tatjana Meier, senior managing consultant at IBM in Switzerland, is leading development of the “Thank My Farmer” app. She says consumers, especially young adults, want to know that their coffee has been processed “in a sustainable way and in a fair way.”
Middle East tensions shake markets, but investors hold their nerve
Global markets have retreated amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran, with investors fleeing to safe-haven assets. But Alastair McCaig, Fern Wealth’s director of Investment Management, argues that if the markets were seriously worried about it, we would have seen more aggressive reactions.
The unresolved relationship between Switzerland and the EU
Whether the sticking point is migration or sovereignty, the relationship status between Switzerland and the EU remains complicated. And according to economists Cornelia Meyer, Stefan Gerlach and Marie Owens Thomsen, it’s a “very difficult situation” that shows no signs of clarity in 2020.
The far-reaching consequences of uncertainty on trade, Brexit
The “power struggle” of ongoing trade tensions. The “up and down and sideways” of the upcoming—and potentially rocky—Brexit trade negotiations. One thing is for certain in 2020: Nothing is certain. Hannah Wise sits down with a panel of economists who paint a wary picture for the year ahead.
