Even by SA standards, the past 15 months have been pretty rocky. The firing of the country’s internationally respected finance minister was a constant possibility, until it became a reality. That reality included a ratings downgrade that ensured a weak economic outlook became a much grimmer one. Further north it was increasingly evident the Africa growth story was losing its lustre. There was going to be no commodity-spurred short cut to sustained growth and development. In hindsight, perhaps October 2015 wasn’t the best time for the largest beer group in the world to launch a takeover bid for the second-largest one, SABMiller. But if AB InBev is suffering any buyer’s remorse, its frontman in Africa is keeping it well hidden. Brazilian-born Ricardo Tadeu (40) says he and his company are very happy they took the leap into Africa. "We’re confident about the mid-to long-term perspective," says Tadeu, who arrived in SA in October 2016. "Of course we didn’t expect volumes in Africa to dr...
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