Wow! And we're off to a crazy start! Bizcommunity officially ended its silly season last Monday, but we're going at full throttle today as most staff report back to work. I had a restful, albeit short, break away from the office and hope you too took some time off to rejuvenate.

After reading through a number of contributor pieces highlighting prospective trends in 2011, which will be published during the coming weeks, I can assure you we're in for exciting times ahead in the marketing and media industry. Look out for the Biz 2011 Trends initiative from today till the end of January.

What did you miss while tanning under the blazing African sun enjoying the outdoors for a change? Well, not much really - the industry really comes to a standstill during the festive season as I spent the latter part of December hunting for newsworthy copy.

In Zimbabwe, Jarrod Pretorius announced his plans to transform the country's ad industry while Juicy Lucy opened its doors in Botswana. e.tv launched its continent-wide channel on DStv while Ugandans now get to play "Who wants to be a millionaire?". Journalists in Somalia continue to endure press freedom violations and on a sad note, two of Malawi's media veterans, Jika Nkolokosa and Tony Mita, passed away after each making a significant impact on that country's media landscape over many years.

May you fulfil your dreams, big or small, in 2011. Let the rat race begin!


Enjoy, Sindy Peters, Africa editor

Responses to this column welcomed in our online editor's column archive. Send all your Africa marketing news africanews@bizcommunity.com.