Author: Contributor
Sasol Exploration and Production International (E&PI) has aspirations to maintain and extend its gas supply from Southern Mozambique and to grow its gas portfolio in the southern cone of Africa in addition to growing its portfolio in West Africa. In Mozambique, Sasol and partners have been a catalyst for socio-economic development. Sasol’s capital investment of over $3 billion, day-to-day operations, social investment and skills development have made a significant impact with over 6% contribution to Mozambique’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the period 2004 to 2018 and is also a significant contributor to the national fiscus with $495 million in…
Standard Bank is seeing a month-on-month increase of 70 000 new customers using the Instant Money service. Transaction volumes are climbing steadily at 20% year on year, while transactional values are seeing a 26% increase year on year. However, during the years these spikes are also seen at month-end, during long weekends, school breaks and traditional holiday seasons. Nelisa Zulu, Standard Bank Head of Merchant Solutions, says the increased uptake of mobile money transfer services is due in part to the fact that South Africans, including those without formal bank accounts, are becoming comfortable with digital banking services. Further to that,…
By Greg Chen No one but the most willfully ignorant would argue with the fact that South Africa is in the midst of a major employment crisis. According to the latest figures from StatsSA, 29% of working-age South Africans are unemployed. If the country is to have any hope of addressing this critical issue, creative ideas are needed. Rehashing past solutions will simply see the joblessness rate continue to worsen. One issue which, if addressed, has the potential to bring about real and lasting change is data inequality. Put simply, mobile data is relatively affordable for wealthy and middle-class South…
Wits University, together with IBM Research, the Johannesburg Centre for Software Engineering, the Wits Institute for Data Science, and the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) will host its first Quantum Computing Summer School from 2 – 10 December 2019. REGISTER HERE: http://www.wits.ac.za/quantum-computing/summer-school/ (Registration closes on 22 November 2019 and residence room bookings close on 15 November 2019) Aimed at undergraduates, postgraduates, academics, researchers and members of the industry who are interested in Quantum Computing, the Summer School will be an opportunity to produce and facilitate research that incorporates quantum computing. In June, Wits became the first African partner on the…
As the news stories about service providers switching off their networks continue to dominate the tech headlines, there appears to be panic around what the consumers ‘next move’ needs to be. As cliched as it sounds, the reality is that everyone should stay calm, stop, think then act. Firstly, consumers need to understand that in order to maintain connection quality, FNOs (Fibre Network Operators) and ISPs (Internet Service Providers) must upgrade and maintain the technology used to connect their users. When this technology becomes outdated, reaches a point where it is no longer financially viable to maintain and ultimately affects…
Supersonic, one of the youngest Internet Service Providers in South Africa has just been announced as the Q3 2019 winners in MyBroadband’s speed test report. The report – released ranks the best and worst ISPs in South Africa based on user ratings through their online and mobile speed test apps. “’It’s easy to get an ‘A’ once, it’s way harder to keep it there’ – I remember hearing this phrase in a 90’s movie but as we continue to improve and grow our network, the reality of this statement often hits home a bit harder,’ says Calvin Collett, Managing Director…
By Ray Campbell The Internet in combination with modern technology is the greatest tool you have for making money while you’re studying. Why? Because by using search engines and some basic computer skills, you can start a successful business online. Online startups take time to develop and become recognized. This is why it’s best to start as early as possible, ideally in your student years. Not only will this improve your financial situation at a time when you have the most limited budget, but it will also give you a chance to double the maths and earn a fortune once…
Huawei South Africa has partnered with the Department of Communication and Digital Technologies to deliver a tailor-made 5G course for the department’s women staff. The training is an extension of the DCDT’s Women’s Month initiative that aims to expose female employees to various technologies and solutions that will enable the digital transformation envisaged by the fourth industrial revolution, commonly referred to as ‘4IR’. Deputy Minister Pinky Kekana attended and addressed delegates on the importance of skilling and re-skilling of Women in the ICT space. The Deputy Minister further went on to say, “In our effort to build a Capable 4IR…
Acknowledging National Cybersecurity Awareness Month this October, peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin marketplace and digital wallet provider, Paxful, is shining the spotlight on the escalating need for security awareness amongst users when trading in digital currency. With criminals becoming increasingly technically proficient, the benefits of cryptocurrencies are also being exploited. Virtual currency related crime is on the rise in South Africa, with hackers using peoples’ phones to mine cryptocurrencies according to cybersecurity experts. As the popularity of crypto assets such as bitcoin grows, various South African authorities including the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) have started the process for reviewing the impact of…
by Nick Longrich Are we alone in the universe? It comes down to whether intelligence is a probable outcome of natural selection, or an improbable fluke. By definition, probable events occur frequently, improbable events occur rarely – or once. Our evolutionary history shows that many key adaptations – not just intelligence, but complex animals, complex cells, photosynthesis, and life itself – were unique, one-off events, and therefore highly improbable. Our evolution may have been like winning the lottery … only far less likely. The universe is astonishingly vast. The Milky Way has more than 100 billion stars, and there are…
The Fourth Industrial Revolution has transformed end-customer expectations, putting pressure on brands to evolve their offerings. Loyalty programmes are by no means exempt. Clients are seeking fairness, flexibility and an offering that has lasting benefits as well as aspects of instant gratification. They’re looking for a solution that deepens gamification and transcends it. Here, Francois Uys, Head of Digital, Marketing and Communications at Sanlam Reality, outlines some of the top trends for the loyalty space in 2019 and 2020. Trend one: The ‘democratisation of loyalty’: Customers increasingly desire authenticity and recognition of their individual needs regardless of their assets. Younger…
by Mark Liu The tech giants Amazon, Google and Facebook have all begun to use machine learning to give you tips on what to wear. Is fashion styling the next field to be disrupted by artificial intelligence (AI), or will the human eye remain supreme? It’s too soon to know for sure, but understanding what machine learning is good at and how that overlaps with what fashion is all about can help us make some educated guesses. Get that look One thing machine learning does very well is find patterns and common features among groups of items. Taking advantage of…
By Gwenael Trotel The financial services landscape is fast changing. Technology is disrupting traditional offerings and those who have previously been unable to access banking services are now being brought into the fray through digital and more accessible offerings. It is not only the likes of Western giants like Facebook, which recently announced the launch of its digital currency Libra, who are shaking things up. African players are making steady progress in bringing the continent closer to a cashless society. According to 2015 figures from the World Bank, sub-Saharan Africa is home to 350 million unbanked individuals, which accounts for…
MyBroadband Insights has released its Q3 2019 Mobile Network Quality Report, which shows that MTN has the best mobile network in South Africa. The report is based on 314,751 speed tests which were performed by thousands of MyBroadband Android Speed Test App users across South Africa between 1 July and 30 September 2019. The research shows that South Africa had an average mobile download speed of 24.68 Mbps and an average upload speed of 9.03Mbps. MTN had the highest average download speed at 35.31Mbps, followed by Vodacom on 31.19Mbps, Telkom on 22.42Mbps, Cell C on 17.18Mbps and Rain on 16.71Mbps.…
Our annual iThemba Walkathon is just days away and we’re lucky enough to be able to bring some of South Africa’s best to the stage for your entertainment. Get in the Avon Justine Walkathon spirit by pre-listening to some of the artists we have lined up to perform for you on Sunday. Ami Faku Brenda Mtambo Nkanyezi Kubheka Karabo Mogane Ma Nala Lioness Berita Just Themba Dr Sindi Van Zyl DJ 1D We’re also pleased to announce our amazing main stage hosts Skhumba Hlophe and Jason Goliath who’ll keep our energy up throughout the day and our fantastic line-up of…
A total amount of R13 650 000 in funding was awarded to twenty finalists at the Social Innovation and Disability Empowerment Awards 2019. The R1, 3-million winners are Regenize, a free recycling service with a rewards system, The OptiShunt, a device that prevents blindness in glaucoma patients and Specialised Seating for Disabled Children, custom chair and tray tables for children with physical disabilities. Specialised Seating for Disabled Children also won the People’s Choice award voted by guests at the awards. Social Innovation Award winners The Social Innovation Awards are aimed at innovators, entrepreneurs and institutions with prototypes or early-stage businesses that…
by Subhash Kak Many advanced artificial intelligence projects say they are working toward building a conscious machine, based on the idea that brain functions merely encode and process multisensory information. The assumption goes, then, that once brain functions are properly understood, it should be possible to program them into a computer. Microsoft recently announced that it would spend US$1 billion on a project to do just that. So far, though, attempts to build supercomputer brains have not even come close. A multi-billion-dollar European project that began in 2013 is now largely understood to have failed. That effort has shifted to…
The upcoming 13th annual GovTech conference is set to focus on how the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) will change the lives of South African citizens by bringing together high-level representatives from the government, industry and business to share information, knowledge and professional expertise. “GovTech’s quest is to develop South Africa into a ‘smart nation’ – from delivering digital services to all citizens to introducing innovative technologies that make government business processes smoother and finding the best, most cost-effective solutions to ICT challenges in public service delivery,” State Information Technology Agency (SITA) Acting CEO Ntutule Tshenye said in a statement on…
by Marcus Tomalin and Stefanie Ullmann Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already re-configuring the world in conspicuous ways. Data drives our global digital ecosystem, and AI technologies reveal patterns in data. Smartphones, smart homes, and smart cities influence how we live and interact, and AI systems are increasingly involved in recruitment decisions, medical diagnoses, and judicial verdicts. Whether this scenario is utopian or dystopian depends on your perspective. The potential risks of AI are enumerated repeatedly. Killer robots and mass unemployment are common concerns, while some people even fear human extinction. More optimistic predictions claim that AI will add US$15 trillion…
Direct selling beauty and personal care products company, Avon Justine, says the relatively low penetration of direct sales micro-entrepreneurs presents the company with an opportunity to more than double its sales workforce and provide thousands of women with an earning opportunity to alleviate spiralling unemployment and depleting disposable incomes. The direct selling industry continues to buck the trend of the economic slowdown, with the personal care and beauty sector accounting for over 46%, or almost R6 billion, of the total direct sales in 2016, according to figures released by the Direct Selling Association of South Africa (DSASA). Avon Justine has…
by Doug Hanson As Industry 4.0 moves increasingly beyond buzzwords into reality, mining is leading the charge, with African and South African companies at the forefront of both the creation of transformative technologies and their implementation on the physical and digital rockface. At Wabtec, for example, we work with a number of South African miners to develop strong base technologies, several of which are being employed at mining operations to enhance asset health, productivity and safety across Africa and globally. Some of our advanced Operations Performance Management (OPM) tools, aimed at the optimisation of processes, originated in South Africa to…
With ever-increasing capacity requirements and the complexity of the 5G network, operators need to invest in the development of their networks now to ensure they can withstand the capacity upsurge expected in the future, warns Anthony Clarkson, Technical Director at ProLabs. 5G is expected to bring extraordinary transformation, benefitting entire economies and societies. With its combination of higher speeds, lower latency and greater capacity, 5G offers the potential to reinvent business with the capability to launch new products and services, enter into new markets and increase productivity – making future-proofed network infrastructure critical. “5G will catapult mobile to become a…
by Ivan Manokha Artificial intelligence and facial analysis software is becoming commonplace in job interviews. The technology, developed by US company HireVue, analyses the language and tone of a candidate’s voice and records their facial expressions as they are videoed answering identical questions. It was used in the UK for the first time in September but has been used around the world for several years. Some 700 companies, including Vodafone, Hilton and Urban Outfitters have tried it out. Certainly there are significant benefits to be had from this. HireVue says it speeds up the hiring process by 90% thanks to…
DFA is pleased to announce that it is the headline sponsor for this year’s FTTx Council Conference. The event will host delegates from more than 30 countries at the Sandton Convention Centre from the 8th to the 9th of October and will feature a keynote address from the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies – Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams. In line with this year’s 4IR theme, the conference will look at the various aspects of delivering connectivity across the continent with a specific focus on the infrastructure that will support it. The over 50 presentations from telecommunications stakeholders will include those from…
The Presidential Working Committee on the Jobs Summit has noted substantial progress in interventions that will improve the country’s economic stance and create much-needed jobs. These interventions include reforming and modernising South Africa’s visa regime, issuing water use licences, releasing broadband spectrum, saving jobs in distressed firms and improving the certainty of electricity supply. These were among the updates provided to government, labour, business at the second monthly meeting of the Presidential Working Committee on the Jobs Summit held on Monday. The meetings of the Presidential Working Committee are meant to develop specific interventions that will enable greater job creation…