Author: Contributor
by Jonty Leon South Africa Bleeding Skills Not surprisingly, there has been an outflow of South Africans in recent years for various reasons, a top reason being the punitive “expat tax” regime promulgated in December 2017, and effective 1 March 2020. Financial emigration being the main process being used to avoid this tax, as it placed one formally on SARS and SARB record with non-residency status. There were many tax professionals who claimed that emigration through SARB had no bearing on a person’s tax status, but the Budget 2020 announcement has now conclusively confirmed this view as incorrect. As the…
MTN South Africa has this week launched MTN Traveller Bundles. These bundles allow tourists to stay connected with their family, friends and business associates whilst visiting South Africa with a local SIM rather than roaming. The cost-effective bundles are exclusive to new Prepaid tourist customers and will be made available at selected MTN Stores at OR Tambo, King Shaka and Cape Town International Airports. MTN Traveller Bundles are valid for 30 days from date of activation. Customers are required to present their valid passport and seat number or flight ticket when purchasing the SIM card. MTN Traveller Bundles are available…
by Elizabeth Stoycheff You might have fallen for someone’s attempt to disinform you about current events. But it’s not your fault. Even the most well-intentioned news consumers can find today’s avalanche of political information difficult to navigate. With so much news available, many people consume media in an automatic, unconscious state – similar to knowing you drove home but not being able to recall the trip. And that makes you more susceptible to accepting false claims. But, as the 2020 elections near, you can develop habits to exert more conscious control over your news intake. I teach these strategies to…
In 2017, the global mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) market was valued at $54.1billion. According to Market Watch, it’s expected to register a compound annual growth rate of 8.8% from 2018 to 2023. Even in South Africa’s consolidating economy, this is fertile ground. Confident about retaining their position as South Africa’s market leaders, leading local MVNO enabler, MVN-X, is geared for growth in 2020 off the back of more than 50% year-on-year growth 2018/ 2019, and the company is showing no signs of slowing down within this flourishing Telco sector. What are MVNOs and MVNEs? An MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network…
More than half of the catalogue of TV shows and movies on Showmax, whether measured in hours or number of episodes, is now local content. This deliberate shift to local started more than a year ago with shows like The River and The Queen, and more recently with Lockdown and Kwa Mam’Mkhize. And now the latest Showmax Original, Somizi & Mohale: The Union, is breaking viewing records. Why does this matter? Local content drives views. The Somhale wedding just broke the all-time record for the number of views on its first day on Showmax, ahead of both the Showmax Original…
Event ticketing and cashless platforms Howler has secured their second round of growth capital investment from three partner companies, namely Techstars, Platform Investment Partners Growth (Platform Growth) and Platform45. Howler is already on a significant growth trajectory and is fast solidifying its lead in the market – it enjoyed its busiest event season ever this past December servicing over 400 events. The Series B round has been raised in order to further develop Howler’s end-to-end event technology stack, grow market share in Sub-Saharan Africa, and to expand into Europe and APAC. “Being our second round of investment, this is really significant…
E-commerce giant, Konga has revealed that the business will hit the $10 million daily turnover mark by 2024. To realise the target, Konga has disclosed that the growth trajectory and overall operational efficiency backed by the consistently reduced losses it has witnessed are critical factors in the projections. Making known the brand’s ambitious plans was Konga Co-CEO (Online), Nick Imudia. Imudia revealed that Konga has put necessary machinery in place to achieve the goal. To this end, he stated that Konga would work assiduously to reach a target of $5 million daily turnover by 2022 as preparation towards realizing the…
by Andries du Toit Small informal retailers are ubiquitous feature of any developing country urban landscape. Known as spaza shops in South Africa, they are an important, even vital, component in the townships. Numbering over 100,000 across the nation, they make critical contributions to local food security, self-employment and community cohesion. In the last decade, the sector has undergone extensive change. A new class of traders has emerged. They have often – but not always – been foreign. For this reason, this changing character of South Africa’s spaza sector has become associated with chauvinistic and xenophobic portrayals of immigrant shopkeepers.…
Global ICT company Huawei has urged high school learners to consider career opportunities in ICT and has highlighted the benefits of participating in the digital economy. Huawei recently partnered with the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) and the Limpopo Department of Basic Education in an ICT career expo targeting learners from rural and developing areas. The event took place on 17-18 February 2020 at the Thohoyandou Indoor Sports Centre in the Vhembe District Municipality and was attended by around 500 learners from 10 Limpopo schools. Huawei, which runs several digital skills programmes in South Africa, under its ICT…
The fire which swept the Bank of Lisbon building in September 2018, killing three firefighters, could be the catalyst for a new generation of technologies that transforms record-keeping and service delivery at provincial and national government departments across the country. Since the fire, several departments have started piloting enterprise content management (ECM) technologies and document management software, which will allow them to store, access, control and locate documents with unprecedented efficiency, says Kabelo Lefifi, a project manager at black-owned business communications provider Itec Tiyende. Three Gauteng provincial departments were housed in the Bank of Lisbon at the time of the…