Author: Contributor

by Andrew Bahlmann Second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data surprised on the upside, with the 3.1% increase from Q1 handily beating consensus estimates at around the 2.4% level. But the data showed that the construction sector remains exceptionally depressed. In the second quarter, construction declined by 1.6%, with StatsSA noting that “decreases were reported for non-residential buildings and construction works”. This represents the fourth consecutive quarterly decline for the sector in a row, with nine out of the past 10 quarters being negative. This stretches back to the beginning of 2017. Construction is deep in crisis. A number of large…

by Prince C. Oguguo According to the 2018/2019 report from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, African countries such as Angola and Madagascar have some of the highest rates of entrepreneurship in the world. These entrepreneurs often operate on an informal, micro-enterprise scale, however, and their contribution to economic activity is minimal. This is a shame because, excluding South Africa, most industrial sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa are not dominated by large firms that tend to keep entrepreneurs at bay in more advanced economies, thus presenting opportunities for significant growth. Although foreign multinationals have (and are already playing) a key role in GDP…

Do you love working with numbers? Does big data excite you? Are you interested in joining the biggest retail enterprise in Africa? Then sign up for an apprenticeship at the Shoprite Group’s Data Science Academy. Applications for the January 2020 intake are open from now until the end of September 2019. Data science is a multidisciplinary field that combines mathematics, statistics and computer science to automatically extract knowledge and insights from large amounts of data for the purposes of improved decision making. At the Shoprite Group data sets involve sales, inventory, consumer spending and much more. The Shoprite Group consists…

by Ben Dickson As online trolling and hate speech are becoming more problematic, companies like Facebook and Twitter are under increasing pressure to identify and block hateful speech on their networks. And like many other problems that involve the massive amounts of online content, these companies have turned to artificial intelligence for solutions. All major social media networks use AI algorithms to moderate online content. But while AI shows promise in detecting some type of content, it is hard pressed when it comes to spotting hate speech. A recent study by scientists at University of Washington, Carnegie Mellon University, and Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, has…

Raising money is tough for all founders, especially if they are operating in a tough market like South Africa. Tamela Capital Partners, however, aims to change this. Tamela Capital Partners, a Sandton-based independent fund manager, wants to finance mid-market companies who wish to grow their businesses, enter new markets and accelerate growth through expanding operations or consummating strategic acquisitions. The fund manager, which is owned by of Tamela Holdings, has announced today that the Tamela Mezzanine Debt Fund 1 has reached R420 million. Tamela Holdings has advised some of the largest empowerment deals in South AFRICA – including MTN’s R9…

by Max Eiza Driving long distances without a passenger can be lonely. If you’ve ever done it, you might have wished for a companion to talk to – someone emotionally intelligent who can understand you and help you on the road. The disembodied voice of SatNav helps to fill the monotonous silence, but it can’t hold a conversation or keep you safe. Research on driverless cars is well underway, but less is heard about the work being done to make cars a smart companion for drivers. In the future, the cars still driven by humans are likely to become as…

by Willem Fourie Earlier this year, 17 African countries presented their progress on reaching the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, at the United Nations. There was some good news and progress. But it’s clear that radical interventions are still required if countries on the continent are to achieve these ambitious global development goals. Technology will be key in any such interventions. Doubling agricultural productivity (Goal 2), halving road deaths (Goal 3), increasing water efficiency (Goal 6), doubling the rate of improvement in energy (Goal 7), and halving food waste (Goal 12), among others, seem impossible without game-changing innovations and dramatic…

Standard Bank Mobile, South Africa’s newest mobile network, has expanded its service offering to allow customers to purchase Apple, Samsung and Huawei smartphone devices with a ‘convenient’ financing option. The Bank has introduced an ‘innovative’ way to acquire a smartphone by financing devices over 24 months using an extended payment facility on Standard Bank credit card accounts.  This facility is offered at a special interest rate of 11% per annum. Customers can call in to request a limit increase if required. Standard Bank believes that the only way to enter a crowded telecommunications market is by offering additional value to…

by David Evans Bailey Immortality has been a topic of discussion since the legend of the Holy Grail. Some people have gone as far as cryogenic freezing after death in the hope that one day science will have advanced enough to resurrect them. Others believe the route to immortality lies in the digital realm. The theory that humans can be digitised and live on within the digital confines of a computer-based existence has been the subject of debate. But until recently, no one had taken the idea much beyond research and discussion. Last year, a consortium of unidentified individuals launched…

by Wim Naudé The invention of an artificial super-intelligence has been a central theme in science fiction since at least the 19th century. From E.M. Forster’s short story The Machine Stops (1909) to the recent HBO television series Westworld, writers have tended to portray this possibility as an unmitigated disaster. But this issue is no longer one of fiction. Prominent contemporary scientists and engineers are now also worried that super-AI could one day surpass human intelligence (an event known as the “singularity”) and become humanity’s “worst mistake”. Current trends suggest we are set to enter an international arms race for…