Author: Contributor

Snapplify, EdTech Company, has acquired Onnie Media / Teacha! – an educator media hub for South African teachers. The acquisition further diversifies the Snapplify Group’s fast-growing educational portfolio and highlights the EdTech company’s already established position as a serious contender in the global e-learning market. Onnie Media / Teacha! is South Africa’s largest independent online teacher community. A media hub, resource marketplace, and careers portal – the company specialises in empowering, inspiring, and uplifting South African teachers. ‘Onnie Media’s primary goal has been to empower, inspire, and support South African teachers by building platforms that enable teachers to help one…

by Alison Gillwald In the South African President’s State of the Nation Address earlier this month Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted the fact that the country’s Competition Commission had instructed mobile operators to adjust their pricing in a bid to reduce digital inequality in the country. He referred positively to a number of interventions aimed at mitigating inequality. But, in reality, these are likely to have mixed outcomes. The commission’s decision to force mobile operators to remove the ‘poverty premium’ on low-denomination, prepaid mobile bundles has been widely welcomed as something the telecommunications regulator should have done years ago. The ‘poverty premium’…

Unless you live in France, you might not think recent mass strikes over the proposed pension reforms in that country have anything to do with you. But given how fast demographics are changing around the world, that would be a mistake. If you live in Europe and your parents are getting ready to retire at the age of 65 (the statutory retirement age in many countries), you should know that today there are, on average, 3.4 working-age people to support the retirement of every person 65 and older. By 2050, the year when you might be expecting to retire, that…

by Hanan Morsy As a girl, I was taught to believe that personal agency prevails over societal biases. I was told that I could accomplish anything if I believed in myself and that sexism was not insurmountable. Later, as a woman, I found out that my parents’ advice could not have been wiser. In Africa, the gender gap in access to financial services is driven by women entrepreneurs’ own self-perception. Such perception leaves many African women on the fringes of the financial sector—unable to save, borrow, or build capital. Worldwide, women’s access to finance is disproportionately low. Despite substantial overall…

by Vikram Haksar and Emanuel Kopp Money has been around for a long time. And we have always paid for using someone else’s money or savings. The charge for doing this is known by many different words, from prayog in ancient Sanskrit to interest in modern English. The oldest known example of an institutionalized, legal interest rate is found in the Laws of Eshnunna, an ancient Babylonian text dating back to about 2000 BC. For most of history, nominal interest rates—stated rates that borrowers pay on a loan—have been positive, that is, greater than zero. However, consider what happens when the rate of inflation exceeds…

CB Insights today named DataProphet, a leader in AI that enables manufacturers to step towards autonomous manufacturing, to the fourth annual AI 100 ranking, showcasing the 100 most promising private artificial intelligence companies in the world. “It’s been remarkable to see the success of the companies named to the Artificial Intelligence 100 over the last four years. The 2019 AI 100 saw 48 companies go on to raise $4.9B of additional financing and nine got acquired,” said CB Insights CEO Anand Sanwal. “It has been gratifying to see that CB Insights’ data-driven approach to identifying the top AI companies using…

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…

As part of a partnership to equip South African students to succeed in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), Huawei and the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies today launched a free 5G training programme at Walter Sisulu University (WSU). The launch is part of an ongoing campaign by Huawei to help South Africa’s young people understand the possibilities of 5G while giving them the skills to realise that vision. The programme started at Wits University and the University of Pretoria last year and will train up to 5 000 students online, and 1 000 on-site at partner universities across South…

Africa’s most loved storyteller, MultiChoice Group today announced the establishment of the MultiChoice Innovation Fund (the Innovation Fund), an extension of its existing Enterprise Development Trust. With the aspiration of being a pillar to propel small businesses forward, the Innovation Fund will invest in exciting new opportunities for innovators in the video entertainment industry and technology sectors, allowing them to bring their ideas and dreams to life. “The video entertainment industry – and indeed the world as we know it – is on a fascinating digital trajectory and we need to ensure that we are ahead of the pack if…

MTN’s effort in increasing security measures and introducing high tech solutions and on the ground strategies to prevent battery theft and vandalism at cell tower base stations is starting to see success with as many as 143 batteries, worth R1.2 million, recovered in January 2020. However, the battle rages on with syndicates targeting base stations in early 2020 as battery theft incidents rise. A total of 338 batteries worth R4 million stolen from MTN base stations were recovered in July last year, with 275 batteries worth almost R3 million recovered in September. The number of arrests also ticked up appreciably…

Red is the colour of love! It’s also a popular car colour. Given the fact that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, AutoTrader has released a list of the most sold and most searched for used red cars in South Africa. According to George Mienie, AutoTrader CEO, red cars sell well all over the world. “It is the fifth most popular car colour in South Africa, and the sixth most popular colour on a global basis,” he reveals. So, which used red car is the most popular in South Africa? According to AutoTrader statistics for the full 2019 calendar…

by Baohua Jia Every age in the history of human civilisation has a signature material, from the Stone Age, to the Bronze and Iron Ages. We might even call today’s information-driven society the Silicon Age. Since the 1960s, silicon nanostructures, the building-blocks of microchips, have supercharged the development of electronics, communications, manufacturing, medicine, and more. Read more: Why nanotechnology is more than just a buzzword How small are these nanostructures? Very, very small – you could fit at least 3,000 silicon transistors onto the tip of a human hair. But there is a limit: below about 5 nanometres (5 millionths…

by Chuka Onwumechili FIFA has ended its 6-month management takeover of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). But the future of the game on the continent is still clouded with uncertainty. In June last year the world football governing body effectively took over the running of the African body following allegations of corruption and general implosion. Now FIFA has announced its plans for CAF. FIFA President, Gianni Infantino has proposed reforms focused on improving the field of play. These include creation of a pool of professional referees, investment in infrastructure, creation of a pan-African Super League, initiatives in women and…

South Africa’s ICT sector is highly innovative and entrepreneurial, presenting opportunities for significant job creation and export opportunities in the decade ahead.  However, the ICT brain drain and slow ICT skills development threaten the country’s Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) progress. Reflecting on the biggest challenges and opportunities for the SA ICT sector in 2020, board members of the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) point to skills shortages as the single biggest challenge facing the sector in the next ten years. Seizing 4IR business opportunities The opportunities for South Africa’s ICT sector outweigh most of its challenges, says…

by Christopher Findlay Productivity growth matters. In advanced economies over the past 15 years it has fallen by half. Which is why it doesn’t make much sense to risk damaging one of the most important potential sources for future growth in productivity: the rollout of 5G. 5G is the next generation of wireless technology. Download speeds will be many times faster than what is possible under 4G. And it’s not just speed. It’ll cut latency, which is the time it takes for signals to start travelling – something that will be critically important for the Internet of Things. Forbes magazine…

by Vanessa Dennen Editor’s Note: When U.S. News & World Report released its best online education program rankings this year, many schools that fared well in the rankings were quick to call attention to their success. Here, Vanessa Dennen, a researcher of online learning and co-editor-in-chief of the journal The Internet and Higher Education, offers insights into what college students should consider before they enroll in an online degree program. 1. Is online education as easy and convenient as it seems? Online learning may give students a choice about when and where to study, but this flexibility should not be…