Author: Gugu Lourie

Clicks Group has increased its shareholding in premium beauty retailer ARC Store (“ARC”) to 61%, following the acquisition of a further 35.3% interest for R507 million from the founding shareholders. The deal strengthens Clicks Group’s exposure to South Africa’s growing premium beauty market, which is valued at more than R6 billion annually. It also extends a relationship that began in 2021, when Clicks Group first acquired a stake in ARC. That shareholding was increased to 25.7% in 2025. Existing ARC shareholders will remain invested in the business, while current executive management has committed to remaining with the company until at…

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has raised its benchmark repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.25%, effective from 25 September, in a unanimous decision by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). The move brings the prime lending rate to 10.75%. Announcing the decision, Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said the global environment remains “challenging and uncertain,” citing the escalating Middle East conflict, interruptions to oil exports from Saudi Arabia due to fighting in Yemen, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war as key factors driving inflation higher. “The global environment remains challenging and uncertain,” Kganyago said in the statement issued by…

Airtel Money, a scaled digital financial services platform operating across 13 African markets, today announces its intention to undertake an initial public offering and the admission of its ordinary shares to the equity shares category of the Official List of the FCA and to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, as well as the signing of a cornerstone agreement with International Finance Corporation. The landmark announcement positions Airtel Money as one of the most significant African fintech companies to pursue a London listing, representing a major milestone for digital financial inclusion across Sub-Saharan Africa. “Today marks…

South African entrepreneur Zuko Mandlakazi, founder of assistive technology company Senso, has been named a finalist in the 2026 Shell LiveWire Impact Makers awards. He is one of eight entrepreneurs selected globally in the Social Impact category and the only South African finalist across this year’s three categories. The recognition comes after a journey that began in the rural Eastern Cape, where Mandlakazi grew up with an aunt who is hard of hearing and relies on lip-reading. When she began visiting him in Gauteng, he became concerned about how she would respond to sounds she could not hear when she…

I’ve been watching sports and betting on games for about 7 years now. The changes are wild. Back in 2018, I had to either find a bookie or drive 45 minutes to place a bet. Now I can do it from my couch in 30 seconds. What’s really interesting is how the tech behind sport betting isn’t just making things more convenient—it’s completely reshaping how people engage with sports. The AI Stuff Is Getting Weird (In A Good Way) My friend Jake mentioned something interesting last month. The odds he sees on his betting app are different from mine. Not…

Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang took the stage at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference Tuesday, delivering a powerful message about artificial intelligence: embrace it or risk being left behind. Speaking alongside Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Huang dismissed fears that AI will eliminate jobs, instead painting a vision of unprecedented productivity and opportunity. “As a result of our ambition, and with the productivity boost we get from AI, the sky’s the limit,” Huang told the audience. “Engage AI. Don’t get left behind.” AI Is Not a Threat to Jobs Huang directly pushed back on the…

South Africa is set to extradite six Nigerian nationals to the United States to face wire fraud and money laundering charges linked to an online romance scam that allegedly defrauded more than 100 women of over R100 million, Hawks National spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale said. Mogale said the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), commonly known as the Hawks, in collaboration with INTERPOL South Africa, is facilitating the extradition. The six men are alleged to be members of the Black Axe organised criminal network and are wanted by US authorities. “The suspects are alleged to have targeted more than 100…

JSE-listed insurance giant Sanlam is set to diversify into banking services in 2027, positioning itself to compete with rival Old Mutual, which recently launched OM Bank. The company announced that its Retail Mass business operationalised 156 retail branches in South Africa during the first six months of the year and remains on track to reach 200 branches by year-end. Sanlam Establishes Retail Credit Joint Venture with GoTyme In its Credit, Banking and Rewards division, Sanlam established a retail credit joint venture with GoTyme in June 2026, leveraging digital infrastructure and expertise to build a scalable lending business and unlock cross-sell…

Vodacom Group has officially announced the strategic appointment of Dr. Leila Fourie as an alternate director to the company’s outgoing Chairman, Saki Macozoma, marking a significant step in the telecommunications giant’s board succession planning. Effective 9 October 2026, Fourie will assume her duties as an alternate director. She will serve in this capacity until Macozoma’s scheduled retirement on 20 July 2027, at which point she will seamlessly transition to a full member of the Vodacom Board. A Strategic Board Succession Move The appointment positions Fourie as a direct successor to Macozoma’s board duties, ensuring continuity in leadership. While serving as an alternate…

Old Mutual Group, Africa’s top insurer, is planning to make a significant investment of R2 billion in OM Bank, its new digital-first retail banking venture in South Africa, as part of a broader strategic push to establish a competitive foothold in the banking sector. The JSE-listed insurer announced today that its discretionary capital balance has reduced to R3.1 billion at 30 June 2026 from R6.1 billion at 31 December 2025. “This was primarily driven by the completion of the remaining R2.3 billion of the approved R3 billion share buyback programme in the first half of 2026,” said the insurer. “The…

JSE-listed hospitality group Sun International published its financial results for the six-month period ended 30 June 2026 showing it is building a digitally led, market-leading omnichannel gaming company of scale. The group’s segmental reporting reflects how the business is now managed and evaluated, comprising four core pillars: Online gaming (Sunbet), Land-based casinos, Hospitality, and LPM (Sun Slots). The group is also the owner of the country’s most iconic resort, Sun City. Sunbet: The Growth Engine Sun International said its online gaming platform Sunbet, the group’s growth engine, delivered another strong performance. Continuing to represent the group’s most significant growth opportunity,…

In a sector currently navigating the treacherous waters of regulatory scrutiny, institutional demand, and the desperate need for transparency, Maksym Sakharov, CEO of WeFi, is building what he calls the “Deobanking infrastructure provider”. As the leader of a next-generation onchain financial infrastructure platform, Sakharov believes that the future of finance isn’t just about digitisation, but about compliance-first blockchain frameworks. In an exclusive interview, Sakharov sat down with us to dissect the hurdles facing fintechs today, the strategic pivot toward institutional-grade rails, and how WeFi’s proprietary WeChain is rewriting the rulebook for transparent banking.. Africa has dozens of currencies and highly fragmented…

In an unprecedented show of unity, over 100 of the world’s largest technology companies, financial institutions, and cybersecurity firms have signed an open letter urging governments and the private sector to mount a collective defense against rapidly advancing AI-enabled cyber threats. The letter — titled “A Call for Collective Action on Cyber Defense” — was published on August 27, 2026, and features signatories including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Adobe, AMD, Cisco, Dell, Fortinet, IBM, Oracle, and SAP. Financial powerhouses such as Citi, Capital One, Mastercard, Visa, US Bank, and Zurich have also joined the effort, alongside cybersecurity leaders CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks,…

South African parents want phones controlled at school and social media delayed until the age of 16, a Karri survey finds. A new Karri Parent 2026 Survey captures the views of 2,780 South African school parents representing more than 4,751 school-going children across all nine provinces on phones, social media, youth banking, education insurance and the Tooth Fairy. Karri is a financial wellness platform designed to help families manage children’s money, digital safety, and financial education in an increasingly connected world. The survey, conducted via the Karri app in March and April of this year, found that 91% of South…

There is a quiet architect in South Africa’s corporate landscape who is methodically constructing something that looks eerily familiar. His name is Christopher “Chris” Seabrooke, and if you haven’t been paying attention, you might miss the empire rising beneath your feet. Seabrooke founded Sabvest in 1987, listing it on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange a year later. Since then, he has delivered a staggering 54-times return on capital over three decades. His net asset value has grown at a compound annual rate of 20.2% over twenty years. Yet, he remains something of an enigma, a billionaire who operates in plain sight,…

Let me introduce you to *Vino Skhosana. In the dusty streets of eMba, Secunda – the town dominated by Sasol plant in Mpumalanga, he is known as “Mr Buy Me Data.” Every single morning, he performs a ritual familiar to millions of South Africans surviving on the margins of the digital economy. He digs out out his phone, waits for the daily blessing of that 50MB Facebook bundle from Vodacom, and uses those precious free minutes to comment, to react, to exist in the social media world. He always asks his friends for R50 to get just a little more…

South African-founded AI innovator Verascient has closed a massive $1.2 million (R19.5 million) pre-seed round, backed by international heavyweights. Hot on the heels of this financial milestone, co-founders Keagan Stokoe and Emile Ferreira are shifting their focus to a bold recruitment drive, searching for South Africa’s elite 1% of AI engineers to fuel a major global scaling push. Verascient delivers the operating system and expertise companies need to successfully leverage the best of AI. The startup turns knowledge scattered across documents, systems and individuals into shared organisational context, then builds the workflows and agents that allow teams to use it…

This week I found myself fixated on Investec winning Best Private Bank in Africa for Technology at the FT Wealth Tech Awards 2026. I wondered what Investec’s win suggests about the Big Five banks – FNB, Standard, Nedbank, Absa, and especially the mass market bank Capitec. These top South African banks are spending above inflation on IT, with budgets hitting the billions of rand. Yet where’s the real return? Are these banks throwing billions at digital projects while somehow missing the point entirely? Too often, these investments are what experts call “bolt-on” – adding flashy new features to creaking old…

In a deal meant to reshape South Africa’s digital landscape, Frogfoot, Vox, and Hypa have secured a massive capital injection that values the combined entities at a staggering R14.4 billion. The strategic investment is set to accelerate fibre access across the country, with a specific focus on bridging the digital divide in previously underserved and lower-income township communities. The transaction introduces significant equity capital and additional leverage to strengthen the companies, enabling them to quadruple their annual fibre rollout to an ambitious 360,000 connected homes. Beyond connectivity, the expansion is projected to create over 5,000 direct jobs in local communities over the…

OpenAI has officially launched ChatGPT for Teens, a dedicated version of its artificial intelligence chatbot designed specifically for users between the ages of 13 and 17 — years after millions of teenagers had already begun using the platform for schoolwork, daily questions, and even companionship. The San Francisco-based company announced the new experience on August 18, 2026, positioning it as a response to growing concerns about online safety for young people and the unique risks AI chatbots pose to developing adolescent brains. “We’re introducing ChatGPT for Teens, an experience designed to help teens learn, think critically, deepen understanding, and use AI…

Volkswagen has officially opened pre-orders for the all-new Volkswagen T-Roc, giving customers the opportunity to secure one of the brand’s most exciting new SUVs ahead of its official market launch early in September 2026. Positioned between the Taigo and Tiguan, the second-generation T-Roc strengthens Volkswagen’s growing T-SUV family alongside the T-Cross, Taigo, Tiguan, Tayron and Touareg. Combining expressive design, premium craftsmanship and advanced technology, the new T-Roc raises the benchmark in the compact SUV segment while delivering the quality, innovation and driving experience synonymous with Volkswagen. Bold design with unmistakable Volkswagen character The all-new T-Roc introduces a more confident and…

South Africa-based workforce management platform Jem has raised $8.4 million (approximately R136 million) in a Series A funding round led by global fintech investor Quona Capital. The investment will accelerate Jem’s evolution from an HR and benefits provider into a comprehensive AI-native workforce management ecosystem, specifically designed for the realities of frontline and deskless workers across Africa. Quona led the round, with participation from the University Tech Fund, E4E, and a group of prominent angel investors, including former Old Mutual CEO, Iain Williamson. The platform currently serves more than 250,000 employees across 200+ companies, including major brands such as Servest, Bidvest, McDonald’s, KFC, Seattle Coffee Company, and Bootleggers.…

In a significant leadership shake-up, Spar Group informed shareholders on Monday, 17 August 2026, that Chairman Mike Bosman and Deputy Chair Dr Shirley Zinn have tendered their resignations with immediate effect, effective the same day. Bosman has tendered his resignation as an independent non-executive director and Chairman of the Board, with effect from 17 August 2026. Shareholders are further advised that Dr Shirley Zinn has tendered her resignation as an independent non-executive director and Deputy Chair of the Board, with effect from 17 August 2026. Addressing the departures, the board confirmed that the resignations were amicable and mutually understood.  “While…

President Cyril Ramaphosa has officially launched South Africa’s Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system at OR Tambo International Airport, describing the reform as a critical step in making the country more competitive in the global economy while creating much-needed jobs. The launch took place on Wednesday, 12 August 2026, following a successful pilot implementation during South Africa’s G20 Presidency. The ETA system combines advanced biometric verification, machine learning and the upgraded Electronic Movement Control System (eMCS 2.0) as part of a modern digital immigration ecosystem. ‘A statement about the kind of country we are building’ Addressing dignitaries and officials at the…

Vodacom Group has announced a sweeping series of changes to its board of directors, confirming the upcoming retirement of its chairman, the appointment of his successor, and the addition of a former Airtel Africa chief executive as an independent non-executive director. The strategic reshuffle reinforce Vodacom’s commitment to corporate governance and its self-imposed board tenure policies, setting the stage for a seamless leadership transition over the next 12 to 18 months. Chairman Retires After Reaching 10-Year Tenure In a formal notice to shareholders, Vodacom confirmed that its current Chairman, Saki Macozoma, will officially retire after a decade of service. The…