Author: Gugu Lourie
Jumia – the largest e-commerce operator in Africa – was floated on the New York Stock Exchange(NYSE) on April 2019 and MTN is a significant shareholder. MTN – Africa’s largest mobile phone operator, owns 18.9% stake in Jumia. The stake is worth more than Clientele’s entire market value on the JSE, which is R5.1 billion. “Following the Jumia IPO and making reference to the NYSE share price of the business at the end of the period (30 June 2019), we now value our 18,9% stake at R5,5 billion at an American Depositary Share (ADS) price of $26,42,” MTN informed investors…
MTN is re-focusing its business on building an integrated digital operator and the results are encouraging. The shift is part of a strategy to focus on the FinTech, digital, enterprise, and wholesale business areas. This is to position Africa’s largest mobile phone operator for the future where voice business will no longer be its bread and butter. MTN makes about 59% of its revenue from voice. In the six months to end June, MTN’s voice revenue rose 4.5% to R40 billion. However, this picture is slowly changing as MTN continues its journey to transform itself into a digital operator. In…
Blue Label Telecoms announced on Wednesday that it has promoted Douglas Craigie Stevenson to CEO of troubled Cell C. The JSE-listed firm, Cell C’s largest shareholder, said the appointment of Craigie Stevenson is with immediate effect. Craigie Stevenson was appointed as interim CEO in March. “In the past five months Douglas and his team have led the company to improved financial stability, sound business ethics and good governance, better operational performance and has established a path to sustainability,” Kuben Pillay, Chairman of the Cell C Board says. “His permanent appointment was unanimously approved by the board and we are fully…
Black Beard, South Africa’s tech solutions startup, rebrands to Basalt and the company is planning global expansion. The company’s key services include strategic innovative solutions development; web, system and app development; user acceptance testing; migration and porting; technical support; technical architecture; sustained engineering and personalised service. With its bold and sometimes unconventional style, Basalt has built transformative solutions for some of Africa’s major healthcare and financial institutions. Despite being a young company (founded in 2017), Basalt already has an impressive client portfolio including Standard Bank, Discovery, Westbrooke Alternative Asset Management, Investec Property, OUTsurance, Capricorn Fund Managers, NewzroomAfrik, Neopak and Buyisa…
Vodacom has launched a Super Value Data Offer, providing its customers 80GB. The promotion is available on SIM-only data bundles on a 24-month contract. The Super Value Data Offer is giving customers 80GB, consisting of: 30GB Data Night Owl (12 am – 5 am) 50GB Anytime Data The deal is available on a Huawei R218H Router for an additional R30 per month and on a Huawei B315 or a ZTE MF283 Home Router for R50 per month. Last week, MTN South Africa announced the launch of the 80GB Mega Deal at R299 per month. The mobile phone operator said the Mega Deal…
TymeBank announced on Wednesday it has promoted Tauriq Keraan to CEO after Sandile Shabalala resigned in June. The African Rainbow Capital-owned TymeBank said Keraan has been deputy CEO since 2018. In this role, he drove cross-functional execution and had line accountability for strategy, partnerships, data science, innovation, stakeholder engagement and operations. He also played a critical role in the market launch of TymeBank in 2019. He has played an instrumental role in the bank’s development, having been a founding member that led to Tyme’s inception in 2012 and has played a critical role in the market launch of TymeBank in…
The Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Science and Technology, Buti Manamela, will tomorrow officially launch the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) in Potchefstroom. SADiLaR is a national centre supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) as part of the new South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR). SADiLaR has an enabling function, with a focus on all official languages of South Africa, supporting research and development in the domains of language technologies and language-related studies in the humanities and social sciences. The centre supports the creation, management and distribution of digital language resources, as well as…
The US Trade and Development Agency has provided funding to South Africa’s Wireless Access Providers Association (WAPA). The funding will be used for a pilot project that will help improve internet access for rural and semi-rural areas in South Africa through the use of American TV white space (TVWS) technologies. The pilot sites will be in Kwa-Zulu Natal, Gauteng, and in Mpumalanga. The consortium carrying out the pilot will be led by Adaptrum and includes Microsoft and International Data Corporation (IDC). The pilot will help WAPA promote TVWS networks to its wireless internet service provider member companies. “We are extremely…
Troubled JSE-Listed technology group EOH has re-launched the ICT business, which has been renamed iOCO, and the company seeks to improve its balance sheet efficiency. The group said in an update to shareholders on Thursday that re-launched the ICT business represents a key milestone in the internal reorganisation process. The process is aimed at simplifying the ICT business, integrating client offerings under one brand, driving governance imperatives and aligning the service delivery model and offerings for the cloud economy and fourth industrial revolution. The company added that work on the NEXTEC strategy continues, including how iOCO, NEXTEC, and the IP…
Telkom August Big Deal has been revealed. The company is offering a SmartBroadband Wireless deal for R249 a month on a 24-month contract and comes with an LTE WiFi router. The deal also includes: 20GB Telkom anytime data per month 20GB night surfer data per month (Night Surfer Data shall be valid between 12 am – 7 am) Customers on SmartBroadband Wireless 20GB offer are eligible to add a LIT TV box at an additional amount of R50pm x 24 months. Included in this August deal the ability to receive 3 months of Netflix on Telkom. Telkom said it reserve…
JSE-listed pay-TV group Multichoice has today published its integrated annual report detailing the salaries of its top executives. MultiChoice Group includes MultiChoice South Africa, MultiChoice Africa, Showmax Africa, and Irdeto. The company competes with global video-on-demand players like Netflix, Amazon, Facebook and iFlix continuing to offer alternatives in our territories. In the pay-TV market, operators such as StarSat, ZAP TV, Zuku TV and Azam TV all have the necessary broadcasting knowledge and experience to compete with MultiChoice. Improved mobile broadband penetration also facilitated growing competition in the provision of OTT services with the entry of StarTimes ON, iRoko TV, Cell…
Online sales are booming at South African supermarket chain Shoprite Holdings, which also owns the Checkers chain of supermarkets. Shoprite on Tuesday published a trading update for the six months to June 2019 showing online sales, which includes Click & Collect orders and its on-demand liquor home delivery partnership has swelled 386% with rapid customer acceptance. Excluding hyperinflation, Africa’s biggest retailer Shoprite reported a 3.2% (0.1% like for like) increase in turnover to R150.6 billion in the period to June 2019. Shoprite’s supermarkets increased the number of customers served by 2.3% and product volumes sold by 1.2%. Including the impact of the Angolan…
MTN Nigeria today announced that its subsidiary, Yello Digital Financial Services Limited (YDFS) has been granted a full Super Agent Licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The Super Agent licence enables the scale launch of MTN Nigeria’s FinTech strategy. This is part of the South African-based company’s plant to “be the largest bank in Africa” in the next three to four years. The company has also appointed Yolanda Cuba as Group Chief Digital and Fintech Officer. Cuba will join the MTN Group Executive Committee reporting to the Group CEO Rob Shuter. In this role, Cuba will lead the Group’s strategic…
Nigeria, MTN’s largest market by subscribers, attracted 3.3 million subscribers in the six months to end-June 2019. The South African-based firm announced on Friday that its Nigerian operation now has 61.5 million customers. The operation was launched in 2001. MTN Nigeria is part of the MTN Group – a multinational telecommunications group which operates in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. Two months ago, MTN made history as the first mobile telephone company to trade on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). MTN is now the second biggest Nigerian company listed on the NSE. Dangote Cement Plc owned by…
South Africa’s Telkom has cut the compensation of CEO Sipho Maseko for the 2019 financial year. In an integrated annual report, the company said it has paid Maseko a total package of R23 million in 2019 versus R27 million in 2018 financial year. The total package comprises of R8.2 million basic salary, a short-term incentive bonus of R7 million, a long-term incentive bonus of R5.3 million and R2 million in the dividend paid on unvested shares. Maseko, who has spearheaded Telkom’s turnaround, was appointed on 1 April 2013. “I have been fortunate to have a supremely talented, committed and engaged…
The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) has launched a competition aimed at getting young people in the country to come up with solutions to some of South Africa’s infrastructure challenges. Called the DBSA Youth Challenge, the competition invites entrants aged 18-35 to submit innovative development ideas that address infrastructural needs across various sectors. The winning submissions will attract a total of R1.5 million in prize money. The DBSA sees the competition as an opportunity for young people to have a voice and participate in the economy, thereby bringing them from the margins to the centre. With technology making it…
Despite recent volatility in the Bitcoin price, it has risen almost 30% in a year. You might be wondering how to start buying Bitcoin. You may be feeling brave and want to try a new type of investment which has the potential to form the backbone of a new financial system. The first thing you need to know, is you don’t need to buy a whole Bitcoin currently valued at over R146 000. Marius Reitz, GM for Africa of Luno, South Africa’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, explains that you can invest any amount from R20. With more than 2000 cryptocurrencies in…
For South Africa, the contact centre industry is dominated by multinational contact centres. One local contact centre firm is taking a different approach, aiming to make a difference in this country. Empowered Outsource (EOS) opened its doors in 2018 with an ambitious goal to create a boutique type of contact centre founded in South Africa, run by South Africans, owned by South Africans and driven to make a difference in the life of its employees, the vast majority of whom are the youth of our country, as well as customers. There are currently thousands of business process outsourced (BPO) contact…
Yolanda Cuba, who resigned as Vodacom’s Chief Officer responsible for Strategy, M&A and Business Development, has been placed on garden leave with immediate effect. Yesterday, TechFinancials exclusively reported that Cuba is leaving Vodacom after a five-year stint at the Vodafone-owned mobile phone company. Later on the day, MTN announced that Cuba was joining the mobile phone operator as Group Chief Digital and Fintech Officer, reporting to the Group CEO Rob Shuter. Asked whether Vodacom has not activated a restraint of trade on Cuba, Vodacom spokesperson Byron Kennedy, said: “Vodacom can confirm that Yolanda Cuba is currently serving out a six…
MTN Group today announced the appointment of Yolanda Cuba as Group Chief Digital and Fintech Officer. Cuba will join the MTN Group Executive Committee reporting to the Group CEO Rob Shuter. In this role, Cuba will lead the Group’s strategic expansion of its financial services and digital solutions efforts and transformation into a digital operator. She replaces Stephen Van Coller. who resigned last year to be the boss of troubled JSE-listed technology group EOH. Cuba brings extensive telecommunications and leadership experience to MTN Group. She joins MTN Group from Vodacom, where she served as Chief Officer of Strategy and M&A.…
A top executive who joined Vodacom just five years ago is leaving the mobile phone group, TechFinancials has learned. Yolanda Cuba, the Chief Officer of Strategy and M&A of Vodacom Group, has tendered her resignation with immediate effect, a source familiar with her exit told TechFinancials on Tuesday. Cuba is a high-flyer in her field, having spent three years in Ghana as CEO for Vodafone, where she was named as the Telecom CEO of the Year in 2018. Also a former CEO of defunct JSE-listed behemoth Mvelaphanda Group, and chief strategy of SABMiller local unit. Vodacom spokesperson Byron Kennedy confirmed…
Afrihost announced on Tuesday it was relaunching its fibre product as Pure Fibre – a simple, powerful fibre solution that does everything and doesn’t break the bank. “The best part about Pure Fibre is that it is uncapped, unshaped, unthrottled and unmetered,” Gian Visser, Afrihost CEO, said. “That means there are no thresholds, no hidden terms and the performance of the product will never change according to how much you use.” The specials went live today. The Internet Service Provider is offering customers that orders its fibre through (or migrates to it) up to R5,000 in value when they sign…
An ENSafrica report has revealed evidence of a number of governance failings and wrongdoing at EOH. Following submission of a forensic report and its recommendations to the board of directors of EOH, the company said its board has assessed the findings of the ENSafrica report and has prepared an interim update on the forensic investigation The report by the law firm unearthed wrongdoings including unsubstantiated payments, tender irregularities and other unethical business practices. The wrongdoings are primarily limited to the public sector business centralised in EOH Mthombo and to a limited number of EOH employees, the company said. Suspicious transactions…
We are entering a digital, intelligent, and fully connected era where everything will be sensing, connected, and intelligent. As part of its plans to respond to this technological revolution, Huawei wants to make digital services more affordable and equally accessible to all. “Huawei has been creating value for its customers through innovation. We are doing everything we can to bridge the digital divide and meet the world’s needs for connectivity,” Liang Hua, Chairman of Huawei, said. “We want to make digital services more affordable and equally accessible to all, and to do our part in contributing to social and economic…
VC4A is looking for 10 innovative, high-growth scale-ups to showcase at Africa Early Stage Investor Summit on Nov 13-14 in Cape Town. Are you operating in Africa, generating revenue and looking to raise your Series A round in the range of $250 00 and $5 million (R69.6 million)? VC4A is looking for you. The applications are closing on 31 July. The initiative is called ‘VC4A Venture Showcase – Serie A’. This is an exclusive opportunity to introduce your company at once to everyone who’s anyone in Africa’s early-stage investment space. In 2017-2018, VC4A showcased 30 scale-ups from across the continent as…