Author: Gugu Lourie

Financial services provider Sanlam has acquired half of mobile operator MTN ‘s insurtech platform aYo. The strategic alliance, which takes effect on 31 October 2022, will market and distribute insurance and investment products across Africa through MTN Group’s insurTech aYo, in which each partner will hold 50%. “The group entered into an agreement with Sanlam Emerging Markets Proprietary Limited (Sanlam) to sell 50% of aYo’s issued shares for S$40 million ( approximately R735 million translated at the signature date ),” MTN said on Monday. “Subsequent to the sale, a new shareholders’ agreement has become effective governing each shareholder’s rights in…

Minister in the Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, says collaboration between government, business and society is imperative if South Africa is to overcome the current electricity crisis gripping the nation. The Minister was speaking during the launch of the Resource Mobilisation Fund (RMF) on Thursday afternoon. The RMF is a collaborative effort between government and Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) to provide resources and expertise that will assist government to fully implement the Energy Action Plan. “The establishment of the Resource Mobilisation Fund is a significant step in this regard. It is only through a collective national effort that…

President Cyril Ramaphosa says government is working to build a public service staffed by men and women who are professional, skilled, selfless and honest. He said that this in order to build a capable developmental state for the implementation of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP). The President said that this includes implementation of the Professionalisation of the Public Service Framework. The Framework proposes fundamental reforms, including a stronger emphasis on merit-based recruitment and appointments, integrity testing before recruitment, revising the tenure of Heads of Departments, and curriculum development for ongoing learning of public servants. President Ramaphosa was responding…

SAP today announced key data innovations and partnerships that give customers access to mission-critical data, enabling faster time to insights and better business decision-making. SAP Datasphere solution, the next generation of its data management portfolio, give customers easy access to business-ready data across the data landscape. SAP also introduced strategic partnerships with industry-leading data and AI companies – Collibra NV, Confluent Inc., Databricks Inc. and DataRobot Inc. – to enrich SAP Datasphere and allow organizations to create a unified data architecture that securely combines SAP software data and non-SAP data. Until today, accessing and using data located in disparate systems…

SEACOM, Africa’s telecommunications and managed services provider, today announced the company’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Fortuin, has resigned. Fortuin will continue to serve in his position until June this year, during which time he will continue to support the SEACOM board and also participate in the process to announce his successor, which the company expects to conclude in the coming weeks. Fortuin’s decision to leave SEACOM comes as a result of a decision to be closer to his adult children who have relocated overseas. “It’s been a privilege to lead SEACOM on this next stage of its development. SEACOM…

Nedbank, one of South Africa’s largest banks, says it had more than 2.6 million digitally active customers at the end of December 2022, a 13% increase from the same period in 2021. “Our digital initiatives helped us to increase the number of digitally active retail clients in SA by 13% to 2.6 million,” Nedbank said. “This now represents 39% of total active retail clients and 68% of retail main-banked clients. “Retail digital transaction volumes in SA increased by 18% and transaction values up by 16% ( up by 40% since 2019).” Nedbank added that digitally active customers across Nedbank Africa…

JSE listed REIT, Octodec Investments, today announced that it has been approved for a secondary listing on A2X Markets. The group informed shareholders that its primary listing on the JSE  and issued share capital will be unaffected by the secondary listing on A2X. A2X is a licensed stock exchange authorised to provide a secondary listing venue for companies and is regulated by the South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority in terms of the Financial Markets Act 19 of 2012. Also read: Octodec Launches Newly Upgraded, Landmark Shoprite Building In Tshwane CBD JSE listed REIT, Octodec Investments, today unveiled the new look and…

Nedbank’s Avo Super app has gained more than 2 million users since its launch on the app stores in June 2020, a 1.9-fold increase year-on-year and a near five-fold increase in the number of active users. Nedbank informed investors today that Avo now has access to over 12 000 drivers in its delivery fleet across the country as product orders continue to grow exponentially. By the end of 2022, more than 20 000 businesses (a 15% increase) were registered to offer their products and services on this e-commerce platform. Avo is a super app that allows customers to buy essential…

Paratus South Africa announces that construction of its latest multi-million-rand teleport in Doornkloof, Pretoria, has begun and is due for completion in August 2023. The new teleport marks another significant milestone in the company’s investment in its own infrastructure that will deliver reliable and quality satellite connectivity to South African businesses and consumers, even when power outages occur. Paratus South Africa – part of the pan-African Paratus Group – will be building the group’s largest teleport and strengthening its diverse offering of cutting-edge satellite communications services. Managing Director of Paratus South Africa, Kallie Carlsen, explains: “This project is important to…

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to announce a Minister of Electricity and a cabinet reshuffle “in a matter of days”. This is according to Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya, who was addressing media on Wednesday. “There are vacancies in Cabinet. We also now have a vacancy in the role of a Deputy President and so there is a sense of urgency that the President fills those vacancies as soon as possible. In a matter of days, that announcement will be made. “The President has to apply his mind. The appointment of Cabinet members and the management of Cabinet is not something…