Author: Gugu Lourie
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…