Author: Gugu Lourie
SelfSure, a new fintech in South Africa, has come up with a smart way to solve the problem faced by many car owners when they put in a claim after an accident. After paying premiums each month to cover their vehicles, consumers are often shocked at the thousands of rands they still need to pay to cover the excess. The brainchild of an actuary, Proud Chitumba, SelfSure’s Excess Wallet ensures that you pay zero excess no matter the size of your claim while reducing your car insurance premiums without having to change your insurer. Chitumba explains, “South African policyholders believe…
As part of its plans to roll out payment service bank seamlessly in Nigeria, MTN says it has registered about 108,000 mobile money agents across the country since August when it began the super-agent service. “We launched a super-agent service in August and are pleased with the initial rollout and uptake of the service,” said MTN Nigeria CEO, Ferdi Moolman. “We continue to make good progress with the expansion of our super-agent network and are confident that the expanded service offerings will position us to effectively drive broader financial inclusion as well as roll out the payment service bank seamlessly,…
MTN will invest about N600 billion (R32 billion) in Nigeria’s network, Africa’s largest mobile phone operator announced on Sunday. The investment will be made over the next three years. The South African-based company said this investment will enable it to accelerate its 4G network expansion, deepen population coverage and support the Federal Government’s broadband initiative. “We are excited about the possibilities that the transition to digital presents for our business, and the growth and development of Nigeria.” Expanding 4G network coverage to deliver highspeed internet to more people nation-wide and data revenue growth remain in focus, said the company. “We…
JSE-listed technology group Blue Label Telecoms has returned to profit for the first time in years, buoyed by Cell C write down. The company has lost 80% of its value over the past two years due to its investment in struggling Cell C. The group, which owns 54% of struggling mobile phone operator Cell C, and Net 1 have written down to zero the value of their stake of the embattled mobile network which last year reported an R8 billion loss in the year to June, hit by impairments. Consequently, Cell C’s financial results did not have an impact on Blue Label’s…
A new South African startup is trying to introduce the world to the country’s multicultural and deeply awesome creative talent. The startup, Fierce, is primarily focused on servicing the international market through facilitated ‘offshoring’, a term gaining traction amongst clients seeking exceptional skills from cost-effective markets. Unlike outsourcing, offshoring is primarily a geographic activity. In the West, goods are expensive because the staff required to produce and distribute them are costly. In the developing world, by contrast, vast inexpensive labour pools provide an easy bedrock for a low-cost economy. Offshoring takes advantage of these cost differentials by relocating factories from…
The global startup economy is worth nearly $3 trillion, a rise of 20% in two years. That’s the size of a not-so-small economy, larger than the GDP of the UK, France, or Brazil. Technology-driven startups aren’t just contributing to economic growth, in many ways, they are economic growth. The 2019 Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) has just been published by Startup Genome in partnership with the Global Entrepreneurship Network. It is the world’s most comprehensive and widely-read research on startups. South Africa’s finance minister Tito Mboweni wants to see a flourishing startup industry tapping into that $3 trillion markets. “Start-ups will ignite the economy,” Mboweni said during his South Africa’s…
South Africa seems to be headed to a thriving FinTech industry to bring financial inclusion, finance minister Tito Mboweni surprisingly announced FinTech plans on Wednesday. “South Africa is moving with the fourth industrial revolution,” said Mboweni. “We are determined not to be left behind. We are relaxing regulations to help our flourishing FinTech sector.” What is FinTech? FinTech (Financial technology) is used to describe new tech that seeks to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services, according to Investopedia. At its core, fintech is utilized to help companies, business owners and consumers better manage their financial…
The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) will focus on rolling out SA Connect, implementing digital migration and submitting new Bills to Parliament, over the medium-term. This was disclosed in the Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE) document, which highlights plans and projected spending in national government over the medium-term expenditure framework period. The DCDT says the new model for the implementation of broadcasting digital migration over the medium term includes the provision of vouchers to indigent households for devices that will allow analogue televisions to receive digital signals, and compensation to the South African Post Office for the costs…