Author: Gugu Lourie
Teleflorist, which allows customers to send flowers across South Africa, has been dealt a severe blow, TechFinancials has reliably learned. The online flower company is shutting down, sources have informed TechFinancials on Wednesday. “The company is under liquidation and has failed to informed its florists’ members that it is closing down,” a source told TechFinancials. TechFinancials was unable to reach Teleflorist for comment as their website was down and customer care phones were off. The phone of Hugo DeKlerk, the owner of Teleflorist, was also off. Teleflorist, which is s an online marketplace that connects people looking to buy fresh…
In what is seen as a major step to protect small, micro, medium and co-operative enterprises (SMMEs) from bullying by big businesses, non-payment of goods and services, predatory, exploitative practices and anticompetitive practice, South African lawmakers are drafting a new law to police big business. During the fifth Parliament, following several grievances from small, micro, medium and co-operative enterprises, the Portfolio Committee on Small Business Development resolved to invite and encourage small enterprises to come forward and table their concerns. Obviously, some did not do so out of fearing reprisals from big or private business. The committee was aware of…
A KwaZulu Natal-based small business is involved in a fierce battle with mobile phone giant Vodacom after settling out of court with Sweden’s telecoms giant Ericsson. Peet and Heidi-Anne Thuynsma, owners and founders of MDPS (Mobile Diesel Power Systems), have been fighting Vodacom for close to three years. The central claim is that Vodacom suspended its services after false claims related to buying diesel for running the mobile phone operators’ generators for its mobile phone towers in KwaZulu Natal. MDPS has never made any admissions to the fraud allegations. The mobile phone operator said it received summons on 28 November.…
A KwaZulu-Natal business couple is suing mobile phone giant Vodacom for close to R100 million in damages, claiming their services were suspended overnight and left with bad debt. Peet and Heidi-Anne Thuynsma, owners and founders of MDPS (Mobile Diesel Power Systems), have been fighting Vodacom for close to three years. The Thuynsma have been in business for 20 years, providing generator services to Vodacom KwaZulu Natal (KZN). Basically, if the power went off due to load-shedding or something else, MDPS would drive with a mobile generator to a site to provide standby power so that the Vodacom network continues to…
The Dutch arm of South African internet titan Naspers, Prosus is a step closer to acquiring Just Eat, which is at the centre of a takeover battle with Takeaway. The company, controlled by South African-based Naspers, has cleared the acquisition of Just Eat with the Spanish Markets and Competition Commission under the Spanish Competition Act. “We are pleased to have cleared the competition hurdle which further underlines the certainty and deliverability of our superior cash offer of 740p per share to Just Eat shareholders,” said Bob van Dijk, the Group CEO of Prosus. Prosus said this is an important milestone…
The board of Just Eat, the online food delivery platform, says the revised bid offer by tech giant Prosus undervalues the business. “The Board of Just Eat has now considered the terms of the Prosus offer and continues to believe that it significantly undervalues Just Eat and its attractive assets and prospects both on a standalone basis and as part of the proposed recommended all-share combination with Takeaway.com,” the company’s board informed investors on Tuesday. On Monday, Naspers-owned Prosus sweetened its offer to 740p offer a share. The increased offer is at a 25.6% premium to Just Eat’s closing share…
The battle for control of Just Eat intensified today when Naspers-owned tech giant Prosus raised its offer to R98 billion. Just Eat has rejected a £5bn hostile swoop by Prosus, the Dutch arm of South Africa internet titan Naspers. Its board is instead recommending investors support a planned merger with Takeaway.com that was announced this summer. In October, the Euronext and JSE-listed tech giant made a bid of 4.9 billion pounds ($6.35 billion or R94 billion) or 710 pence a share, in cash for Just Eat. For more read: Naspers’ Prosus Makes R94bn Bid For Just Eat The company has now raised…
South African mobile data network operator rain, which recently launched its intelligent 5G transport network, continues to invest in its 5G network across the country. 5G promises to be much faster than the current fourth-generation 4G and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) networks, meaning that users should be able to download files, transfer data and browse the internet at much faster speeds than what telco services are capable of now. An industry intelligence report by BIS Research titled “Global 5G Infrastructure Market – Analysis and Forecast, 2019-2025” sees the global 5G-infrastructure market growing by more than $42 billion by 2025. Rain, partly…
Digital banking service TymeBank is onboarding about 100 000 customers per month or between 20 000 and 30 000 customers each week. Billionaire Patrice Motsepe, through his investment company African Rainbow Capital Investment, bought a majority stake in TymeBank in 2018. African Rainbow Capital informed investors on Friday TymeBank succeeded in acquiring one million customers by 23 November 2019. “This milestone is slightly ahead of its schedule, as the bank originally expected to achieve this by end of December 2019,” the investment company said. “The bank is now working towards onboarding two million customers by December 2020.” TymeBank was officially…
South Africa, with one of the worst savings rates in the world, has more of a debt culture than a savings one. The latest savings statistics make for grim reading. The South African Savings Institute recently stated that the household savings rate had plunged from an already poor 0.4% of gross domestic product last July to negative 0.5% this year, effectively labelling this country as a nation of dis-savers. Enter Jupiter, a savings based FinTech company with a focus to deliver a frictionless and enjoyable savings process through its app, which allows everyday South Africans to earn stable and positive…