Author: Gugu Lourie
Africa’s tech investor Naspers reported that its e-commerce business saw revenue swelled by 52% $4.6 billion or R72 billion in the six months ending 30 September 2021, outpacing revenue growth at Tencent. The company said this performance was led by 100% growth in Classifieds, 86% growth in Food Delivery, 51% growth in Edtech, and 44% growth in Payments and Fintech. Analyst consensus estimates of the value of the e-commerce portfolio (excluding Tencent and VK/mail.ru) are increasing and is now approaching $50 billion or R786 billion. “This substantial value appreciation translates to a 22% internal rate of return (IRR) on the…
Electric vehicles (EVs) are key to a more sustainable future. In 2020, we saw a rapid acceleration in uptake, with sales of EVs rising by 43%. COP26 earlier this month has similarly reinforced the importance of net-zero and sustainable initiatives, which we expect to lead to further market growth. Yet, while EVs are predicted to represent 48% of all new cars sold in 2030, for this to come to fruition, an unbundling is required in the software and hardware which makes up the vehicle. “We believe that consumers will buy cars on the strength of their software,” Mina Samaan, VC…
MTN Group announced on Thursday it has sold its majority stake in MTN Yemen to an affiliate of its minority shareholder, Zubair Corporation LLC. Effective 17 November 2021, MTN Group transferred our majority shareholding in Yemen operations to Emerald International Investment LCC. Emerald is a subsidiary of Zubair Investment Centre LLC, an affiliate of Zubair Corporation LLC, which is the minority shareholder in MTN Yemen. “The decision to exit Yemen was driven by a need to simplify the portfolio and focus our limited resources on executing a pan-African strategy,” said MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita. “We would like to thank…
Vodacom today announced it has added 6.2 million new customers to reach a total 0f 129.9 million customers, including Safaricom on a 100% basis, in the six months to end-September 2021. The Vodafone-owned group said its local operation delivered service revenue growth of 3.6% driven by connectivity demand, an additional 1.1 million data customers, incremental wholesale revenue and growth in our new services. “This was an impressive result given the demanding comparative associated with lockdowns in the prior period.” Vodacom added that financial services customers, including Safaricom on a 100% basis, reached 57.3 million in the period. “Looking ahead, we…
Vodacom has increased its capital expenditure for its South Africa network expansion by 11.1% to R5.6 billion in the six months to end September 2021. The Vodafone-owned telco said the capital expenditure was directed at improving the capacity and resilience of the network and increasing the 5G roll-out. “We now have 97.7% (1H21: 96.4%) 4G population coverage and have extended our 5G sites to 521.” The company added that in the current financial year it will invest more than R10.5 billion into its world-class network, in addition to the R47 billion spent over the past five years alone. “This is…
South Africa’s JSE-listed retailer Woolworths is trialling electric delivery vans to deliver goods ordered online to people’s homes. “In line with our vision to be one of the most sustainable retailers in the world, in collaboration with DSV and Everlectric we are trialling electric panel vans into our online shopping delivery fleet, a first in the South African retail space,” Woolworths said in a Twitter post. https://twitter.com/WOOLWORTHS_SA/status/1458014172801818624 Woolworths wrote that to power the vans it sourced electricity from renewable and sustainable sources including rooftop Solar PV installations. “Where onsite generation of renewable energy is not available or practical, we offset…
Econet, which is owned by billionaire and philanthropist Strive Masiyiwa, has created Cassava Technologies, a parent company that will house its cloud and cybersecurity, FinTech, digital services and infrastructure activities including broadband networks, data centres, and renewable energy. The pan-African telecoms group said Cassava Technologies aims to empower individuals and businesses in Africa through digital solutions which drive the vision of a digitally connected future that leaves no African behind. The London-headquartered firm, which will be led by CEO Hardy Pemhiwa, will act as the parent company of Econet brands including Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Africa Data Centres, Liquid Cloud, Sasai…
Services group CSG Holdings is to be delisted from the JSE after the Patrice Motsepe-backed ARC Fund acquired its remaining shares. CSG offers staffing solutions and facilities management. The offer to buy CSG for cash consideration of 35c a share is being done through UBI General Partner, in its capacity as general partner of the ARC Fund, which through its wholly-owned portfolio investment company, Gemcap, is a 24.8% indirect shareholder in the company. CSG advised its shareholders that one of the conditions for the offer is that the company must be delisted from the JSE. “The transaction will be implemented…
JSE-listed banking group Nedbank’s super app Avo, launched during the national lockdown height, announced today it has reached the 500 000-customer mark. The milestone comes as Avo launches its ‘Green is the New Black’ campaign for the hotly anticipated Black Friday season. With incredible up to 70% off deals in shopping, to R1 shock takeaway deals, Avo has something for everyone this month. “The growth we have seen on Avo has not only been exponential but inspiring in terms of how hungry South Africans are for the convenience of digitisation,” says, Ciko Thomas, Managing Executive: Retail and Business Banking at…
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has finally given an approval in principle towards the licensing of MoMo Payment Service Bank (PSB) by MTN Nigeria. MTN Group announced today that MTN Nigeria, as promoter, received an approval in principle dated 4 November 2021, from the CBN for its application to operate the proposed MoMo Payment Service Bank. “This is the first step in the process towards a final approval, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions as stipulated by the CBN,” MTN informed investors. The company affirmed its commitment towards financial inclusion agenda of the CBN and the Federal Republic…