Author: Gugu Lourie

Microsoft Office suite – Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and their siblings –  is for free for South Africans between the ages of 8 – 24. The offer is under the Mahala scheme, which will enable young people to be able to activate Microsoft licenses for the Microsoft Office 365 suite and 5TB OneDrive cloud-based storage services free of charge. The Mahala.ms offer is part of a broader “Digital Skills Hub”, which aims to position South Africa as a smart, connected, and competitive global player. Through the Digital  Skills Hub, brought to you by Microsoft SA and SAtion, the organisation says it…

I recently met Mobit founder, Njabulo Maphumulo, at MaAgnes Ndlovu’s spaza shop in Hambanathi. The place was lively. There was a boy washing a minibus taxi while playing a popular song by Emtee titled: Ghetto Hero. Hambanathi is in Tongaat, about 10km from King Shaka International Airport in Durban. Not far from the taxi other youngsters were standing in groups peering into their smartphones. A few giggling girls were buying mobile data from the spaza shop. The lyrics of Ghetto Hero goes: “Without you I’m nothing.  You turned me into something, yeah.  I wanna be, I wanna be a ghetto hero, yeah yeah.  I wanna be,…

The Google Assistant-powered Lenovo Smart Clock 2 has a wireless charging dock, which can also act as “a soft, ambient nightlight.” The new Lenovo Smart Clock 2 takes nightstands by storm (sans prying camera for visual privacy). Built for the bedroom, or wherever you need a clock that does it all, the Lenovo Smart Clock 2’s updated design, seamless tubing, and compact footprint blends in with nearly any home décor. Its fabric soft-touch, the organic-looking exterior is offered in three fashionable yet neutral hues: Shadow Black, Heather Grey and Abyss Blue. The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 with a wireless charging dock helps eliminate…

Naspers has published its integrated annual report for 2021, showing what its top executives were paid in the last year. Bob van Dijk, CEO of Naspers and its European-listed spin-off Prosus, took home the largest salary at the group in 2021, earning R235 million or $16.6 million) for the year. Van Dijk total remuneration consists of: Fixed remuneration of $1.48 million or R20.9 million Short-term incentives of $1.42 million or R20.1 million Long-term incentives of $13.6 million or R192 million Pension, Medical insurance, life and disability insurance of $1,42 million or R20.1 million While Naspers and Prosus chief financial officer…

Big data, Artificial intelligence (AI), and business intelligence capabilities are at the heart of Vodacom’s efforts to enhance customer experience. The Vodafone-owned company intends to embed itself in the lives of customers. Vodacom Financial and Digital Services are using data analytics to help spot trends and identify customer behaviour patterns. The analytics allows the Vodacom South Africa subsidiary to better meet customers’ demands. This also enables the company to make the right decisions underpinned by real-life data. “We are currently investing a lot around data analytics, big data, and AI to understand different behavioural insights of our customers to ensure…

The VodaTrade platform developed by Vodacom Financial and Digital Services is starting to come alive ahead of the launch of its Super App. The Super App, known as VodaPay, will be the central hub for its financial services and e-commerce offerings. It will be hosting most of South Africa’s leading retail brands across all key verticals for both consumers and merchants. VodaTrade is a supplier portal, where the small supplier will go digital and connect with big business partners. VodaTrade is a one-stop interface for small businesses to interact with all aspects of their trade. Some key features include analytics,…

Technology is changing how business is conducted, and companies such as Vodacom Financial and Digital Services are at the centre of this transformation. Lenders have already taken to the Internet to loan out money and applications can be done online, even via smartphone or USSD code. For those looking to get loans, this is just the beginning of exciting new things to come. Vodacom Financial and Digital Services, a subsidiary of Vodacom South Africa, is positioning itself to be at the centre of that excitement. Vodacom Financial and Digital Services have created Africa’s first Super App with Alipay. Vodacom Financial…

Naspers announced today it had spent $54.8 million (R786 million) to buy out non-controlling shareholders in Takealot, South Africa’s largest online retailer. As a result, the JSE-listed company now holds a 100% interest (96% fully diluted) in Takealot. Naspers added that this deal resulted in the cancellation of the written put option liability for this subsidiary which will be derecognised. The group is assessing the impact of this transaction on equity. Furthermore, Naspers announced that the Takealot group in South Africa also had a solid year, growing revenue by 55% to $606 million (R8, 6 billion). At the same time,…

EdTech (education technology) is a considerable focus for Prosus, which invests in companies that help democratize access to quality education worldwide. Prosus, one of the largest technology investors in the world, announced today that after just five years of investment, it would reach well over 500 million learners every month in this rapidly growing sector. “We see exciting opportunities to deepen their learning experience over time,” the Naspers-owned company said. “If this past year has shown us anything it is that technology can fundamentally change a sector and enable it to scale much quicker, and this is especially true in…

OLX Group – the world’s leading classifieds platform focused on emerging markets, both mobile and online – has attracted 22 million new customers in full-year 2021. The Prosus-backed classified group announced today that average monthly users reached 322 million by year-end, compared to 300m the previous year. The classified group also recorded 58 million new listings and 116 million active app users, with 19 million unique listers each month and 4,1 million paying listers. Prosus said in a statement that OLX Group became profitable overall in 2020 and remained so this year, despite the initial challenges of the pandemic and…