Author: Gugu Lourie

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…

Gotbot AI, Africa’s tech startups, has received a significant investment boost to the value of R2,5-million from venture capital firm Capacitech. The first such investment of its kind for Gotbot AI will mean the company’s co-founders Nick Argyros and Chris Green, along with Chief Operational Officer, Craig McLeod, will be able to accelerate new developments and move the three-year-old start-up into the fast lane. In 2016, Gotbot AI launched an automated social commerce product called Get It, and have since shown steady growth with the development of their flagship product Custom Care. They quickly acquired key clients such as Toyota,…

Teraco announced on Monday that Jan Hnizdo, currently the company’s executive director, has been named as the CEO of Africa’s largest vendor-neutral data centre. The appointment is effective 1 January 2020. Hnizdo will replace Lex Van Wyk, who will step down as CEO. Van Wyk will remain a shareholder in Teraco and will continue to serve on the board in the capacity of non-executive Director. “This transition has been carefully planned over the last few years. The current management team is focused and stays in place with the same goals. Importantly, Jan has been an outstanding part of the leadership…

MTN announced yesterday the launch of its mobile money diaspora service, MTN Homeland. The aim of this service is to facilitate money and airtime transfers from Europe to Africa and parts of the Middle East. The service is powered by Johannesburg-based FinTech startup MFS Africa, the largest digital payments hub on the continent. It connects over 180 million mobile wallets on the continent. Through a single API, MFS Africa connects mobile wallet systems, banks, money transfer operators, and merchants to enable real-time, cross-border and cross-network transactions. With MTN Homeland, remittances can be made from Europe to Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Ghana,…

Troubled Cell C has once again pushed back against efforts by Telkom to buy it, as its board sent a letter bluntly telling the South African telco it’s not interested in the offer. “Telkom has received written notice from the Cell C board of directors rejecting its non-binding proposal,” Telkom informed investors on Friday. “The Telkom Board continues to believe the offer is a compelling proposition that would have created significant value for all stakeholders including Telkom’s shareholders. “As the offer has been rejected by Cell C’s board of directors, Telkom shareholders are advised that they are no longer required…

Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub is to join Vodafone executive committee. British mobile phone giant Vodafone is a majority shareholder of Vodacom, South Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator. Vodafone will simplify its management structure with the removal of the rest of world regional organisation, from the beginning of full-year 20/21, Vodacom spokesperson told TechFinancials in an email. Vodacom was responding to TechFinancials query that Joosub will be joining Vodafone as its head of Africa operations. For more read: Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub ‘Quits’ to Head Vodafone Africa “Following this reorganisation, Shameel Joosub, the Chief Executive of Vodacom Group, will be joining…

There are some unconfirmed rumours swirling around long-serving Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub, who recently was sent on study leave at Harvard Business School. For more read: Vodacom CEO on ‘Study Leave’, Vuyani Jarana ‘May’ Rejoin the Operator The alleged imminent departure of Joosub follows the resignation of chief financial officer Till Streichert and chief technology officer, Andries Delport. However, in an internal communique seen by TechCentral, Joosub assured his team early on Thursday morning that “contrary to what may be speculated, there is nothing sinister about this and no link to Andries’s announcement”. But, Joosub might have been trying to…

The performance of the share price of Welkom Yizani, the black economic empowerment (BEE) shares of Media24, continues to disappoint investors. Investors paid in a subscription of R10.00 per share at the establishment of the scheme in 2006. In the past 12 months, the share price has reached a low of R6.51 per share and at the same time shot up to a high of R13.00 per share. The stock on Tuesday was trading at R7.52 per share and yesterday was at R7.50 per share. This is way below the subscription price of R10.00 per share. Investors of Welkom Yizani…

Vodacom Group CFO Till Streichert will leave the company in June 2020 to pursue an external opportunity outside of Vodacom. The Vodafone-owned telco said Streichert will step down from his role on the Vodacom Group board at around the same time or at an earlier mutually agreed date. Streichert departure follows the resignation on Monday of Vodacom’s chief technology officer, Andries Delport. For more read: Vodacom Says CTO Andries Delport Leaves the Company Streichert was seconded to Vodacom from Vodafone in February 2014. During his tenure at Vodacom, he evolved the finance team into a successful intelligence unit focused on…

The listing on the JSE of MTN Zakhele Futhi, the black economic empowerment scheme of MTN Group, disappoints investors. The shares of MTN Zakhele Futhi debuted on Monday on the JSE. Yesterday, the stock opened at R6 and peaked at R9,20 to close at R4,80. By 1153, the stock was trading at R5.50 a share. Investors of MTN Zakhele Futhi are disappointed as this implies the stock has lost close to 90% of its value. The shares are trading way below its net asset value which was more than R22 in September 2018. Black investor spent R20 each, with a…

SA Taxi, a vertically integrated minibus taxi platform, wants to use technology to modernize the South African minibus taxi industry and make travelling safe. The company announced on Tuesday is using its telematics and other data accumulated from its rewards programmes to proactively drive behavioural changes in the minibus taxi industry. The company said using telematics and data in the taxi industry would have a positive social impact and enhance commuter safety. SA Taxi will expand its tailored rewards programmes within the minibus taxi ecosystem. “Ultimately, the division intends to leverage its telematics and rewards programmes data to connect to…

Vodacom Group said on Tuesday Chief Technology Officer Andries Delport was leaving the company. The Vodafone-owned mobile phone operator said Delport will pursue external interests with effect from May 2020. Vodacom will announce a successor for the Group CTO position in due course. “Andries has been a key member of the Vodacom family for the past 23 years and his contribution to the Group has been immeasurable. I would like to thank Andries for his leadership in building world-class networks and his commitment to transforming our technology capability across the group,” said Vodacom Group Chief Executive Officer, Shameel Joosub. “Andries…

Liquid Telecom South Africa, part of pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom, is equipping Batlhalerwa Secondary school in Limpopo with much-needed ICT equipment and training to help learners and teachers achieve better results.  For the past two years, the South African government has been vocal about how the digital revolution is unlocking job creation and stimulating economic growth.  “As we drive societal digital transformation, access to ICT infrastructure and training forms a basic tenet of our digital inclusion imperative,” Communications and Digital Technologies Minister, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams says. “The department therefore continues to partner with industry stakeholders to provide Cyberlabs that are…

Retailer Pepkor, previously Steinhoff Africa Retail, is starting to generate more income from financial technology (FinTech) services. The company, which is a subsidiary of JSE-listed Steinhoff, owns clothing retailers Pep and Ackermans, furniture stores such as Bradlows, Russells and Incredible Connection. Pepkor disclosed on Monday that its FinTech business delivered a 43.9% rise in revenue to R7.2 billion in the financial year ended September 30, 2019. The retailer added that operating profit for FinTech business swells by 93% to R483 million. The company operates its FinTech division through FLASH and Capfin. The FLASH business continues to report strong growth, completing…

A South African FinTech (financial technology) startup has instituted a R14 million claim for damages against social media giant Facebook. PrepaidWealth.com, a startup co-founded by Gabriel Nkuna, has served a notice of motion filed at the Gauteng Local Division High Court in Johannesburg to Facebook Inc on the 19th November 2019. Nkuna said the notice was served following two incidences where Facebook Inc suspended and/or closed two promotional pages created for PrepaidWealth.com on the Facebook.com platform. The notice of motion served to Facebook Inc contains three terms. The first one is to declare the reason for suspending or closing the…

Tech giant Prosus has called on Just Eat shareholders to accept its offer and reject that of rival Takeaway.com. 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. The Euronext and JSE-listed tech giant owned by Naspers has made a bid of 4.9 billion pounds ($6.35 billion or R94 billion) or 710 pence a share, in cash. For more read: Naspers’ Prosus Makes R94bn Bid For Just Eat The offer, Prosus said, represented a 20% premium…

Jaguar Land Rover has developed a technology that alerts the driver if it detects the tell-tale signs of drowsiness. The technology takes inputs from thousands of data points, some of which are measured every thousandth of a second, including the Electronic Power Assisted Steering system, pedal inputs and general driving behaviour. It also uses complex algorithms to analyse all this to accurately determine whether a driver is becoming fatigued. The technology is known as the Driver Condition Monitor and Jaguar Land Rover has developed it as part of a wider vision to enrich and improve the lives of its drivers…