Author: Gugu Lourie

By Staff Writer Vox, South Africa’s integrated ICT and telco provider, on Monday announced that it has lunch fibre services in Richards Bay, an economic hub in KwaZulu-Natal. The telco said it has activated fibre services in the first three precincts in Richards Bay, the first non-metropolitan town in its National Long-Distance Fibre Project which was launched in October 2016. With a thriving industrial and mining sector, combined with the harbour, Richards Bay met the key criteria required to build a business case for fibre infrastructure investment, one that becomes the starting point of the long- distance fibre initiative. “It…

Worldwide, women are abused, killed, mutilated, raped, and abducted. We all know there is this dark side of life, and women killings, rape, mutilation, and human trafficking shows how cruel we are humans towards women. A recent spate of violent killings, rape and abduction of women have shocked South Africans. Shockingly, every eight hours a woman is killed in South Africa, according to the SA Medical Research Council. This has prompted Langelihle Zulu (28 years-old) and Tshega Mampshika (23 years-old), the founders of Algorhythm – a digital marketing and technology company based in Empangeni, a town in KwaZulu-Natal close to the industrial hub of…

On-demand cleaning service Domestly has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). The funds will be used by Domestly to gain market traction and promote job creation. The start-up also said that the institutional funding from the IDC will help the business in expanding not only its national footprint, but will also allow it to grow its in-house technology team. Domestly is aiming to advance the way the world cleans their homes. It utilises technology to connect cleaning professionals directly to homeowners through its app, making the service affordable and accessible to everyone, and creating…

Ansys, a South African-based  firm that develops technology based solutions to enterprises, today unveiled its plans to reposition the business during the company’s result presentation and celebration of 10-years of being listed on the JSE’s Alt-X board held in Sandton, Johannesburg. CEO Teddy Daka, who informed investors that the company’s headline earnings per share (HEPS) jumped 203% to 14.71 cents for the year to end March 2017, said the group will be reposition as a digital technology solutions provider. HEPS is South Africa’s main profit gauge. The tech firm, which also celebrated its 30-year anniversary, is to be repositioned along…

South Africa’s Intact Software Distribution, which is being pursued by Nasdaq-listed supplier of cyber security solutions Cognosec AB, has opened a local office in Nairobi, Kenya, to better service its growing African reseller base. The South Africab IT security software distributor has hired Nathan Wohoro to run the Kenyan operations. Wohoro has many years’ experience in the local market, and boasts an in-depth knowledge of both the market and of security solutions. He will be responsible for overseeing business development, and will work closely with local Intact partners and end-users throughout Kenya, and the region as a whole. Intact Software Distribution…

Gamers (or electronics and software engineering talent) who can break the code of the Gorillaz’s virtual band’s app stand a chance to be fast-tracked through the recruitment process at Jaguar. Jaguar Land Rover and Gorillaz are working together to recruit the next generation of world-class electronics and software engineering talent, with a code-breaking challenge found in the virtual band’s app. The challenge is open globally – including South Africa. The recruitment drive is part of Jaguar Land Rover’s commitment to next-generation technology and connected cars. The Gorillaz app is available on iOS and Android. The Gorillaz are an English virtual…

South-African based tech start-up WhereIsMyTransport has announced an investment of £1.2 million (R19.8 million) from Goodwell Investments and Bombardier. Last August, the investment firm invested £1.165 million (R22.1 million) in the tech start-up. The Cape Town and London-based public transport data and technology start-up said in a statement on Tuesday the investment has been secured as the company completes the digital mapping of informally run public transport in South Africa’s major metropolitan areas. WhereIsMyTransport offers integrated data solutions for formal and informally run transport in cities across South Africa. Inspired by their own frustration with public transport, co-founders Devin de Vries,…

MTN SA makes five executive appointments to bolster operational efficiency MTN announced on Tuesday that it has strengthened its executive team even further by appointing five new members in a bid to enhance operational efficiency across the operation and provide more in-depth commercial skills and experience. “We are pleased and emboldened by the calibre of people we are bringing on board to bolster our management team. These appointments give credence to the veracity of our succession planning,” Enzo Scarcella, chief operations officer at MTN SA, says. “Our new operations management line-up will ensure that MTN has the operations executive…

Vodacom has once again delayed it’s public listing on the Dar-es-Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE), despite its successful initial public offering. The Vodafone-owned telco announced on June 5 that more than 40 000 Tanzanians, many of them first-time participants in the capital market, have subscribed for shares in the IPO. The company described this as a milestone that executes on Government’s vision to empower more Tanzanians to own stakes in local companies. The South African-based firm was expected to list its shares on May 16, but this was postponed to June 12 and this has been missed also. However, Vodacom Tanzania has…

The digitisation of our economy is changing various sectors of the economy – and the agricultural industry is no exception. By 2050 the world’s population will reach 9.1 billion, 34 percent higher than today, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The organisation points out that to feed this larger, urbaner, and richer population, food production (net of food used for biofuels) must increase by 70%. Nearly all this increase in population will take place on the part of the world comprising today’s developing countries, which includes Africa. The greatest relative increase, 120 percent, is expected…