Author: Gugu Lourie

The potential gains to be made from the rapid growth of the African digital economy cannot be overstated. An estimated 360 million mobile devices, $75billion in annual e-commerce sales and a $300billion internet-driven boost to GDP is forecast by 2025. By Brett Parker, MD SAP Africa Yet conventional wisdom would dictate that the current lack of legacy Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure in Africa is a barrier to realising this enormous digital growth. While mobile internet access on the continent has been increasing rapidly, a recent report stated that fixed internet connections account for only about 10% of all internet…

Samsung’s release of its latest phone, the Galaxy Note 7 has turned into a financial and PR disaster with the halting of sales of the phone and recall of millions of phones that have been sold so far. By David Glance The problem has been with batteries on the phones catching fire although Samsung’s statement only alludes to their being a “battery cell issue” and that only 35 cases have been reported so far. Exploding Galaxy 7 NoteFor Samsung, the recall couldn’t have come at a worse time. Apple is due to release its new iPhone, also likely to be numbered…

Businesses will not survive, if they don’t start adopting a lean mindset (start small, fail fast if you will). Economic conditions, customer needs and a lack of financial resources are forcing businesses to operate more efficiently and to engage customers more effectively. By Craig Terblanche, regional director at OutSystems South Africa Business survival hinges on the ability to change, to become lean and agile (with a small “a”). The ability to change, is increasingly being driven by a more digital mindset and evolving market. In the next decade the majority of your customers will be millennials and we believe, there has…

After years of pervasive complaints about horrible customer service, Africa’s largest fixed-line telephone group — Telkom — is ‘finally’ proving naysayers wrong. By Gugu Lourie Telkom is proving the Japanese proverb correct that “the most beautiful flowers grow from the rankest dirt”. The company, which was once described as “Hell-Kom” because of its awful service to customers is starting to take its consumers seriously. It’s no wonder that the once popular parody Telkom website Hellkom is a shadow of its former glory. I hope Telkom’s customer service score – which measures consumers’ satisfaction with services provided – improves drastically when the…

We often take for granted our access to vast quantities of inexpensive goods manufactured overseas. And we often overlook the unassuming innovation that has made this global industrial revolution possible: the shipping container. By Morgan Saletta While the shipping container was conceived in the 1950s by American businessman Malcom McLean, it was only widely adopted after the US military used containers to supply its war effort in Vietnam in the 1960s. After the Vietnam war, container ports were built in Japan and then the rest of the world. Old ports, such as in New York, were devastated, while ports such as…

The ridesharing service Uber is pretty close to getting the go-ahead in almost all states and territories in Australia, with Victoria set to follow Queensland in introducing new legislation. By Michael Milford and Jonathan Roberts In the short term, Uber has committed to creating tens of thousands of new jobs in Australia. Many thousands of jobs have already been created and your typical Uber driver speaks positively of being empowered in a flexible working arrangement. But we know Uber has other plans. Like almost all large car and technology corporations such as Toyota, Ford and Google, Uber is investing heavily in self-driving…

MTN customers will now have the convenience and flexibility to replenish depleted airtime and data bundles when they don’t have cash, thanks to the launch of MTN Xtra Time, a service that allows customers to receive an airtime advance when they run low on balance. By Staff writer MTN Xtra Time will be available to Prepaid and TopUp customers, and the borrowed credit can be used like a normal recharge to make voice calls, purchase data or SMS bundles, access value added services of transfer airtime to another subscriber. The borrowed airtime is recovered when the customer tops up their…

Innovation and entrepreneurship are the prerequisite to Africa’s economic revival, and the millennials is the generation that will put the continent on a new growth trajectory, Mteto Nyati, MTN SA CEO told delegates at DEMO Africa conference held in Johannesburg. DEMO Africa is an annual Pan-African conference that provides a platform for African technology start-ups to pitch their ideas to both local and international investors in a bid to secure funding. In 2015 DEMO Africa participants raised US$4 million in funding. Mteto said while many countries in Europe are grappling with challenges posed by an ageing population, Africa is in a…

It’s over. After two weeks of intense Olympic madness, the Rio games are over and I’m left catching my breath and dissecting what happened. One of my (and most other South Africans’) favourite moments was watching local boy Wayde Van Niekerk break the 400m world record. By Lee Naik, MD of Accenture Digital in South Africa Provided you haven’t been living in solitary confinement, you already know the story. After a mediocre qualification, Wayde was banished to the far outside lane. Everyone agreed that he had no shot. Except it didn’t quite work out that way. Despite “running blind”, Wayde managed to…

Progress made in ICT roll out in Gauteng schools | SA News Despite several challenges, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) roll out in Gauteng schools has made important gains academically, says MEC Panyaza Lesufi. The department started the Paperless Classroom Project in 2015. It is a five-year programme targeting no-fee schools in the townships. Giving an update on the programme on Monday, MEC Lesufi said the first phase, which was the pilot, had seven full ICT schools, including five secondary and two primary schools. “By the end of 2015, the project was extended to Grade 12 classrooms in 377…