Author: Gugu Lourie
The new Puma BMW X-Cat Disc sneakers covered in a single, seamless piece of metallic fabric will launch on July 1 2016. By Staff Writer Designworks, a BMW Group subsidiary, looked to Puma to develop the special fabric applied over the metal chassis. Through this collaboration, Designworks led the design process for the ultramodern Puma X-Cat concept shoe inspired from the revolutionary concept car with a seamless material outer shell. Puma is a German sports brand. This striking shoe showcases Puma’s reinvented DISC technology, which provides ultimate comfort and a snug fit. Originally launched in 1991, the system worked as the…
In the modern era of cloud and third platform technologies, microservices are fast becoming the de facto development method to ensure applications that are robust, highly scalable and easy to pivot for any challenge. By Staff Writer Whereas traditional monolithic applications are layered and hard to separate, microservices are independent components to a larger whole, fulfilling individual tasks. Developers are able to make changes without causing larger cascading issues across the application stack. Through microservices it is easy to test and deploy more features, spin up multiple instances as demand grows and handle errors without halting the entire environment. Warewolf…
National Treasury’s Central Supplier Database (CSD) has passed the 150 000 mark, the department said on Tuesday. By Agency Staff Launched in September last year, the CSD was introduced to simplify the process of doing business with government, as well as making the procurement processes fair, equitable, transparent and competitive. The system also reduces the carbon footprint for both government and the private sector by moving away from paper by enabling an electronic registration and verification process. “It also brings about significant cost savings in terms of reduced paper use and less time spent on the procurement process. Suppliers save…
Spotting an opportunity that sparks an entrepreneurial idea is a dominant driver of startup businesses in South Africa, but they are not creating jobs at the scale and rate South Africa so urgently needs. By Seed Academy This is just one of the findings of South Africa’s largest startup survey announced last night by chief executive officer of Seed Academy, Donna Rachelson. The survey was conducted this year by Seed Academy when the views of almost 1500 startup entrepreneurs in South Africa were gauged. Nearly 50% of the entrepreneurs surveyed said creating a business out of an idea that came…
Movile, Latin America’s mobile commerce platform, on Tuesday announced it has raised R606 milillion ($40 million) in Series F funding from Naspers through its Naspers Ventures division to invest in ticketing industry. By Staff Writer Naspers, a strategic partner and majority shareholder of Movile since 2008, led the round with participation from Innova Capital, an investment fund focused on high growth companies with expertise in technology. The new funds will be used to accelerate the continued growth of its suite of apps and services in Latin America and beyond, as well as enter the ticketing industry through a $4 million investment in…
Comsol, backed by Convergence Partners, Nedbank Private Equity and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) as investment partners , plans to launch Comsol Fibre Connect – South Africa’s first and only nationwide open access high-speed carrier grade data network. By Staff Writer The initial funding which equates to over R500 million will be provided by Convergence Partners, Nedbank Private Equity and the IDC. In addition to the funding raised for the initial rollout, Comsol expects to reinvest and spend a further R1-billion on existing fibre infrastructure and leased fibre, creating a massive opportunity for existing fibre players in the market. The company…
Privately owned pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom and investment firm Royal Bafokeng Holdings (RBH) have agreed to buy Neotel from India’s Tata Communications for R6.55 billion, to create the largest pan-African broadband network. By Staff Writer Liquid Telecom is a privately owned pan-African telecoms group, majority owned by Econet Global. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is transformative and will create the largest pan-African broadband network. Through a single access point, businesses across Africa will be able to access 40 000kms of cross-border, metro and access fibre networks. These currently span 12 countries from South Africa to Kenya, with further…
With the amount of personal data stored on hard drives, one would expect companies to wipe these crucial devices clean before donating or selling them. Hard drives are especially targeted by syndicates because they are easy to resell. Xperien CEO Wale Arewa urges organisations to fully erase all personal data from all hard drives. “And that means more than simply hitting delete. Many people will presume that pressing the delete button on a computer file means that it is gone forever. However, this information can be easily recovered.” “We live in a world where personal and company information is a…
As the world continues to become increasingly connected, organisations are faced with large quantities of data they need to protect and make sense of. International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts that 66 percent of CEOs will have digital transformation at the centre of their corporate strategy and 65 percent of large enterprises will become information-based companies, significantly increasing the value of their data assets by 2020. Organisations must, therefore, stop talking about security and rather focus on the risk to high-value data assets. This is the view of Jon Tullett, research manager at IDC Sub-Saharan Africa. “It is about time the…
We all know the nutritional “evils” of sugar as a potential cause of obesity, chronic disease and death, through to being a potentially brain damaging substance. By Duane Mellor and Nenad Naumovski However, sugar has been part of the human diet for millennia, and it has some fascinating and highly practical uses. Preserving and drying We all know that jam contains sugar, but it’s not just there to make it sweeter. Food has a short shelf life if it is not properly stored or preserved. So preserving including curing was vital to ensure food continues to be available year round in the days…
The rise of so-called fintech companies will make it easier, and cheaper, to undertake monthly mundane transactions. By Andries Kok, CFO of Payaccsys In just the same way as Uber disrupted the per-kilometre taxi sector, PayPal disrupted the money transfer business and WhatsApp disrupted the mobile industry, technology is set to disrupt the banking sector. Yet, the changes that are coming, to the way small businesses, entrepreneurs and people bank, should not be seen as a threat, but an opportunity for small companies to save money, and for banks to outsource some of their functions and achieve economies of scale. In…
More than 20 years after the first web server started bringing the internet into our lives, a recent conference in San Francisco brought together some of its creators to discuss its future. By Sam Hinton The general tone of the conference is probably best summed up by the Electronic Frontiers Foundation’s Cory Doctorow: In the last twenty years, we’ve managed to nearly ruin one of the most functional distributed systems ever created: today’s Web. This might seem like a surprising statement. To many of us, the web has become an indispensable part of modern life. It’s the portal through which we…
MTN, Africa and Middle East largest mobile phone group, has hit back at criticism by Black Management Forum (BMF) and the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) over its appointment of a white CEO – Rob Shuter. By Staff Writer MTN defended a decision to appoint Shuter, outgoing Vodafone’s CEO of the European cluster and ex-CEO of Vodafone Netherlands and Vodacom chief financial officer. This week BMF said in a statement that this appointment by MTN contributes to the steady decline in the number of black South Africans at the leadership helm in companies. Shuter replaces Sifiso Dabengwa, who left the mobile…
The banking group has issued a warning and is urging its customers to be more vigilant due to increasing banking scams in the country. “In an attempt to steal personal details, fraudsters often send emails with attachments purporting to be a payment notification or bank statements,” FNB said in a note on its website. FNB added that fraudsters are notorious for sending emails, often with links or attachments purporting to be a payment notification or bank statement (see example below). In this case the email requests you to redeem an epayment from SARS. …
Back in 2014, MTN – South Africa’s second biggest mobile phone operator – shelled out R408 million to buy 50% (plus one share) of the internet service provider Afrihost. Everyone literally swept this deal under the carpet. By Gugu Lourie Now, MTN is planning to dispose of its 50.02% shareholding in Afrihost. The company says this is in line with its strategy of focusing on core business and pursuing opportunities in relevant adjacent businesses. MTN claims that evolving market circumstances have resulted in it reviewing its ownership in Afrihost. As a result, MTN has agreed to dispose of its shareholding to…
The world’s largest single-dish radio telescope, FAST (the Five hundred metre Aperture Spherical Telescope), is rapidly taking shape in China. By Douglas Bock At 500 metres in diameter, it would only just fit under the arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. To put this into astronomical perspective, the Parkes Radio Telescope has a diameter of 64 metres, with a collecting area – the amount of surface that the radio waves can bounce off – of 3,216 m2. FAST, on the other hand, has a collecting area of 196,000 m2, which is 61 times greater. Radio waves raining down from the cosmos…
A woman’s place is in the home. Her “job” is to marry and to raise children. This thinking still prevails in most parts of the world – and it is one of the major reasons that only about 30% of women in sub-Saharan Africa are working in research and development. By Ghada Bassioni and Chioma Daisy Onyige The good news is that several African countries are creating an environment that allows women to pursue their passion for scientific research and development. These initiatives offer valuable insights into how more women can be drawn into science and work their way up the ladder to…
The security community has been demonstrating successful cloning of contactless transactions since at least 2012. Full cloning of cards is not possible, and current cloning methods can only rely on copying an out-of-date implementation of the contactless standard to be successful. By Niel van der Walt There are two standards that contactless cards generally support: a legacy magnetic stripe compatible mode and an EMV compliant mode. The magnetic strip compatibility allows contactless cards to be used in the place of old swipe-to-pay technology. While such backwards compatibility makes upgrading to contactless technology easier, it means that the security flaws inherent in…
The Black Management Forum (BMF) on Wednesday said that it viewed the decision by MTN to appoint Rob Shuter as CEO of the company as a serious blow to transformation. Vodafone’s CEO of the European cluster Shuter was named on Monday as the new CEO of MTN Group, Africa and Middle East’s biggest mobile phone operator. Shuter is also a former CEO of Vodafone Netherlands and ex-Vodacom chief financial officer. The BMF said this appointment by MTN contributes to the steady decline in the number of black South Africans at the leadership helm in companies. “The BMF’s position is informed…
The Hague Institute for Innovation (HiiL), a not-for-profit institution based in The Hague, is looking for law-savvy startups to create legal services in the fields of Family Justice and SME Empowerment from innovators across Africa and the Middle East. By Staff Writer The HiiL has set aside more than R2.7 million for a winning innovations, which will be divided to R330 000 per project. The HiiL’s Family Justice Challenge focuses on the promotion of justice solutions that empower and strengthen individuals and family units. The SME Empowerment Challenge is aimed at making it easier for Small and Medium sized Enterprises…
Vodacom, which is majority owned by British mobile phone giant Vodafone, has tapped former Uganda Breweries managing director Nyimpini Mabunda as chief officer: Consumer Business Unit, effective 1 September 2016. By Gugu Lourie Mabunda is replacing Godrey Motsa, who left the mobile phone operator in December. The announcement was disclosed in an e-mail sent on Tuesday to Vodacom employees by group CEO Shameel Joosub. Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator MTN announced on Monday that it has appointed Motsa as VP South & East Africa. His appointment is effective 1 July 2016. Mabunda was managing director of Uganda Breweries since 2013. Mabunda’s contract with…
South Africa’s Johannesburg is the highest ranked city on the African continent in Ericsson’s Networked Society City Index 2016. The African city had slipped few places down the index that measures both sustainable urban development and ICT maturity in 41 cities around the world. By Staff Writer The 2016 index ranks Johannesburg 35th out of 41 cities, ahead of Egypt’s Cairo at 37 and Nigeria’s Lagos which was sitting at number 40. There are no other South Africa or Nigerian cities that appears in the 2016 index lists. Ericsson believes that although starting at a low level, Johannesburg and Lagos…
More and more Small & Medium Businesses are setting up e-commerce sites, thanks to increased access to the Internet and mobile services, a growing middle class and the availability of online tools that are easy to use. By Daryl Blundell The McKinsey & Company report recently revealed that e-commerce could account for 10% of retail sales in Africa’s largest economies by 2025. Unfortunately, this growth is also attracting the interest of cyber criminals, ready to take advantage of unsuspecting Small & Medium Business owners. But if you use the right tools – setting up an online store can be incredibly easy – and…
Read the first in Naspers’ new Follow the Leader series, where it profile entrepreneurs making waves in high growth tech markets around the world. For its inaugural post, it spoke with Alec Oxenford, co-founder of Naspers companies OLX and letgo. Q: What is your role at Naspers? A: I have an entrepreneurial role at one of Naspers more recent investments, letgo. I guide the company’s vision, I oversee operations, fund raising, key hires and motivate the team together with my partners Jordi and Enrique. I am also Chairman at OLX and help there on demand. Q: Why does the world need…
HCM (Human Capital Management) practices in South Africa are ever evolving, and with this a growing demand for software that’s more agile, mobile and flexible in order to support today’s dynamic working environments. By Mandisa Seleoane The signs of cloud’s growing influence within the sector are becoming more apparent. While uptake of cloud has been relatively restrained in South Africa in comparison to other parts of the world, but as it becomes more commonplace, a broader shift is inevitable. It may look like it’s taking a long time, however once we reach the tipping point, it will shift quickly. It’s…