Author: Gugu Lourie
MTN SA Chief Human Resources Officer Themba Nyathi has resigned from his current position to pursue interests outside of the organisation. Nyathi has agreed to stay until 30 June 2016. Says Mteto Nyati, MTN SA Chief Executive Officer: “Nyathi was an integral part of the MTN SA executive team and he had a long and illustrious career at MTN. We will miss his invaluable insights and leadership, and wish him well in his future endeavours.” Nyati has worked for MTN for seventeen years and has served the organisation in a number of roles. Under his stewardship, MTN scooped the Top…
JSE-listed Niveus Investments, a subsidiary of Hosken Consolidated Investments, has launched Niveus Ventures to fund emerging entrepreneurs in Africa’s technology space. “Building an enduring business remains an immense challenge,” says Jesse Hemson-Struthers, head of the investment team at Niveus Ventures, who has successfully launched, invested in, grown and sold several businesses. These include SAcamera, which Naspers acquired in 2012; BetTech Gaming, providing software to three of the top five listed gaming companies in Africa; LifeQ, wearable healthcare technology with clients such as TomTom; and SaveMoney, a fast growing FinTech startup. “Most businesses don’t survive past the startup phase despite great ideas,” he…
Smart technology (IoT), is simply about connecting devices, but while the focus has been on technology that facilitates the creation of smart households, its business applications are endless. According to BI Intelligence, it is projected that by 2020, 34 billion devices will be connected to the Internet. By Keith Fenner, Vice President Sage X3 International While we have heard many international examples of the use of smart technology, in Africa there are more and more examples of the technology being tested and implemented. Smart technology has the potential to change everything and every business needs to consider what these will be…
MTN SA, through its corporate social investment unit, MTN SA Foundation, is today pleased to announce the annual 21 Day Y’ello Care Campaign that is set to kick-off at MTN Innovation Centre on Saturday, 4 June with a 21 km half marathon. The half marathon allows employees, members of the public and MTN stakeholders to give back to communities by devoting time to help others. The MTN SA Foundation plans to use the half marathon to raise funds for a mobile computer lab which will be donated to a school that is yet to be identified. The theme for…
South Africa’s start-up NicheStreem sees an opportunity for niche or vertical markets apps as an alternative to popular music streaming services such as iTunes, Spotify, Deezer, Simfy Africa, Tidal and YouTube. By Gugu Lourie While mass market music streaming apps offer near identical catalogs with similar features at the same price point and compete for the same user, NicheStreem, a Cape Town-based start-up founded by Catherine Lückhoff, is trying to change that. The start-up believes it’s time to improve the one-size fits-all music streaming model and capitalise on the burgeoning emerging markets where giants of the streaming music business fear to tread.…
iPhone customers on Cell C can now initiate calls over Wi-Fi using own phone number, great for when a strong cellular signal is unavailable. Cell C announced on Monday that Wi-Fi Calling is available on the iPhone 5C, 5S, 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus and 5SE. Wi-Fi Calling on iPhone requires the latest software (iOS 9.3.2). Cell C said Wi-Fi Calling can be turned on and off in Settings > Phone > Wi-Fi calling. With Cell C’s Wi-Fi Calling, customers can turn any one of these Wi-Fi hotspots into their very own Cell C base station to make calls, send SMSs, check…
Of the millions of Twitter users, there are about 98% who want to hide their location. So they switch off the function that publicly displays the location of any tweet. By Mohsen Kalantari, Abbas Rajabifard, and Farhad Laylavi There could be many reasons why people don’t want their location to be broadcast to the world, but privacy is usually the main driver. But what they don’t realise is that it’s still possible to locate many of them, down to at least a few kilometres in some cases. For some authorities, that can be very useful. What most Twitter users do not know…
For outsiders, software development may seem difficult – of course – but relatively straightforward given the relevant training. Development partners are given the business problem or brief, the timeline, and the budget. From there, it’s happy coding… right? By Leon Coetzer, Business Development Manager at redPanda Software Not so much. Software development is an inherently complex and nuanced task, and requires both experience and talent to achieve the desired outcomes. It also requires an in-depth understanding of the systems and processes needed to get to a certain point. In the world of enterprise software development, there is more often than…
BMW South Africa starts rolling out solar carport charging for electric and plug-in hybrid models. As part of the expansion of its 360° ELECTRIC portfolio for BMW i Home and Public Charging Services, BMW South Africa today unveiled its first solar carport that will be rolled out locally from July 2016. The BMW i solar carport supplies an average of 3,6kW of solar power straight to the BMW i Wallbox, which is used to show a live readout of how much power is being generated by the sun and charge electric and plug-in hybrid BMW models. BMW South Africa starts…
Cell C has introduced Multi Data Connect, a new product aimed at customers with multiple data devices and users at home or at the office. Available on prepaid and contract, Multi Data Connect allows customers to link up to 14 SIMs to a primary data SIM at a monthly cost of only R5 per month per secondary SIM. “These days, most consumers have more than one device and this product allows them to link various devices, such as handsets, tablets and laptops to a single data bundle,” says Ernst Fonternel, Cell C Chief Commercial Officer. In addition to providing convenience…