Author: Gugu Lourie
Payment service provider PayGate has teamed up with African secure payment solutions firm Trans Africa Solutions to enable barcoded invoices to be settled in cash at retailers and Post Offices throughout South Africa via its patented Smart Code product, SCode. By Staff Writer Until now, barcoded invoices, which allow cash settlement, have been the exclusive domain of large companies which have had to negotiate individual deals with retailers and undergo lengthy and costly integration processes. E-commerce offerings have been cut off from this option, which has significantly constrained their access to certain markets. “SCode’s revolutionary solution will allow even the smallest…
French insurance and asset management firm AXA has bought an 8% stake in Africa Internet Group (AIG), Africa’s biggest e-commerce firm for €75 million (R1.4 billion). By Staff Writer AIG is owned by mobile phone giants MTN, Millicom and Rocket Internet. MTN is planning to use AIG to grow its e-commerce business. The company said in a statement that the completion of the transaction is subject customary closing conditions, including the closing of the previous investment round, and is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2016. The additional capital contributed by AXA will further strengthen the balance sheet…
MTN Nigeria is prepared to defend in court its acquisition of Visafone, which will enable the mobile phone operator to deploy wireless broadband services in Africa’s biggest economy. Etisalat has filed a lawsuit against MTN and Visafone to challenge the acquisition. By Staff Writer The Leadership Newspaper in Nigeria reported on Tuesday that MTN Nigeria is “ready to meet Etisalat Nigeria in court over its acquisition of Visafone”. MTN is deploying the 800MHz spectrum for the commercial rollout of Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology for its fourth generation (4G) network. “Etisalat has filed a lawsuit against MTN and Visafone, and we have…
Malaik, crowed sourcing platform which describes itself as a global portal for high impact investing in African businesses, launched this week a call for applications for funding to African entrepreneurs. By Ujuh Reporter In a statement launching the call for applications Malaik said access to finance is a challenge for entrepreneurs across the world. The problem is most severe in Africa and yet small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) are the primary job creation engine in Africa, accounting for over 95% of firms and 60%-70% of employment. Neku Atawodi, founder and CEO of Malaik said “Africa is brimming with entrepreneurs with…
Of course, machines will not always get it right. But like autopilots in aircraft, and the driverless cars that are just around the corner, medical robots do not need to be perfect, they just have to be better than humans. By Anjali Jaiprakash, Jonathan Roberts and Ross Crawford Imagine your child requires a life-saving operation. You enter the hospital and are confronted with a stark choice. Do you take the traditional path with human medical staff, including doctors and nurses, where long-term trials have shown a 90% chance that they will save your child’s life? Or do you choose the robotic track, in the…
It is 5 years since the potential of social media was considered limitless. Not only was social media revolutionary, but it was literally capable of bringing about revolutions such as the uprisings of the “Arab Spring”. There was no part of our social lives that platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn could not change. By David Glance Concepts like having a “social graph” became generally understood, as was the ability of those graphs to determine what we bought, how we felt, who our friends were and where we would work. It was believed that social media would be with us from…
The land speed record attempt by the Bloodhound Supersonic car at Hakskeenpan in the Northern Cape will now only take place in 2017, due to financial problems. By News24 Correspondent “The revised dates reflect the fact that, although interest in and support for the project have never been greater, a number of major funding deals are still in negotiation,” said project director Richard Noble. The team needs £20m (about R400 million) to proceed with the attempt at Hakskeenpan in the Northern Cape’s Kalahari. The land speed record attempt was supposed to be done this year. “The most difficult part is behind us. We…
Internet access in the Western Cape is higher than the national average. By Duncan Alfreds, NewsAgency This is according to a study dubbed the ‘Western Cape Digital Readiness Assessment 2015’ which was commissioned by the province’s department of economic development and tourism and conducted by Research ICT Africa, the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the University of the Western Cape (UWC). According the survey, 93.8% of individuals in the province access the internet via a mobile phone, compared to a national average of 70.8%. Moreover, the survey said that 38% of Western Cape households have a computer with ADSL internet…
Adapt IT, the JSE-listed technology group that is pursuing diversification through an organic and acquisitive growth strategy, continues to deliver stellar financial performance. By Gugu Lourie The technology firm informed investors on Monday that headline earnings per share – South Africa’s main profit gauge – rose 42% to 23.96 cents a share for the six months to end 31 December 2015. The Durban-based firm that has been benefiting from its diversification strategy reported that its operating profit jumped 50% to R53 million and turnover was up 19% to R310 million. “We have been consistent in pursuing diversification through an…
A copyright body claims MTN owes songwriters just under R1 million in unpaid royalties for music sold by the mobile network. By Gareth van Zyl, NewsAgency MTN sells music via the likes of its caller tone service ‘CallerTunez’. The mobile network also secures music from third party aggregators which include Content Connect Africa (CCA). MTN acquired a stake in CCA in 2014, according to the Financial Times. But non-profit songwriter and publishing royalty collecting society Capasso (Composers Authors and Publishers Association) says attempts to license and collect alleged outstanding royalties from MTN and CCA have been met with “constant rate disputes…