Author: Gugu Lourie
Zazoo, a technology division of the JSE and Nasdaq-listed company Net1 UEPS Technologies Inc, is expanding into India through a partnership with Oxygen Services India. By Gugu Lourie The partnership will enable Zazoo to seamlessly integrate its mobile virtual card (MVC)technology to power Visa Prepaid into Oxigen Wallet in association with RBL Bank as sponsor bank and co-branding partner. Zazoo has operations in 12 African countries, and it also has a presence in Colombia, Spain, South Korea, the Philippines, the UK and the US. The firm told TechFinancials.co.za last year that its is eyeing speedy global expansion focusing on the…
Swift Butler, South Africa’s start-up founded by young entrepreneur William Thubakgale known to most as the “Digital Pitbull”, wants to enable shoppers to buy groceries online by appointing a butler (shopper) to go out to do their groceries and have it delivered to their door. By Gugu Lourie Swift Butler promises same day deliveries for all orders made before 16:00 of that day, and strictly servicing customers in Johannesburg – it allows them to deliver to users door in a matter of hours. For added convenience to the customer, they are allowed to select a delivery date and time that suits them…
Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday refused to grant an application of mareva injunction filed by the federal government seeking to stop MTN Nigeria Communications Ltd from moving funds in its accounts in 21 commercial banks out of Nigeria, according to a media report on Monday. The Leadership newspaper said the Nigerian court held that the federal government failed to place enough material before the court to prove that MTN was about to empty its bank accounts and move its funds out of the country. The government had filed the application to prevent MTN from boycotting…
MTN SA Foundation is rewarding top performing matriculants with bursaries and laptops to assist them with furthering their studies and give them access to the technological tools that are critical in their studies. By Staff writer The recipients of the 18 bursaries and 200 laptops include three top learners in the LSEN (learners with special educational needs) category. A top performing learner who is visually impaired will receive a laptop with specialised software and 10GB of data. The 18 bursaries will be distributed to two qualifying learners per province that are selected by the provincial education department. The bursaries cover registration, tuition, accommodation, books, pocket money and top-up allowance…
In the world’s new knowledge economy, innovation and technological change are recognised as the primary drivers of progress. Technological and digital literacy will be a crucial part of helping many countries move beyond their reliance on material resources. By Michael Rowe Such literacy, and an understanding of technology in general, will also be crucial for university students. They will have to develop the ability to collaborate across multiple contexts, filter and synthesise information from a variety of sources. These skills will be necessary if students are to contribute to the world in the 21st century. We live in a world where…
Who could possibly be against free internet access? This is the question that Mark Zuckerberg asks in a piece for the Times of India in which he claims Facebook’s Free Basics service “protects net neutrality”. By Mark Graham Free Basics is the rebranded Internet.org, a Facebook operation where by partnering with local telecoms firms in the developing world the firm offers free internet access – limited only to Facebook, Facebook-owned WhatsApp, and a few other carefully selected sites and services. Zuckerberg was responding to the strong backlash that Free Basics has faced in India, where the country’s Telecom Regulatory Authority recently…
Respected business academic and consultant Dr Bheki Shongwe has come out in support of suspended Standard Bank economist Chris Hart after claims his tweet about slow economic growth last week was racist. “While it is understandable that the tweets … may be perceived to have racial undertones, I would like to state on record that this does not represent the Chris Hart I know,” Shongwe said in a statement in his personal capacity. He called for South Africans to start a social dialogue platform that will help remove misconceptions about each other, and that will bring us together as a…
The internet erupted in outrage last week at reports that Twitter is poised to increase the limit for tweets from 140 to 10,000 characters. By Jean Burgess The first rumours of such a move emerged in the tech news website Re/code back in September then again last week. The response on Twitter was immediate and, for the most part, somewhere between incensed and bemused, with many thousands of tweets posted with hashtags such as #10kTwitter, #Twitter10k, #10000gate, #140twitter, #beyond140 and #longtweets. CEO and prodigal co-founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, clarified things in a proof-of-concept #longtweet of his own: We don’t know…
Controversial radio personality Gareth Cliff and realtor Penny Sparrow have dominated South African social media in the past week, ROi Media has said. By Kaveel Singh, NewsAgency In a statement, ROi Media, who generate news and social media statistics, said that the duo combined accounted for over 45% of the social conversation in seven days. “Matric results and Protea conversation follow with just over 20%,” the statement said. ROi Media said that South African news media was dominated by the matric results and Hashim Amla’s resignation, saying racism-related news was smaller than both these stories. “Penny Sparrow comes in at just…
The #FeesMustFall movement will be making a return in 2016 when it occupies the Wits University Solomon House on Monday, the first day of registration, the Wits Student Representative Council (SRC) has said. By Kaveel Singh, NewsAgency In a statement, the SRC said January 2016 saw students confronted with “a similar problem that we faced a year ago”. “Thousands of young people do not have access to institutions of higher learning despite their academic capabilities in the most challenging circumstances!” The statement added that the SRC spent the last weeks of last year and the first of this year fully engaged…