Author: Staff Writer

According to billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, it is unrealistic to expect to solve climate change by asking people to live greener lifestyles. Telling people to stop eating meat, drive less, and buy smaller houses is unlikely to be effective, at least not yet. Changing human desires is simply too difficult, and we should look instead to other viable solutions that seek to reduce emissions without demanding people rethink their consumption habits entirely. Offsetting change Gates, who has invested hundreds of millions in climate initiatives through his foundations, noted last year that so-called Green Premiums could be an effective…

Tarsus On Demand is partnering with the SAtion ecosystem and Microsoft to offer a free, day-long business development workshop for 40 small, micro and medium enterprises (SMMEs) based in townships in and around Johannesburg. The workshop, which takes place on November 11, aims to equip tech entrepreneurs with skills and resources to grow their businesses. This initiative builds on the existing agreement between SAtion and Tarsus On Demand to help drive growth and digital transformation in South Africa’s SMME sector. SAtion draws together stakeholders in the private and public sectors to discuss, coordinate and implement Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) projects.…

Hlayisani Capital, which is chaired by former Nedbank chair Reuel Khoza and a majority shareholder, announced today it has bought a minority stake in Tractor Media Holdings, one of South Africa’s leading digital outdoor media owners. Hlayisani Capital said the funds will be channelled towards the acceleration of Tractor’s aggressive digital out of home (DOOH) growth strategy. The funds will also allow for the acquisition of key sites, new portfolios as well as investment in advanced and cutting-edge technologies – ensuring that Tractor remains at the forefront of DOOH media in South Africa. “We believe in growth, we believe in…

In 2018, the University of Limpopo began revamping its enterprise architecture, ushering its ailing IT infrastructure into a new world of efficiency. In 2020, this digital transformation journey accelerated towards the cloud as a more scalable, agile, and reliable solution that could ensure learning continued even in the most remote and locked down circumstances. “This project was very important to education in this country. We are building a modern ICT infrastructure that allows us to grow and service more ambitious young South Africans than we ever could before. As more users demanded access to our online, media-rich learning experience, the…

Wits University has led a national consortium that secured R54 million funding from the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) to co-ordinate a national quantum technologies initiative. Following on a proposal written by the consortium led by Professor Andrew Forbes from the Wits School of Physics, the DSI committed the first tranche of funding up until March 2025 to set up the South African Quantum Technologies Initiative (SA QuTI). It involves establishing quantum nodes at five centres – Wits University, the University of Zululand (UniZulu), Stellenbosch University, the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (UKZN) and Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) – and eventually…

The world celebrated the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October. There is a large number of migrant breadwinners in South Africa who send money to their families, and the Post Office has a cost-effective, same-day money transfer service to and from Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Nigeria, Mauritius, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Mozambique and eSwatini ready. The service is available from any post office in South Africa to any post office in the destination country. The transferred funds become available at the destination post office in the foreign country on the same day. The service is offered through the…

Standard Bank’s former information technology senior lead, Mary Mahuma, has been appointed as the new Head of Information Technology at Philip Morris South Africa (PMSA), a leading international tobacco company. Mahuma joins the company in South Africa to lead the technology and operations as PMSA transforms its core operating model beyond tobacco, underpinned by the organisation’s bold ambition to deliver a smoke-free future. PMSA Managing Director Branislav Bibic says that “A smoke-free future is attainable, and the benefits it can bring to the adult smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke and global public health, are enormous.” “Mary is charged…

With the global Fourth Industrial Revolution in full swing, companies are investing billions of dollars on advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). Organisations around the world are expecting and experiencing significant increases in business returns as a result of successful investment in AI. Today, Spatialedge, an AI solutions provider headquartered in Stellenbosch, South Africa, has announced the acquisition of Cape AI. Spatialedge is a big data and applied machine learning solutions company, with a focus on enabling companies to rapidly build and operationalise robust machine learning solutions. It enables enterprise data science teams to deliver improved business value faster by…

MTN South Africa recently asked small businesses with additional generation capacity to join forces in an innovative crowd-sourcing initiative to further bolster MTN’s network resilience work, as rolling daily power cuts continue. The focus of the initiative has been to find some positive in the power crisis, by bringing small businesses closer to MTN. Two businesses – 24Solutions, SAMO Engineering – have stepped up and are now working with MTN as supply partners to provide additional generator capacity. Charles Molapisi, MTN SA CEO, says keeping MTN’s customers connected to SA’s best network is a critical focus, but so too is…

In the age of big data, the Shoprite Group is at the forefront of innovating with artificial intelligence (AI). As one of the world’s leanest and most advanced retailers here are three leading innovations which have had a marked impact on the Group’s operations as it continues to create the best possible customer experience.  Ensuring Sixty60 arrives fast and fresh   To further improve Checkers Sixty60’s delivery times, the Group developed a machine learning algorithm to dynamically define optimal delivery regions. The solution overlays a map with the spatial-temporal view of orders while using order data to determine the optimal delivery…