Author: Staff Writer

The best way to predict the future is to invent it, said computer scientist Alan Kay – and Reddford House students are making great strides in the right direction. In the recent Global Inspired Builds Robotics 2021 competition hosted by Fulham House School in London, UK, two Reddford House Grade 7 teams from South Africa were placed in the top 5 winning positions. A team comprising members from all three Reddford Schools in South Africa, called Inter-Reddford, and a team from Reddford House Blue Hills in Midrand, each produced a robot that complied with the competition’s focus, which this year…

Applications for the ISPA Inspires Bursary Programme, 2022, are closing on Friday, 01 October 2021. Applications were opened on 01 September 2021. The Internet Service Providers’ Association of SA (ISPA) is the Industry Representative Body (IRB) for over 200 of the country’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and associated organisations. Since 1996, it has played a leading role in boosting both free competition and skills development in the ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) sector. “Last year we received 288 qualifying applications and this year looks set to have that same impressive level of interest,” says Aurora Vani, chair of ISPA’s Social…

4Sight Africa MD, Christiaan Leboho, says the company, which targets the public sector, has achieved profitability over the past nine months based on the unique value proposition it offers in the Public Sector. 4Sight Africa is the broad-based black empowerment associate of AltX-listed 4Sight Holdings. “The public sector bears the responsibility for service delivery, and the right kind of technology solution can help it immeasurably,” he says. “Public-sector CIOs are eager to explore new ways of thinking about technology, the role it can play and, most important of all, how to fund it. They know they have to embark on…

South Africa’s most loved and awarded retail loyalty programme, Pick n Pay Smart Shopper, is celebrating its loyal members as the programme marks its 10th anniversary by offering them a share of more than R1 billion in rewards over the next few weeks. Pick n Pay Smart Shopper was introduced in 2011 and offered members the opportunity to earn points on their grocery purchases. It has since evolved to include a diverse set of benefits. “A decade of Pick n Pay Smart Shopper is thanks to our loyal customers. They’ve walked this journey with us and actively participated in its…

South Africa’s biggest banks are warning customers about a marked increase in vehicle purchase scams. Criminals place adverts for fake vehicles online at hugely discounted prices to lure in buyers hunting for a great bargain. Sameer Kumandan, Managing Director of SearchWorks, an innovative platform which allows consumers to perform live, accurate vehicle searches and valuations as well as company searches and property valuations, says South Africans are turning to online content for everything from comparing prices to doing more in-depth research, particularly when it comes to long term financial commitments such as buying a car. According to reports, fake vehicle…

With small businesses continuing to prove to be the backbone of the South African economy, business owners need every opportunity to help set them on a growth trajectory at a pivotal time in their recovery. The Xero 2021 Remote Roadshow is one such opportunity where the focus is to help drive recovery and support SMBs as they rebuild. A critical part of this effort involves innovation and ensuring small businesses have the right digital tools. These tools work seamlessly together to help make life easier for businesses. At Xero, we’re working to join the dots between key SMB stakeholders –…

In a quest to cater to our corporate customers in monitoring their employees who work remotely, inq. is launching HomeConnect; a work from home solution. The objective is to offer support and provide organisations with security for connectivity and application tools to minimise their risk as they connect remote users of organisations to productivity applications, business applications, and their customers. “Due to the current pandemic, there has been an explosion in employees working from home, this has put a lot of stress on IT support which many enterprises are struggling to scale,” Pramod Venkatesh, inq. Group CTO said. “Our partnership…

Online marketplace Yep! is determined to help small, micro, and medium businesses to successfully do business in the digital age. Yep! has introduced new solutions as part of the Yellow Pages digital suite, to help SMMEs to digitally transform and thrive in the digital economy. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the demand for digital services and Yep! is focused on developing innovative digital products that will enable businesses to access customers through multiple online platforms and increase their visibility. Executive Marketing:  Yep | SMB | Financial Services, Innocent Pereira says “Yep! is on an exciting journey of digital transformation that will…

Liquid Intelligent Technologies is now delivering affordable high-speed connectivity to communities in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) using state-of-the-art Wireless Optical Communication technology (WOC) from Project Taara at X, Alphabet’s moonshot factory. This achievement marks a robust high-capacity communications bridge between Kinshasa and Congo Brazzaville. Despite being just 4.8 kilometres apart, internet is more expensive in Kinshasa than in Brazzaville. The reason being, the two cities are separated by the Congo River, the second fastest and deepest river in the world, making it difficult to lay fibre across it. Historically this had resulted in operators directing traffic through their…

Vox, an integrated ICT and infrastructure provider and telecommunications company, has introduced an affordably priced, consumer-focused monthly managed IT (MIT) support service that combines cybersecurity with IT maintenance. “Up to now, consumers requiring home IT support generally had two options. They could phone a service provider who would send an engineer and charge anything from R800 to R1,200 per hour. Or they could pay a monthly fee of upward of R400 to have IT support on standby but may never even use it,” says Dominique Yeates, Product Manager for MIT at Vox. The Vox Home IT Support offering disrupts these…

To celebrate 135 years of championing women and beauty, Avon is doubling down on its pledge to help women step into their power and transform their lives for the better. The beauty pioneer has announced a number of enhancements to its relationship selling model including new features for Avon On, the digital platform that enables Representatives to sell online, and a new compensation model, Avon Rewards. It is also using its 135th anniversary to pledge a landmark $1.35m to women’s causes around the world, adding to the $1.1bn raised and donated by Avon and the Avon Foundation over the years.…

Coding is the new literacy and introducing your child to this new digital language is key to their future success. With that in mind, Curro will be hosting free Coding and Robotics Boot Camps at four of its schools. The two-day boot camps will take place on 1st and 2nd October 2021 and are free to Grade 7 learners from any school in the Western Cape and Gauteng. The four schools that will host the sessions include Curro Foreshore (WC), Curro Delft (WC) and Curro Jewel City and Curro New Road in Gauteng. Technology is a significant part of every…

Telkom Financial Services and Engen are set to introduce a first-of-its kind feature designed for tipping petrol attendants and Quickshop cashiers at Engen service stations. From 14 September 2021, the pioneering Engen 1app will feature a new “Tip an Attendant” function, which allows motorists and shoppers across South Africa to tip Engen staff for great service. South Africans are generally known for being some of the friendliest people in the world and this couldn’t be truer when referring to friendly customer service from staff at Engen service stations. From freestyle Friday dance choreography that circulates regularly on social media, to…

African FinTech platform Finclusion Group has secured $20million or R283 in a funding round with leading FinTech debt financing provider, Lendable. Finclusion uses advanced proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms alongside pioneering technology to grant safe financial services, all while maintaining accurate automated credit decisions. This partnership will help Finclusion widen its reach in East and South African markets thus making a sustained impact and driving financial inclusivity in segments that have traditionally been underserved. Finclusion CEO Timothy Nuy says that the debt raise is further confirmation of the passion and hard work displayed by the team in creating a range…

Chinese search engine giant Baidu has started public testing of Apollo Go in Shanghai, marking the fifth city where passengers have the ability to trial the robotaxi mobile platform. Baidu is the only company to offer this service in the three first-tier cities of Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. The Shanghai operation will include 150 stations opened in phases throughout the city to provide users convenient access to residential areas, commercial areas, offices and public transportation. Passengers can use the service from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. every day of the week. This announcement comes on the heels of another milestone for Baidu Apollo – the expansion of Apollo Go…

Vodacom has installed new solar-powered sites in Polokwane, Vereeniging and Bloemfontein. Vodacom has invested over R8 million in these solar-powered sites, as part of its ongoing commitment to securing alternative energy sources to power its operations where feasible. These three sites are in addition to a solar project installed at a base station controller site in Randburg, Gauteng, in May last year. Collectively, the three new sites will generate approximately 127 MWh of energy on an annual basis, which will help to reduce the telco’s carbon emissions and lower its electricity consumption. The solar panels will also ease the load…

Vodacom Group today announced details of the global Partnership for Ethiopia (the Consortium) that was recently awarded a mobile telecommunications license in Ethiopia. The consortium was awarded the mobile telecommunications licence in June. Vodacom sais a new operating company in Ethiopia, Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia PLC (“Ethiopia Opco”) through a holding company in the Netherlands (“Holding Company”) has been established to commence with the provision of mobile telecommunications services. The consortium includes Safaricom PLC; Vodacom; Vodafone Group Plc; Sumitomo Corporation, one of the largest international trading and business investment companies in Japan; and CDC Group, a United Kingdom based development finance…

Over this past weekend Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor officially opened a newly refurbished Science Laboratory and library at Siqongweni High School at Imbali Township in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. The science laboratory has been built with the help of Huawei South Africa at a cost of approximately R 500 000.  The Department of Basic Education (DBE) renovated and equipped the library. Huawei further pledged to bring the school’s computer lab back to operation after it was recently robbed. Huawei will supply the additional equipment that has not been recovered by police. Huawei also donated a smart, multi-function…

African Bank has appointed Unathi Mtya as Group Chief Information Officer. Unathi joins the Group Executive Committee. Mtya joins African Bank from Grindrod Bank, where she was the Chief Technology Officer. She was responsible for the efficient handling of the information technology of the bank, planning and aligning IT within the business and managing the transition to new technologies. She has spent time understanding the biggest technology trends in the banking industry namely the acceleration of new technologies, the collaboration of banks and Fintechs and the growing importance of customer experience. Mtya has led several portfolios across a wide spectrum…

A global shift towards working from home during the pandemic and a surge in ransomware attacks over the past year is driving premium prices higher and leading to tougher terms and conditions for cyber-insurance. This highlights why it’s more important than ever for South African enterprises to tighten their information security policies and processes. That’s according to Paul Lowings, Security Executive at new-age solutions and systems integrator, +OneX. He says that a rise in cyber-insurance claims over the past year and a half is prompting insurance companies to more closely scrutinise the systems, policies and processes in place at companies…

Having achieved great success in the fibre-to-the-home market, integrated ICT and infrastructure provider Vox is looking to build on these strengths by expanding their push into the fibre-to-the-business market with bundled offerings that are designed to bring more value and savings to local companies in a tough economic environment. The COVID pandemic and resulting intermittent lockdowns – together with the looming threat of loadshedding – have resulted in a paradigm shift in business, with many having to adopt remote working policies, which includes adopting solutions to make their onsite data and applications more widely available and finding innovative ways of…

Bang & Olufsen’s Beoplay Portal, its first-ever wireless gaming headphones are available in South Africa. Featuring a sophisticated aesthetic, premium materials, and immersive sound, Beoplay Portal brings all the hallmarks of Bang & Olufsen to the world of gaming — and beyond. Whether used for immersive gaming experiences, watching movies, or enjoying music, Beoplay Portal easily adapts to the situation, offering an impressive set of features including low-latency surround sound, outstanding microphone performance, Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency Mode, and an elegant user interface. These expertly crafted lightweight headphones are built for long-lasting comfort, ease of use, and superior acoustic…

MTN has announced a mobile money partnership with Africa’s leading payments technology company, Flutterwave. This partnership will allow businesses integrating Flutterwave in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia to receive payments via MTN Mobile Money (MoMo). MTN MoMo is a FinTech platform providing consumers and businesses with an electronic wallet, enabling electronic transfers and payments as well as access to digital and financial services. At the end of June 2021, MTN MoMo had 48.9 million active users and 581,514 merchants. MoMo enables businesses to accept and make payments within the mobile money ecosystem. This new partnership will enable Flutterwave…

Investec Ltd and Investec plc have both been approved for secondary listings on A2X Markets and their shares will be available for trade from Thursday 16 September 2021. Investec Limited will retain its listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), the Namibia Stock Exchange (NSX) and the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) and its issued share capital will be unaffected by its secondary listing on A2X. Investec plc will retain its listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the JSE and its issue capital will also remain unaffected. These new listings follow the listings of Investec’s Top 40 Tri ETN…

Vehicle-recovery and fleet-intelligence company Netstar, a subsidiary of Altron, has appointed Clifford de Wit as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). De Wit will take over from current CTO Francois Stols, who is retiring at the end of the year. De Wit is highly respected in the South African technology space. In 1998 he helped start one of the world’s first internet-banking solutions for Nedbank. In 2009, he launched Microsoft’s SA BizSpark start-up programme. The appointment of De Wit will significantly strengthen Netstar’s technology capability, leaving the pioneering telematics company well-positioned to drive the next phase of industry innovation. “I’m really excited…