Author: Staff Writer
Naspers announced a R42 million investment in Cape Town-founded, WhereIsMyTransport through its early-stage tech investment vehicle. The investment is part of a R201 million (US$14.5 million) funding round led by Naspers Foundry, Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund, and SBI Investment. “Mobility remains an obstacle for billions of people in high-growth markets across the world,” Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, South Africa CEO of Naspers, said. “Our investment in WhereIsMyTransport is testimony of our belief that great innovation and tech talent is found in South Africa, and with the right backing and support these businesses can provide solutions to local challenges that can improve the…
Absa has developed an online portal focused on providing additional opportunities for Africa’s small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs). According to the World Bank, formal SMMEs make up 40% of GDP in emerging economies, with this number being significantly higher when informal SMMEs are factored in. “Absa’s Procurement Market portal not only demonstrates Absa’s strategy of promoting responsible and inclusive procurement practices, but also ensures that all suppliers are aware of the bank’s service requirements; information that was not previously widely available,” said Vusi Fele, chief procurement officer at Absa. “What’s more, it will help us build mutually beneficial, thriving, inclusive…
Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal Region’s drive to connect everyone to the digital economy irrespective of where they live is changing lives. The region has accelerated its deep rural network investment to cover remote areas of the province that had no mobile network connectivity. An investment of close to R100 million over three financial periods has led to the deployment of 84 new base station sites, ushering in a new era of mobile connectivity and successfully driving digital inclusion for all. The new sites were rolled out in 9 District municipalities and 14 Local municipalities including Jozini, uMhlabuyalingana, uMfolozi, uMlalazi, uMsinga, uMzumbe, uMgeni,…
Vodacom Business Africa remains committed to supporting the ambitions of multinational businesses across the African continent, regardless of the global disruptions to businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The business landscape is ever-changing; competitive barriers are disappearing making the speed and agility to market critical components in the digital world. Vodacom Business Africa is introducing Carrier Ethernet and Managed Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) services to empower clients and enable them to seize new digital opportunities across its extensive footprint of 47 countries on the African continent. “These services work seamlessly alongside other converged Fixed and Mobile Connectivity services to give…
JSE-listed technology company Jasco is selling its property technology division for R7, 5 million. The company said Jasco Networks has entered into a sale of business agreement with Reach Group. Reach Group will acquire, the business of professional ICT infrastructure management services, in the Property Technology Management division. The Property Technology Management business model has become stale to Jasco and a non-core business unit, leading to threats of insourcing and continuous price reduction pressures from clients and increased administrative burden of the business. The Property Technology Management business is increasingly under pricing pressures from the major property companies in the current…
Prosus, one of the largest technology investors in the world, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Stack Overflow for $1.8 billion (R24 billion). Prosus plans to invest and grow Stack Overflow’s leading global developer community and SaaS collaboration platform as part of its future of workplace learning focus. Stack Overflow, one of the 50 most popular websites in the world, has built a global company and highly engaged developer and technologist community over the last 13+ years, now serving more than 100 million people across the world every month. Founded in 2008 as an open community-based question and…
1Life, together with LifeQ, using a Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 device, have launched a COVID-19 screening app. It uses unique models derived from users’ biometric data to give them an indication of changes in their health, enabling consumers to take proactive precautions in the event of potential COVID-19 onset, which is essential as the country faces a potential 3rd wave of infections. There is growing evidence for the use of biometrics in the early detection of many physical conditions, and this COVID-19 solution is the first of many solutions that LifeQ plans to offer to consumers, athletes, and those…
Digital solutions provider Liquid Intelligent Technologies achieves the 100,000 km fibre network milestone, positioning the organisation as the largest independent fibre network provider in emerging markets globally. Liquid has been manoeuvring steadily through Africa, investing in increasing its reach, which it has successfully done, moving the dial from 89,989 km at the beginning of 2021 to reach this new milestone now. With its additional fibre network connecting 14 countries, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa, customers can now explore opportunities in Africa and across the US, Asian and European markets. The organisation’s fibre infrastructure impacts more than 100 million people across 643…
Today, Vodacom Eastern Cape Region in partnership with the Eastern Cape Department of Education and Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR) unveiled a ground-breaking and technology-driven Agriculture and Food Security programme in over 131 underprivileged schools across the province. The programme aims to underscore that youth can play a significant role in food security, job creation and poverty alleviation through their active participation in agriculture. Known as the Agriculture School Programme, flowing from the Vodacom Sustainability Living (VSL) project, it is designed to inspire school-going children to enter the lucrative agricultural sector when they complete their schooling and…
Telkom is adding to its offering of tablets and is now bringing the new Huawei MatePad T10s to customers. The Huawei MatePad – the perfect tablet for adults and children alike; for work and for play – will be available from 1 June 2021. New and existing Telkom Mobile and Telkom Business subscribers qualify for the prepaid and post-paid deals revealed today. The NEW Huawei MatePad T10s comes with a large display for an immersive viewing experience, it has an eBook mode for all the bookworms out there and it is not very heavy for its size. The device is…
One’s choice of life partner is one’s personal prerogative. However, in countries such as South Africa, the reality is that the choice you make will be one that may not be universally accepted. As a result of this, many women and men are faced with the grim reality that the choices they make as to who they love can have gruesome consequences, and in some cases can even result in death. The harrowing rape crimes meted out to members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) community makes for dreadfully gruesome reading. These stories cannot be overlooked…
Standard Bank has officially launched its OneHub platform – an online marketplace that gives corporates access to a range of digital solutions. “OneHub is a single point of entry for Standard Bank’s corporate clients and partner organisations to connect and interact,” says Jonathan Lamb, Head of Platform Businesses at Standard Bank. “The platform allows clients to discover and procure digital tools and services developed by the bank and its trusted network of partners.” The platform is essentially a digital solutions marketplace that offers both web applications and application programming interfaces (APIs), which corporate clients can leverage to enhance efficiencies and…
+OneX, a new-age solutions and systems integrator that forms part of the Reunert group, has acquired digital media and data consultancy, DataCore Media, to add an online marketing capability to its suite of business transformation solutions and services. By integrating DataCore Media’s digital media strategy, buying and planning capabilities with its own cloud, data, security, and unified communications competences, +OneX will be able to help enterprises to use company-owned insights in back-office systems, together with digital campaign data, to drive richer customer experiences. +OneX and DataCore Media’s combined skills and capabilities will help companies to move towards measuring the lifetime…
Standard Bank decided to migrate its on-premise Atlassian toolset onto the AWS infrastructure and partnered with Synthesis to ensure best practices were adhered to and a seamless transition was possible. Challenge A number of significant outages were experienced on this toolset due to the on-premise infrastructure having aged. Users were faced with an increase in outages impacting delivery. This and the Group’s cloud aspiration were the catalysts to migrate the Atlassian toolset to AWS. Solution The Bank approached AWS for assistance and were encouraged to partner with Synthesis due to the company’s experience in migrating Atlassian workloads to AWS for other corporates.…
When the demand for fibre surged at the start of lockdowns last year, Seacom launched a separate and dedicated ISP that focuses on fibre connectivity to the home: WonderNet. One year after its launch in May 2020, the ISP has extended its fibre offering to the business sector, intending to deliver fast, reliable, and affordable Internet to small and medium-sized businesses. There are a few factors that separate WonderNet from other players in the market. Seacom, which launched Africa’s first broadband submarine cable system along the continent’s eastern and southern coasts in 2009, wanted to create a separate business unit…
JSE-listed tech group Altron announced Cedric Miller has resigned as the company’s chief financial officer (CFO). The group did not specify the reasons for Miller’s resignation. Miller was appointed as the Group CFO on 1 May 2019. “Miller’s notice of resignation applies to all his roles and responsibilities within the Altron Group and its affiliates, effective from 30 June 2021,” Altron informed investors on Monday. The company said Miller will continue to support the Group until 31 July 2021, during which time he will provide a comprehensive handover to Altron’s Acting CFO. “The Board has accepted Miller’s resignation and would like…
Wind load is one the most important topics for tower owners, impacting health and safety, CAPEX renewal, build-to-suit, and the tenancy potential for towers. TowerWing offers a permanent solution to wind loading through their innovative tower shrouding “Streamliner” that cuts wind load on even a heavily loaded tower to less than that of a naked one. It sounds too good to be true, but with some clever engineering, using some simple aeronautic principles, TowerWing has developed a unique product that could revolutionise how towers are built, operated and leased up. CEO Danie du Toit to speak about the benefits of…
Capitec, South Africa’s largest digital bank, is taking a hybrid approach that combines digital banking with traditional branches. They serve nearly 16 million customers and support over 840 branches nationwide. While this hybrid approach enables Capitec to effectively reach a unique local customer base made up of both more and less technologically- inclined customers, it creates a complex data landscape that adds to the challenge of regulatory compliance. Capitec needs to be able to trust its data to ensure that strategic business decisions are based on accurate, verifiable insights. MANTA offered the toolsets Capitec required to deliver on these requirements…
In celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day observed on 20 May, Vodacom is launching the Nokia 2720 – a smartphone designed to provide greater access for senior citizens, people living with disabilities and those who experience other communication barriers. “For more than two decades, Vodacom has been addressing the need for more inclusive technologies by providing products and services that are accessible to all. By expanding our portfolio with Nokia, we now offer a device equipped with features that meet the specific communication needs of the elderly or those living with disabilities,” says Karen Smit, Principal Specialist for Specific Needs,…
The Southern African Institute of Government Auditors (SAIGA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Association for Advancement of Black Accountants of Southern Africa (ABASA). The MoU is a means to help bring about transformation in the state of skills readiness in the South African public service sector. It is also aimed at helping with capacity challenges in the public sector, provide government officials, members and associates with access to a broader base of training and development courses, programmes, workshops, seminars, conference, research, and related activities. Some of the skills programmes including continuous professional development (CPD) through short…
Checkers Sixty60 is now available in all nine provinces in South Africa – after launching in Polokwane, Limpopo, today. It has created more than 2 100 new jobs since this one-hour on-demand grocery delivery service was first launched in late 2019. In the past three months, Sixty60 has rolled out to over 40 new areas, including Kimberley and Upington (in the Northern Cape), Klerksdorp (in the North West province) and most recently Polokwane (in Limpopo), making this service available from more than 130 Checkers supermarkets nationwide. There are now more than 15 000 products available on the Sixty60 app with…
Lucid Motors, a Saudi-backed electric vehicle startup, has revealed the in-cabin technology of its all-electric Lucid Air sedan. The sedan was unveiled eight months ago. The US-based electric vehicle maker said the interior of the Lucid Air features two primary touch-control displays – the Glass Cockpit and the Pilot Panel. The electric vehicle maker revealed the Luci Air’s Glass Cockpit 34-inch, 5K floating screen that sweeps around the driver, curving like the cockpit of a jet. The startup said the cockpit puts essential information into your sightline, with vehicle controls to the left, driving details in the centre, and navigation…
MTN has partnered with instant EFT solution provider, Ozow, to provide a fast and efficient payment method for customers to purchase data and airtime directly through WhatsApp. “Giving customers the ability to transact seamlessly on WhatsApp is a gamechanger in South Africa. It provides a seamless way to stay connected, in touch and in tune, while being simple and secure. Most importantly it will help improve financial and digital inclusion and enhance access for consumers,” says Jacqui O’Sullivan, Executive of Corporate Affairs at MTN South Africa. The service is provided within the MTN Chat platform, which was launched in 2019…
Infobip today announces the launch of its Infobip Startup Tribe programme. It will be led by newly appointed director Nikola Pavesic who joins from one of the world’s largest business media publishers and Financial Times parent company – Nikkei. Pavesic is based in Japan where he headed Nikkei’s startup and investor relations, alongside leading the largest tech conference series in Japan. Infobip Startup Tribe is a bespoke program aimed at finding and bringing together the world’s most innovative startups to help fast-track their growth and development. Qualifying startups will be able to apply for substantial credit allowances on Infobip’s products…
Pick n Pay Smart Shoppers can now earn points on their on-demand delivery orders with the Bottles by PnP app. This makes Pick n Pay the only retailer in South Africa to offer loyalty points across all its online shopping channels. “Getting something back for their loyalty is one of the things that our customers love most about shopping with us, and now they have more ways to earn points and save,” says John Bradshaw, retail executive: Omnichannel at Pick n Pay. To earn loyalty points when shopping on the Bottles by PnP app, customers will need to add their…