Author: Staff Writer

At the start of any new year, we usually pen down our goals for the year ahead. Most of them come in the form of exercising more by joining a gym. Yet, our busy schedules and the immense task of maintaining a functional work-life balance means that exercise usually slips through the cracks. During the pandemic, some of South Africa’s biggest gym chains reported record-breaking drops in gym subscriptions. At the same time, South Africans were still getting their fitness fix somewhere. Where were they? Many were smashing their fitness goals by exercising at home. Today, the home gym trend…

An Interview with Vincent van Wyk, Founder and CEO of Fluenty, Lessons in Starting a Tech Company.  Fluenty started in August 2018. Vincent van Wyk, Founder and CEO, consulted for several businesses for five years prior to starting Fluenty. To meet the development needs of growing businesses, Fluenty equip their clients to navigate enterprise technology systems with ease so they can drive revenue and unlock new opportunities for business growth.  Funding The company was bootstrapped for the first four months starting out with just two developers. When further funding was required to cover salaries during a difficult time of the…

Mama Money, a rapidly growing fintech that offers cross-border money transfer and banking services has partnered with AFC Commercial Bank, a market leader in Zimbabwe with a reliable and robust payout network. This partnership allows Mama Money customers to easily send money to any AFC Commercial Bank branch for cash collection at 45 locations across Zimbabwe. It’s estimated that the monthly remittance flows from South Africa to Zimbabwe range between $30 to $60 million US dollars through both formal and informal channels and accounts for over 10% of the country’s GDP according to the World Bank. But the cost of…

The Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) has added a new clause which deals with cryptocurrency products, to the Code of Advertising Practice. The new rules are aimed at protecting consumers from being misled by unethical advertisers and are the result of consultation and agreement with the cryptocurrency industry. “This is a wonderful example of an industry that sees the harm that could be done in its name, and steps up to self-regulate the issues without being forced to do so by government,” says Gail Schimmel, CEO of the ARB. “This has been an exciting project and we know that it will…

The 2Africa subsea cable, the largest subsea cable system in the world, has landed at the Vodacom network facility in Gqeberha, South Africa. This is the first submarine cable landing in the Eastern Cape region, promising greater internet capacity and acceleration of connectivity across the province and supporting South Africa’s growing digital economy. The 2Africa Consortium includes eight international partners, China Mobile International, Meta (Facebook), MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, center3 (stc), Telecom Egypt, Vodafone/Vodacom and WIOCC, who have partnered to build 2Africa. Launched in May 2022, the subsea cable project aims to significantly increase the capacity, quality, and availability of internet…

This summer, everyone needs a win – and according to MTN, “with MyMTN Home internet everyone is a winner. MyMTN Home is aimed at delivering more value for money and providing greater choice to customers. The growth in demand for flexible data solutions and consumers’ increasing need to remain connected to loved ones is what inspired them to introduce the MyMTN Home offerings. With MTN’s home internet solutions, customers can now binge-watch their favourite series, game to their heart’s content stream movies, or pit together the perfect playlist for summer pool parties giving more people uncapped access to the digital world from…

In an effort to assist customers in their hunt for those hard-to-find items, Builders, the home improvement, DIY, and building materials retailer, has launched a new online tool called Product Finder. This new solution utilises a dedicated team of Builders Sales Specialists to locate and source niche décor and outdoor products, a tool, storage solutions, or fittings, whether customers saw the item online, spotted it in a magazine, or encountered it outside the country. Best of all, the platform can even find items the retailer doesn’t stock.    “In the last two years we have seen a surge in South…

A whopping 80% of SA Post Offices (SAPO) nationwide do not answer their phones and many of them don’t even have working telephone lines. The DA conducted a project where we called a sample of 300 Post Offices nationwide. “When we tried calling both the Head office and Customer Service Centre, as part of our 25% sample, both calls were equally unsuccessful,” a DA research reveals. This comes just days after it was announced that the SAPO is proposing to cut their employees’ work week by two days, which would ultimately mean that their employees get paid 40% less. This…

Huawei South Africa has risen up the Top Employers Institute’s annual Top Employer rankings and is recognised as one of the top 20 Top Employers in South Africa. While Huawei has been accredited for six consecutive years, its improved ranking is a validation of the hard work it’s put into employee wellbeing and development. Being certified as a Top Employer showcases an organisation’s dedication to a better world of work and exhibits this through excellent HR policies and people practices. The Top Employers Institute programme certifies organisations based on the participation and results of their HR Best Practices Survey. This…

Husband and wife team Ofentse and Nelisiwe Mwase have become the latest South African YouTubers to reach the 1 million subscribers milestone, becoming one of just 25 South African YouTube channels in this elite club. Starting in 2017, the Ofentse Mwase Films  (OM Films) channel initially focused on long-form comedy content with a uniquely South African influence and perspective. Describing how their channel came about, the couple says: “We have always been a humorous couple, since we started dating in 2008. We loved anything and everything that was comedy or satire. So it’s safe to say that humour is a…