Author: Staff Writer

While e-commerce drove payments in LatAm, digital payments will drive African e-commerce  Like in LatAm, alternative payment methods in Africa are key to driving financial inclusion  EBANX, a fintech company that specializes in international payments in rising markets, released its annual Beyond Borders 2022/2023 report. For the first time, the bellwether research study on the latest megatrends and consumer behaviors tied to e-commerce, payments, and emerging global business opportunities includes a detailed analysis of African countries, in addition to Latin America.    “Africa is the next digital frontier,” said Paula Bellizia, President of Global Payments at EBANX. “While it’s still…

Eskom and Hyosung Heavy Industries, one of the appointed service providers for the Eskom Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project, yesterday marked the beginning of construction of the first energy storage facility under Eskom’s flagship BESS project. The sod-turning ceremony was held at the Elandskop BESS site, located within Msunduzi and Impendle Local Municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal. Construction will take between seven and twelve months and the batteries on the site will be charged from the main grid via Eskom’s Elandskop substation. The facility will have a capacity of 8MW, equivalent to 32MWh of distributed electricity, enough to power a town…

BMW Group South Africa announces the appointment of Thilosh Moodally to General Manager: Group Communications and External Affairs, effective 1 January 2023. Moodally, currently the General Manager of Customer and Brand for BMW, has held several key roles over 20 years in BMW Group South Africa. Previously the Head of MINI South Africa, Moodally joined BMW South Africa in 2003 as a Chartered Accountant CA(SA) in the Finance Department at BMW Group Plant Rosslyn. Her experience spans the Finance, Customer Support, and Dealer Development areas within BMW Group South Africa. Said Moodally upon her appointment: “I have had the privilege…

Huawei this week further cemented South Africa’s reputation as a leading destination for data centres on the African continent, announcing new updates to its data centre facility channel partnership plan. These updates will improve continuity between Huawei Digital Power and its distributors and partners, focusing on the key areas of protection, profitability, simplicity, and growth. Speaking at the Huawei Data Centre Facility Ecosystem Strategy Launch this week, Mr. Xia Hesheng, President of Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa’s Digital Power Business, highlighted the growing importance of data centres, pointing out that in the coming decades, we can expect to see 10x growth in…

Ukheshe International, the UK-headquartered division of digital-first, Banking as a Service (BAAS) enabler Ukheshe Group (Ukheshe), today announced the conclusion of an investment agreement that will help accelerate its international expansion. The investment will be led by ADP III, a fund advised by Development Partners International (DPI), a premier, Africa-focused investment firm with $3 billion in assets under management and co-investment, alongside funds advised by Fireball Capital, a leading South African venture capital firm. The deal, which is subject to customary closing conditions, reinforces Ukheshe’s strategy and will support its long-term growth as the business continues to drive forward its…

Sun Exchange today announced that energy industry veteran, Martin Webb, has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer. Founder and former CEO, Abraham Cambridge, will continue to serve on the Board of Directors and serve as senior strategic advisor to the CEO and leadership team. Webb brings nearly three decades of energy industry experience, most recently having co-founded and served as CEO of Électricité de France (EDF) Renewables, an early-mover renewable energy company in South Africa. Under his leadership, EDF achieved fast growth, ultimately becoming established as a leading independent renewable asset owner-operator in South Africa, building a project portfolio of…

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) wishes to express its heartfelt congratulations to the outstanding recognition of its Head of Technology and Solutions Delivery (TSD), Intikhab Shaik, for receiving the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) President’s Award as the Visionary Chief Information Officer of the Year. What makes this prestigious accomplishment so noteworthy is that Mr Shaik’s work was compared against industry peers in both the private and public sectors. The determination that his performance is unmatched and stands head and shoulders above all others is a testament to the quality of his technology leadership. It was…

Huawei has hosted its first Cape Town Tech Convention at which it demonstrated its investment and commitment to partners and customers in the Western Cape. It also shared some of the innovative products and solutions it offers in the region as well as its plans for further expansion, which will allow customers to compete globally. Opening the convention, Gene Zhang, Huawei Managing Director of Enterprise Business South Africa, underlined how investing in the ICT ecosystem, is critical in an increasingly digital world. “The global economy and society are recovering after the COVID-19 pandemic and the digital transformation of industries has…

Africa Data Centres, a business of Cassava Technologies a pan-African technology group,  announced today it has secured a piece of land adjacent to its existing data centre in Nairobi, Kenya, and plans to expand the facility up to an extra 15MW of IT load. The build will be completed in the first half of 2024 and will bring five times more than the current capacity. According to Hardy Pemhiwa, Group President & CEO of Cassava Technologies, “Colocation has become the foundation of African digital transformation and will be for the foreseeable future. Our investment into expanding our data centre operations…

Synatic, SA’s data integration and automation business, has secured an additional $2.5 million or R42 million in a seed extension funding round led by Allan Gray E-Squared Ventures and UW Ventures. Synatic will use the additional funds to expand its market reach in the United States in preparation for Series A funding in 2023. Synatic has built off a strong South African customer base, providing large scale enterprise data integration and aggregation to the likes of Easy Equities. Through growing its market globally it currently provides data solutions to multiple multinationals such as HCC Tokio Marine, a US-headquartered insurance group.…