Author: Staff Writer

MTN Group has appointed Thato Motlanthe to the position of Executive for Investor Relations, with effect from 1 September 2019. Motlanthe replaces Nik Kershaw who left MTN Group at the end of May 2019, and will report to Ralph Mupita, MTN Group CFO. Motlanthe brings to the role extensive experience of  South African and global capital markets, having worked in both the sell-side and buy-side of equity capital markets. He joins MTN from Absa Asset Management, where he held the role of Portfolio Manager, co-managing the flagship funds within the Equities franchise. Prior to this, he has held senior positions…

Naspers has announced plans to list Prosus on Euronext Amsterdam along with a secondary, inward listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in South Africa on Wednesday 11 September 2019. The Cape Town-based company said it expects to own at least 73% of Prosus and the free float is expected to be up to 27%, created by Naspers through a capitalisation issue of Prosus shares to Naspers shareholders (as described below). Last month, Naspers  announced it has delayed the listing of its international internet assets on Euronext Amsterdam and secondary, inward listing on JSE. The company attributed the delay to…

In line with international trends and following on the success of Black Friday, the Takealot Group is once again leading the charge with a first-of-its-kind shopping event in South Africa. The Ultimate Checkout Sale is the Takealot Group’s beginnings of creating a South African version of an annual shopping event akin to those already established in the USA, China and India. “The year on year growth of Black Friday is an excellent indication of the appetite for big shopping events in SA. Internationally, annual events such as Amazon’s Prime Day, Alibaba’s Singles Day and Flipkart’s Big Billion Days highlight the…

The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has set aside the City of Tshwane’s (CoT’s) Municipal Broadband Network Project contract which was awarded to Thobela Telecoms, a special purpose vehicle in which Altron Nexus, a subsidiary of JSE-listed Altron, was a minority shareholder. Altron Nexus was involved as primary network designer and architect, supplier of broadband equipment and related services. Altron Chief Executive Mteto Nyati said Altron was studying the judgement. “We are disappointed and are considering our legal options,” he said. “Once we have consulted Thobela Telecoms and project funders, we will consider our next steps and we are not…

Sasol has reaffirmed its partnership with the Government of Mozambique to deliver on its socio-economic development strategy focusing on the creation of self-employment opportunities for local nationals. In 2017, Sasol committed to contributing towards the training and development of Mozambicans nationals through an all-inclusive bursary, artisans and learnership programmes focusing on economic growth stimulation, community transformation and the creation of meaningful job opportunities and careers in Mozambique. According to the World Bank’s Mozambique Jobs Diagnostic findings report for 2018 “good jobs” in the country “are not expanding fast enough to absorb the growing, better-educated labour force”. The report reflects that…

Troubled JSE-listed technology group EOH has lost two CEOs of its subsidiaries, Nextec and ICT business. The company announced on Monday that Zunaid Mayet, executive director and CEO of EOH subsidiary Nextec,  has resigned as the CEO of Nextec and from the EOH Holdings board and various other EOH subsidiary boards. His resignation is with effect from 12 July 2019. Mayet has been at EOH for 10 years and a member of the board for the last two years. He has been involved in driving the new strategy which included the creation of Nextec. In order to ensure a smooth…

Thryve, South African-based provider of insurance, risk and governance technology solutions, has set up shop in Toronto, Canada. The new office is aimed at tapping the fast-emerging and growing digital Canadian market. Thryve is a leading South African company with international partners, providing cloud-based insurance administration, risk management systems and CRM systems to a blue-chip client profile of large South African corporates and insurance intermediaries. Thryve already operates offices in Johannesburg, as well as in London. The expansion into Canada comes at a time when that country’s technology ambitions are booming. Canadian businesses have been quietly yet prolifically transforming to make use of digital…

Broadband Infraco has partnered with Google to offer additional skills training under its Digital Skills Programme, “Grow with Google”. This training will be offered to learners and teachers in remote rural areas outside of the school curriculum. The aim of the collaboration is to provide learners and teachers in remote rural areas with the necessary skills to prepare for today’s changing work environments and the impact that the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) will bring about. “Having experienced the roll-out of infrastructure and internet; and noticing the lack of adoption of the connectivity being provided to some of the schools due to…

The new MINI Cooper SE will be the first purely electrically powered premium small car, paving the way to a sustainable yet at the same time highly emotional driving experience in urban traffic. The first solely electrically powered model of the British brand offers pure MINI feeling with locally emissions-free driving. It model-specific lithium-ion battery enables a range of 235 to 270 kilometres. The high-voltage battery is situated deep in the vehicle floor, ensuring there are no limitations in terms of luggage compartment volume as compared to the conventionally powered MINI 3 Door. With the new MINI Cooper SE, the British brand once again…

MTN, South Africa’s second-biggest mobile phone operator, has collaborated with JSE-listed financial services group, Sanlam, to make a range of innovative and inclusive financial services available to MTN’s digitally-savvy customers. “At MTN we believe that everyone deserves the benefit of a modern connected life and that we are uniquely positioned to help make this a reality. By harnessing the power of our technology, we can offer our customers a range of financial services, anytime and anywhere,” said Rob Shuter, Group CEO of MTN. The Insurtech investment and product knowledge of Sanlam, the largest insurer on the continent, matched with the…

South Africa topped Opensignal’s Africa Download Speed Experience table with a fairly impressive score of 15 Mbps, while Tunisia, Morocco and Kenya also managed average speeds of over 10 Mbps. The mobile analytics company has compared 10 of Africa’s mobile markets to see how they stack up against each other in mobile network experience. Almost all the African countries it analyzed saw their Download Speed Experience scores increase over the past year, as Tunisia saw the biggest increase of 3.6 Mbps to reach 13.4 Mbps. South Africa’s score was quite a way behind the leading global scores, but the country…

Cabin settings will be altered in response to the driver’s facial expressions to help tackle stress Reports suggest 74 per cent of people admit to feeling stressed or overwhelmed every day New mood-detection system is one of a suite of technologies Jaguar Land Rover is exploring as part of its ‘tranquil sanctuary’ vision to improve the overall driving experience Jaguar Land Rover is researching new artificial intelligence (AI) technology to understand our state of mind while driving – and adjust cabin settings to improve driver wellbeing. The technology uses a driver-facing camera and biometric sensing to monitor and evaluate the…

Spotify announced today it has launched a “Lite” version of its music streaming app in South Africa. With Spotify Lite, you can easily control your data and storage. It’s only 10 MB, so it’s quick to install and load while offering the same great listening experience that lets you discover, play, and enjoy millions of songs. It also comes with the ability to set a data limit and get a notification when you reach it. This way, you’ll be able to focus on finding your next favourite song—not worrying about data. No need to worry if you’re running low on…

Warehouse Management Software Solution has received an undisclosed Series A funding round from Knife Capital – a venture capital firm with offices in Cape Town and London. Knife Capital invests via a consortium of funding partnerships, including SARS section 12J Venture Capital Company KNF Ventures and select family offices. Granite WMS is an easy to use barcode-based warehouse management system (WMS) developed by South African automated identification business: Cradle Technology Services. It integrates into various Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and accounting software packages and expands warehouse operations and business processes to help deliver products on time, accurately and cost-effectively.…

De Beers Group is investing $315,000 R4.4 million) over three years in programmes that aim to encourage young women to study STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects and to pursue engineering careers in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. “With a global shortage of engineers, and women representing only 11 per cent of the engineering workforce, attracting more young women into engineering is vital,” Katie Fergusson, Senior VP Social Impact, De Beers Group, said. “In our fast-changing world, we need diversity of thought to find new solutions, so we are therefore thrilled to be able to partner with WomEng and…

Audi has launched a virtual reality-enabled Audi Customer Private Lounge (CPL) at Audi Centre Centurion in Gauteng, bringing the brand in South Africa in line with global trends, by offering an innovative, digital, retail solution which allows customers to customise the Audi of their choice. With the VR solution, customers can get an extremely realistic experience of their individually configured car, down to the last detail. The Audi CPL allows for a one-to-one engagement between a customer and a sales consultant in a digital, premium and intimate environment. Once in the CPL, digital technologies like the VR headset and 75-inch…

South Africa’s Naspers through its Naspers Ventures division and EQT Ventures have invested €30 million (R474 million) in Dott, a European micro-mobility company. EQT Ventures is European multistage venture capital fund with commitments of just over €566 million. Other investors include existing investors Axel Springer Digital Ventures, Felix Capital, FJ Labs, U-Start Club, and angel investors. Dott is a micro-mobility European start-up founded by Maxim Romain and Henri Moissinac, gathering the most experienced team in mobility and tech in Europe. Its mission is to beautifully design micro-mobility for safety, comfort, and durability, to make green travel an easy choice for…

The BMW Group and Daimler have signed a contract to jointly develop technologies for driver assistance systems, highly automated driving on highways, and automated parking. This cooperation was initially announced in February and now finally an agreement has been signed by both German car automakers. In addition, further talks are planned to extend the cooperation to higher levels of automation in urban areas and city centres. This underscores the long-term and lasting nature of the undertaking, which will extend to encompass a scalable platform for automated driving. The non-exclusive cooperation is also open to other OEMs and technology partners, with…

Frogfoot Networks, a licensed open access fibre network provider, announced on Wednesday it is rolling out fibre infrastructure in Protea Glen, Soweto, in a phased approach, with up to 20 000 homes and business, standing to benefit from access to affordable, reliable broadband connectivity. The areas being covered as part of the infrastructure rollout are Protea Glen East and West, with work starting in the West. This region will be divided into 10 Zones, while Protea Glen East will comprise 11 zones. Work on the project is set to commence in early July, and it is expected that the first…

VALR, a Johannesburg-based cryptocurrency trading platform with over 50 cryptocurrencies, announced on Wednesday that it is launching Ethereum-Rand (ETHZAR) trading to allow customers to buy and sell Ether. The company said the Ether-Rand (ETHZAR) trading will go live on 11 July at 11:11 a.m. In the last three weeks we have facilitated over R170 million worth of Bitcoin trades, VALR’s Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer, Badi Sudhakaran said. “Today we are excited to announce the launch of our second ZAR trading pair: ETHZAR,” he added. VALR is financially supported by ex-FNB CEO Michael Jordaan and US-based Bittrex. Bittrex is one of the…

uKheshe, South Africa’s economic and convenient QR cash card, on Tuesday announced the launch of the uKheshe Health Benefits card, an innovative and affordable medical aid solution for as little as R99 per month. Available from 1 July, uKheshe Health offers a host of rich benefits to bring greater healthcare inclusion for individuals and families, including cover for private ground and air ambulance, private stabilisation and hospitalisation cover as a result of an accident or emergency. uKheshe Health is available in two benefit options: Individual at R99 per month offers unlimited emergency medical services, R25,000 trauma cover, and R300,000 private…

4 Africa Exchange (4AX) announced on Tuesday that as part of their 6-month succession and handover over plan, Fay Mukaddam has stepped down as the CEO. Sean Emery, CEO of RainFin, has been appointed as interim CEO of the exchange, it said. Mukaddam remains an active shareholder in 4AX and continues to support the business operations in other positions, as well as is leading a rigorous recruitment process for her successor. “When I accepted the founding CEO role, I was excited about the challenge of leading this disruptive business out of the business plan phase to evolve into operating reality,”…

EOH announced on Tuesday it has entered into an agreement with German listed RIB Software SE (RIB) to sell 70% of Construction Computer Software (CCS) for R444 million. The JSE-listed technology group said the transaction will be facilitated through its wholly owned subsidiary, EOH Mthombo. The companies have also entered into a reciprocal put/call option, in terms of a shareholder’s agreement, for the disposal of the remaining 30% of the issued share capital of CCS at the same multiple applied to 31 December 2022 adjusted EBITDA.  The sale is capped at $30 million (R424 million). The company said 90% of…

The Gauteng Provincial Government wants to turn the province into a hub of Fourth Industrial Revolution. This was announced by Gauteng Premier David Makhura on Monday when he delivered his first State of the Province Address (SOPA) following the 6th General Election in May. “Our dream is that Gauteng should be a hub of Fourth Industrial Revolution skills and a centre of excellence for digital economy breakthroughs such as Artificial Intelligence, cryptocurrency, and big data,” Makhura said. At a packed University of Johannesburg campus in Soweto, Makhura said Gauteng — as the engine of South Africa’s economy — will contribute…

Black Beard, a South African tech solutions builder, has joined forces with local female tech champions, GirlCode in an initiative designed to collect and utilise old tech devices known as Tech Relief. Tech Relief aims to collect and distribute ‘old’ technological devices that are collecting dust in drawers around the world. These still equipped yet slightly outdated devices can be used to address the burning need for technological learning tools in educational institutions and initiatives, especially in underprivileged areas. To meet this need – Tech Relief has created a platform, in association with GirlCode, for the public to donate old…