Author: Staff Writer

“Block porn before your child sees it”, did you ever think these words would pass your lips? I certainly didn’t, but we live in a world that is so much bigger than what we are exposed to and know off. Porn is very real, and your kids are being served this on the internet. Let’s delve a little deeper… Whether your kids are babies, threenagers or teens – our job as parents is to protect them from any-and-everything trying to hurt them or take away something from them. With 20% of porn viewers in SA being underage and 20% of…

Key to unlocking value chains, especially in the tech startup space, is the ability of large, established corporates to work effectively with small, agile start-ups. Big corporations partnering with startups is an untested and undeveloped space. Few models have been developed to date and examples of successful collaboration are few and far between. As such, the success of Standard Bank’s recent direct minority equity investment into Tripplo, a tech-enabled logistics solution “highlights the power of both Standard Bank’s future-ready strategy as well as its ecosystems approach in building and managing successful partnerships with start-ups,” says Sacheen Kala, Head of the…

The Shoprite Group is expanding its ecommerce presence by taking its Petshop Science brand online. This comes as the pet economy continues to grow in South Africa – in just one year, Petshop Science has opened 22 physical stores around the country. Petshop Science Online offers a broad selection of more than 2 000 pet-related products. These include food, treats, toys, and more from premium brands like Hills, Montego, Dog’s Life, Eukanuba, Ultra Dog, Royal Canin, Rogz and Nandoe. With the pet sector in South Africa now worth over R7 billion, the Group continues to expand its pet-related offerings. It launched pet insurance in 2020…

Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), in partnership with two other commercial banks, acted as Mandated Lead Arranger, of a EUR90m 10-year senior debt financing package for the Terminal Industriel Polyvalent de San Pedro (TIPSP), in Côte d’Ivoire’s secondary port, San Pedro. The concession is a 35-year agreement between TIPSP and the Autonomous Port of San Pedro, the state-owned port authority, encompassing the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of a greenfield multipurpose bulk terminal. The concession grants TIPSP exclusive rights to handle the import of cement clinker, gypsum, limestone, as well as fertilizers and hydrocarbons and the export of manganese, nickel…

The MINI Concept Aceman provides an initial glimpse of a completely new vehicle, bridging the space between the MINI Cooper and the MINI Countryman in the model family’s future, says Stefanie Wurst, Head of the MINI Brand. “This concept car reflects how MINI is reinventing itself for its all-electric future and what the brand stands for: an electrified go-kart feel, an immersive digital experience and a strong focus on a minimal environmental footprint.” The first MINI crossover model for the premium small cars segment is striking, with purely electric drive, a clear and pared-back design language that has been dubbed…

Vodacom Mpumalanga will invest R600 million into the network this financial year, to accelerate coverage reach and network capacity, and provide access to affordable, high-quality connectivity. This will meet the increasing demand for internet services, while driving digital inclusion throughout the region. “In the past two years, Vodacom Mpumalanga has spent R1 billion on network upgrades and solutions to support our transition from telecommunications operator to leading technology provider. Through this investment we have been able to deploy more sites, upgrade our current base stations and expand connectivity through the roll out of next generation technology and fibre, particularly to…

Standard Bank has successfully finalised a R5 billion debt finance package for MetroFibre Networx, supporting its continued fibre-optic data network rollout across South Africa. The financing will be used to expand MetroFibre’s world-class fibre connectivity into homes and businesses in underserviced communities across South Africa and is set to contribute to increasing Metrofibre’s reach by an additional 500 000 households across South Africa. “Partnerships such as these are a testament to how doing good in business is good for business, and in this case empower South Africans through digital inclusion to foster meaningful social impact.” says Nishela Ramgoolam, Executive: Structured Capital…

With the release of their new yield management tools, AgriTech business Aerobotics’ growers can now measure, manage and protect their yields directly from the Aerobotics platform. Aerobotics is pioneering the use of computer vision for the precision farming of perennial crops. Over the past seven years, Aerobotics has collected perennial crop imagery from more than 400 thousand hectares with 200+ growers to identify 195 million+ plants. Aerobotics is a subscription-based artificial intelligence (AI) company that provides intelligent tools for the agricultural industry to manage its crops. Aerobotics, founded by James Paterson and Benji Meltzer in 2014, is a leader in…

Vantage Data Centres, a large, US-headquartered data centre specialist, today announced the delivery of the first facility on its Johannesburg campus, as well as the start of construction on a second data centre on its Frankfurt II campus. Johannesburg Campus (JNB1) Positioned within the continent’s largest data centre market, Vantage opened its first data centre (JNB11) in Africa after breaking ground in 2021. The two-story facility offers 16MW of critical IT capacity across 130,000 square feet (12,000 square meters). The project was delivered in 10 months, ten days ahead of schedule, with zero lost-time incidents over 1.5 million working hours.…

The rapid advancement of technology has made our lives easier in countless ways. Unfortunately, with these advances has come an increase in cybercrime as online fraudsters adapt their strategies to reach new victims. In the past, criminals used manual processes to scam victims by mailing letters, sending faxes, and making phone calls, but modern tech has put a new spin on old fraud schemes, and today’s fraudsters are using email, messaging platforms and social media to reach targets inexpensively and easily. The tech savvy among us often think that we are safe from these types of crimes, believing that only…