Author: Staff Writer

Akiba Digital, a South African-based FinTech startup, announced on Friday it has raised over $1.1 million or R15.8 million in funding pre-seed funding to connect small businesses to lenders. Akiba Digital is lowering the barriers to entry to enable small businesses in South Africa to unlock financing through their lending partners. “This year we are launching a Mandela day campaign to help 67 SMEs in July to rebuild after the recent disruptions in South Africa. We are looking to partner with lenders who want to help SMEs rebuild their businesses,” said Tebogo Mokwena, co-founder and CEO of Akiba Digital. “Through…

ICT tech company Huawei has announced plans to invest $150 million or R2.1 billion in youth digital talent development over the next five years. “Today we are announcing Huawei’s Seeds for the Future Program 2.0. As part of our commitment to continuously developing talent, we will invest US$150 million in this program over the next five years and help university students and young people improve their digital skills. This program is expected to benefit another 3 million people,” said Huawei’s Chairman Liang Hua. The announcement comes as the world marked Youth Skills Day on July 15th, aimed at recognizing the strategic…

4 AX listed Heartwood Properties is spearheading in Somerset West new hybrid office development with innovative future-focused features. It’s no secret that Somerset West has fast become one of the Western Cape’s leading semigration destinations. The little town has a lot going for it which makes it incredibly desirable for people who are looking to move away from the city in search of a better quality of life. The pandemic, lockdown and remote working has only amplified the semigration trend, but now as many companies contemplate bringing employees back to the office, the big debate is about how. The new…

The DA will lay charges of treason and terrorism against the instigators of the unrest that led to widespread looting and destruction in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng. Adv Glynnis Breytenbach, the DA Shadow Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, said in a statement today that DA has seen WhatsApp chats between individuals who have identified themselves as being part of a number of ANC branches in KwaZulu-Natal whose messages appear to indicate their intentions to destabilise and remove the current government. “Under South African law, treason is defined as any conduct unlawfully committed by a person owing allegiance to…

Small businesses have suffered extraordinarily at the hands of the pandemic, with certain sectors feeling the true brunt of lost business, but July brings with it a slew of additional challenges that will affect SMEs – and their supply chains – financially. A trifecta of cost increases came into play over the past few weeks, affecting, among other things, the cost of goods and raw materials, consumers’ pockets and quite literally, the price to keep the lights on. This as electricity increased again, municipal services including water and sanitation and property rates rose and fuel prices shot up thanks to…

Ex-Global Switch Managing Director to lead data centre platform expansion as Africa’s data demand accelerates. Actis, the global sustainable infrastructure investor, and Convergence Partners have appointed Jasper Lankhorst as the CEO of the group’s pan-African data centre platform. Jasper will be responsible for the expansion of data centres across the continent to meet Africa’s accelerating demand for data and digital infrastructure. The new appointment follows Actis’ wider strategy to capitalise on the growing demand for digital infrastructure across the globe. With over 25 years of experience within the international data centre and internet infrastructure sector, Jasper will lead on expanding…

Employee wellness app Strove has raised a R4 million seed funding round led by VC firm Launch Africa. Strove, founded in 2020 by Chris Bruchhausen in partnership with venture builder The Delta, released their initial product in January this year and has already raised R4 million. Strove is an activity-based mobile rewards application that empowers organisations to inspire their employees to live a healthy and active life, combatting inactivity, burnout, and chronic stress. It uses activity-tracking and gamification to incentivize workforces to be their best selves, with rewards coming from over a dozen partner brands, such as Old Khaki, Poetry,…

CMCNetworks, Africa, and the Middle East’s premier data network provider has announced enhancements to its SD-WAN delivery network. Long recognized as an innovator in the world of networking, CMC Networks has changed the game in service delivery by standardizing on Juniper Networks’ STEP (Service and Topology Exchange Protocol) for service delivery to its customer base across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. The move allows CMC to leverage the intelligence of Juniper Session Smart™ Routers to build an infrastructure that can learn network topology and service information dynamically, enabling the delivery of intelligent services with unprecedented speed and efficiency. Geoff Dornan,…

The DA has today laid incitement to violence charges against Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, Edward Zuma, Duduzane Zuma and EFF leader Julius Malema in Cape Town. DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach laid the criminal charges in Cape Town on Wednesday. Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla has posted a number of tweets over the course of the last few days encouraging and inciting the violence and looting which has destablised KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng, said Breytenbach. “These tweets have typically included images of destruction, arson and looting with Duduzile expressing her support of these actions in the captions of the tweets.” Please see screenshots here and here. There is…

Koa Academy, an online school that combines online learning and the flexibility of home-schooling for grades 4 – 12, in South Africa has bagged R4 million investment from Enygma Ventures. “The education sector has been in need of an overhaul for a long time and the Covid-19 pandemic further highlighted this need for innovative solutions in the space” said Sarah Dusek, Co-founder and Managing Partner for Enygma Ventures. “The Koa team brings with them years of experience in education, combined with an innovative and exciting approach to tackle this challenge.” Koa was launched in October 2020 with a vision to…