Author: Staff Writer
Bolt, a ride-hailing and e-scooter firm, has secured a €20 million (R364 million) war chest of funds to expand in Eastern European and African markets. The funds were secured from the World Bank’s IFC. Bolt launched South Africa – its first African market – in 2016 and now operates in over 34 towns and cities across all nine provinces, connecting more than 25,000 drivers with passengers. Since its launch in South Africa, the company currently operates in seven African countries, providing earning opportunities for more than 400,000 drivers in over 70 cities across the continent. IFC’s funding will be targeted towards…
“We get to understand the clients and build tailor-made products for them, which makes it easier for them to give us feedback. It is more feedback for us, which enables us to further improve.”
South African signal distributor Sentech is leveraging the computing power of Amazon Web Services (AWS) to create streaming services in the country. The signal distributor provides broadcast transmission services to all SABC radio and television stations, commercial radio, and TV stations, and over 130 community radio stations country-wide daily. It also provides connectivity and infrastructure services to the retail, telecommunications, and public sector. Kopano Thage, Sentech’s acting Chief Marketing and Sales Officer, explains that AWS is one of the state-owned company’s suppliers and has assisted it in providing streaming solutions. “As the country went into Lockdown level 5 due to…
Software programming training academy WeThinkCode has announced plans to open a campus in Durban this July. The new facility will complement the school’s existing campuses in Johannesburg and Cape Town and is part of an ambitious plan to double their student intake to 600 this year. This will give more South Africans the opportunity to join the digital world and help build the country’s technology skills capability. E Squared Investments has committed R9,2-million to establish the new campus. “As an impact investor whose mandate is to attack poverty and unemployment in South Africa, there are strong synergies between WeThinkCode’s involvement…
Telkom’s landline customers will be able to align their calling plans to its popular SmartVoice offering. The SmartVoice packages, which are fibre or “fixed wireless landline look-alike” products that usually include additional features such as mobile data, minutes, and free on-net calls. The company said it has not only introduced new closer calling plans for customers wishing to get more value for their money, but it has also reduced the prices of some of these plans. The new Closer Calling plans are available to new and existing customers and can be provisioned on Copper, Fibre and as a bolt-on to…
Telkom’s Blue Bargain Sale is offering unbelievable deals, dropped prices and fabulous freebies. The Blue Bargain Sale with a reduced price applies to selected FreeMe contracts. It offers up to 30% reduction devices and free data for three months. The free promotional Telkom Mobile Data shall be allocated for three consecutive months (deal dependent). The sale is available to new and existing mobile customers who apply or renewing a contract. The company will charge the standard Once-off SIM and Connection fee of R99.00 applicable to mobile deals on the customer’s first invoice for all new provide orders. The Blue Bargain…
Volvo Cars is committed to becoming a leader in the fast-growing premium electric car market and plan to become a fully electric car company by 2030, the Swedish firm said. By then, Volvo Cars intends to only sell fully electric cars and phase out any car in its global portfolio with an internal combustion engine, including hybrids. The company’s transition towards becoming a fully electric car maker is part of its ambitious climate plan, which seeks to consistently reduce the life cycle carbon footprint per car through concrete action. Volvo Cars said the 2030 ambition represents an acceleration of its…
Vodacom Financial Services has announced an expansion of its services to include a supplier portal called VodaTrade, where the small supplier will be able to go digital and connect with bigger business partners. This digital trading platform is set to support small and medium-sized business by connecting them to exciting new business prospects. VodaTrade is a one-stop interface for small business to interact with all aspects of their trade. Some key features include analytics, receiving orders, catalogue management, confirming fulfilment, as well as sending back an invoice. “I’m really excited that we are launching a product which caters for SMEs,…
Vodacom and Mondia announced today the rollout of the Mum & Baby maternal health service across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Mum & Baby is a free-of-charge mobile health intervention service that provides Vodacom DRC subscribers with maternal, neonatal and child health information designed to encourage good health practices amongst pregnant women, mothers, partners and caregivers. Mondia creates Mum & Baby’s tailored content in the local language, and includes expert articles, videos and information-sharing SMS messages. Mum & Baby’s future enhancements in the DRC will provide interactive tools including a due-date calculator, an immunisation calendar, medication reminder, medication…
Luno, South Africa’s cryptocurrency exchange, now has seven million customers (wallets), just seven weeks after reaching the milestone of six million customers. The business has grown rapidly due to the simplicity of its online and mobile platforms, offering education, bank-grade security and self-regulation. It is actively working with regulators and banks to safely increase access to cryptocurrencies. Luno was ranked in the top six cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide in the latest CryptoCompare Exchange Benchmark and also received the top tier AA rating. Luno was founded in 2013 by two South Africans, Marcus Swanepoel, a former investment banker, and Timothy Stranex, who…