Author: Staff Writer
New research from beauty company Avon reveals that women find strength from hearing every day, relatable stories and sharing experiences with others. Nearly a third say these connections help them overcome challenges (32%) and for over a third (36%) it decreases feelings of anxiety or reduces self-doubt. With fears that the coronavirus pandemic has set the fight for gender equality back decades[1], and the new research highlighting that 41% of women have lost confidence as a result of lockdown restrictions, Avon is launching a campaign to celebrate the achievements and stories of women and men around the world. Commissioned as…
Decision Inc. has become one of only four companies in South Africa to have achieved the Qlik Elite Partner Status, the highest tier available from the multinational business intelligence organisation that develops cloud data integration and data analytics solutions. “The recognition reaffirms Decision Inc.’s commitment to delivering purpose-built, value-driven solutions that result in a demonstratable business return for our customers across industry sectors,” says Gavin Sheehan, Executive: Data, Information and Analytics at Decision Inc. “Despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant lockdown conditions, Decision Inc. has shown its resilience to weather the storm, maintain its strong client…
Microsoft is continuing to roll out more industry-specific cloud packages tailored for specific vertical industries. “Over the past year, we have experienced dramatic disruption around the world. Companies in every industry have turned to digital technologies for the resilience and agility necessary to survive. The urgency for entire industries to transform at scale has never been greater,” said Alysa Taylor, Corporate vice president of Business Applications and Global Industry. In response, Taylor said the company has accelerated its efforts to support and co-innovate with customers and partners — both now and long term — with industry-specific cloud offerings that can…
Spotify, the global audio streaming subscription service, is now available in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda as of 23 February. With a worldwide community of more than 345 million monthly active listeners, Spotify will offer a world-class audio listening and music discovery experience to listeners. The Spotify service is available for free or with an upgrade to Spotify Premium, a subscription service that offers an ad-free music listening experience. Spotify, which is already in South Africa, expands its operations into the rest of Africa with its unrivalled mix of features that have made it the world’s most popular audio…
Microsoft has added, in public preview, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) support for two of South Africa’s official languages, Afrikaans and isiZulu. “Adding support for these languages is part of Microsoft’s mission to build meaningful cognitive products and services that improve local engagement,” says Rory Preddy, Senior Cloud Advocate at Microsoft South Africa. “This support, which now counts a total of 73 languages, means that more people are able to connect in their own language and that language will become a seamless feature of using technology, rather than a hindrance.” OCR support for local languages allows users to use visual data…
“As we look towards recovery,” Hu said, “we need to ensure that innovation isn’t just about today. It’s about lighting up tomorrow and creating greater social value.”
The second Gauteng SMME Summit 2021 will be held be virtually to adhere to best practice in social distancing measures and live-streamed on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The Gauteng SMME Summit 2021 aims to help create access to information, financial assistance, and ultimately access to markets for the township-based enterprises. It will seek ways to ensure that the SMMEs overcome the financial burden that the coronavirus pandemic has caused. “Through this summit, the department seeks to tackle the issues of inclusive economic transformation and strengthen the importance of collaboration and cooperation amongst small businesses. Our objectives are to achieve tangible…
The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) has committed to buy up to $50 million (R745 million) of a bond issue by Liquid Telecom. Today, the company launched the bond, which aims to raise $600 million (R8.9 billion). The capital raised from the bond issue will be used to refinance existing debt and for corporate purposes. EAIF, acting through its agent Ninety One SA, along with The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and DEG-Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (DEG), has committed to placing orders to purchase up to an aggregate $178 million (R2,6 billion) in the New Note Offering. Liquid Telecom has built…
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) on Monday announced it will delay the announcement of qualified bidders upcoming spectrum auction. “The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa advises stakeholders that the announcement of qualified bidders in terms of the International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) Invitation to Apply (ITA) of 2 October 2020 has been moved from the initial date of 22 February 2021 to 23 March 2021.” This, therefore, means that the auction phase – which comprises, amongst others, the bidder seminar, the mock auction and the actual auction – will commence by 31 March 2021, said ICASA. One…
President Cyril Ramaphosa has warned that the recent attacks on the country’s judiciary should not be taken lightly, warning that these shake the very foundations of South Africa’s constitutional democracy. “Unless supported by evidence, such claims undermine confidence in our courts, and weaken our Constitutional order,” wrote the President in his weekly newsletter on Monday. This as there have been utterances directed at the judiciary, in which some judges are accused, without any evidence, of pursuing interests other than the cause of justice. Judges have been accused of political agendas and some have even been accused of accepting bribes. “We…