Author: Staff Writer

This past week, the national Department of Health (DoH) launched a COVID Alert SA App – in partnership with Discovery – to strengthen the existing contact tracing methods to help break the transmission of COVID-19 as South Africa seeks to prevent a resurgence of cases since the easing of restrictions to level two. Vodacom has zero-rated this App in a bid to reduce barriers of access and help the government in its fight to halt the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. This COVID Alert SA App is South Africa’s free exposure notification tool that lets people know when they have been…

Vodacom Group and the SADC Banking Association have signed a memorandum of understanding that will allow the Vodacom Group to join the South African Development Community’s Transactions Cleared on an Immediate Basis (TCIB) payment scheme. The TCIB payment scheme has been developed in cooperation with interested financial institutions by the  SADC Banking Association and is supported by the SADC Payment System Oversight Committee of the Committee of Central Bank Governors of Southern Africa. It aims to advance regional integration of payments on the African continent. Earlier this year, the World Bank projected that global remittances – payments made for either…

Vodafone Foundation is committing $28 million (R474 million) to expand its m-mama ‘ambulance taxi’ programme beyond Tanzania. The programme will initially expand to Lesotho, with a co-investment of $4.5 million (R76 million) by the foundation and the Government of Lesotho to introduce m-mama across the country through the Ministry of Health. Lesotho has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world, and the programme could potentially save 200 lives over the next four years alone. “Vodafone Foundation shares the commitment of the Government of Lesotho to reduce maternal mortality and contribute to the UN’s health goal,” Joakim…

In a bold industry move, Cash Crusaders – leaders in second hand, quality new goods and secure loans, has built and launched Click & Collect – the first instalment in taking their retail business online. “Although we’ve been planning the launch of e-commerce for our business for a while, COVID-19 rapidly increased the rate in which we rolled the service out,” says Sean Stegmann, CEO of Cash Crusaders Franchising. “As discussed in our recent 702’s Franchising for Future Success webinar, with shopper behaviours changing somewhat, the timing was perfect for us to aggressively embrace our digitisation strategy. We started with…

Global studies show that young people are capable of contributing to the economy by working, starting businesses and leading organisations, yet far too many do not have access to the opportunities they need to reach their full potential. According to the  UN World Youth Report, over 71 million young people are unemployed, and many more millions are in precarious or informal work. The stats also show that 156 million young people in low-and-middle-income countries are living in poverty even though they are employed. We can evidently see this in Africa in the high number of young people who are unemployed and…

Heading out of a long, cold winter, South African households will soon be thinking about reflecting heat instead of retaining warmth. While the country’s energy supply continues to fall short, the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) looks forward to continuing its rollout of an energy-efficient cooling solution – known as ‘cool roofs’. Cool roofing simply involves the coating of roofs with a durable, reflective membrane which reflects the heat of the sun. It is inexpensive and highly effective passive energy, low-tech cooling intervention. SANEDI is one of ten global teams awarded a $100 000 grant by the Million…

Banks in Africa must provide mobile payments and other digital services to remain competitive as well as to unlock new business opportunities across sectors such as energy, health care, education and transportation, according to a new report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) titled Five Strategies for Mobile-Payment Banking in Africa. Although many African banks have little direct experience with mobile payments, it represents a must-win opportunity for these institutions on the continent because technology companies outside of Africa will capture the market if African banks fail to provide these services. “The estimated market in facilitating payments alone is $500 billion.…

Cash may have traditionally been king, but COVID-19 has contributed to a faster pace of digital payment adoption. Recently on AlphaCode’s monthly Industry Insights webinar, two global FinTech players discussed the emergence of a plethora of digital payments and debated if cash is on its way out. Omosalewa Adeyemi, Head of Global Partnerships and Expansion at Flutterwave (a technology company that helps businesses in Africa and across the world send and receive payments) and Nicolas Vonthron, co-CEO of Mama Money (a rapidly growing international payment operator using mobile technology to reach new markets and underserved communities with a key focus…

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) wishes to inform all stakeholders of the passing of former Councillor Botlenyana Mokhele yesterday. Mokhele joined ICASA as a Councillor on the 4th of April 2016 and left the office on the 10th of June 2020, upon the end of her four (4) year term. She was not new to ICASA when she joined in 2016, as she had served at the former Independent Broadcasting Authority (ICASA’s predecessor), ICASA’s Policy Department and the Department of Communications, to name but a few. The regulator said it is indeed grateful to have had Ms…

Telkom has welcomed the Independent Communication Authority’s announcement that it will release the Invitation to Apply (ITA) for both Wireless Open Access Network (WOAN) and the International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT) spectrum by the end of September. Telkom Group Chief Executive Officer, Sipho Maseko has welcomed the move as the kind of decisive action needed to drive South Africa’s economic recovery. Maseko commended the approach taken by the new ICASA council to issue both ITAs simultaneously as a considered and pragmatic approach to the spectrum release process. “We are looking forward to seeing innovation in auction design by the new council,”…