Author: Staff Writer
Navigating banking systems is almost always stressful and tediously litigious, and particularly true when it comes to applying for a home loan. Despite all their efforts, new home buyers are still not successful when applying for a bond independently. While bond originators take the hassle out of applying for a home loan and reduce the time it takes to be approved, they also give prospective buyers a way to ensure that they are offered the most favourable loan package and interest rate. Using a bond originator saves you time and paperwork and often means that the banks’ turnaround time is reduced, ensuring…
The New Yorker magazine has suspended staff writer Jeffrey Toobin after he exposed his penis during a virtual staff call last week over the messaging platform Zoom. Jeffrey Toobin has been suspended while we investigate the matter,” a spokesperson told The Washington Post. Vice.com first reported the suspension Monday afternoon. The magazine, which has employed Toobin since 1993, did not comment further about the nature of the incident or the length of the suspension. Earlier, the New York Post wrote: ‘One former staffer at the magazine said she believes his 25-year career will come to an end over the incident.’ “How do…
Prosus Ventures has announced its first investment in Mexico, leading a $15 million (R246 million) Series A funding round in Klar, a challenger bank in Mexico. Prosus Ventures, formerly Naspers Ventures, is the early-stage venture investing arm of Prosus, a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world. The company said other investors include International Finance Corporation and former investors Quona capital, who led Klar´s SEED round, Mouro Capital (formerly Santander Innoventures) and aCrew. The round brings the total debt and equity funds raised to approximately $72 million. Klar has been working to democratize financial services in Mexico since…
The U.S. Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit Tuesday against Google, alleging the search giant is engaging in anticompetitive and exclusionary practices in the search and search advertising markets to remedy the competitive harms. The department alleged that Google, a unit of Alphabet, is the monopoly gatekeeper to the internet for billions of users and countless advertisers worldwide. For years, Google has accounted for almost 90% of all search queries in the United States and has used anticompetitive tactics to maintain and extend its monopolies in search and search advertising. “Today, millions of Americans rely on the Internet and online…
The world’s first “robot lawyer” has gone from helping people dispute their parking tickets, to assisting lawyers with over a hundred different areas of consumer rights. With technology rapidly evolving, artificial intelligence (AI) has become a valuable tool for law firms to increase efficiency through automation. “Law firms have traditionally been slow to adapt to new technology, with many fearing that it will replace key roles within the legal profession. In reality, automation can be used to help lawyers save time and resources,” says Dries Cronje, founder of Deep Learning Café, a South African AI consulting company. Legal tech presents…
It was a dark and stormy summer night. As they curled up on the couch, the couple swooned over the dream home they found online. They swiped right and put in an offer, but a dark spectre hung over them. Diligently filling out reams of documents to secure their future, they slept fitfully that night as with trepidation they awaited the news. When the ding of the email lit up their phones in the morning mist, they were petrified to look. Declined! Their dream home in Ballito was not to be. Why not? They could not get their home loan…
Pick n Pay announced today that it had concluded an agreement to purchase on-demand, online grocery service Bottles. This will enable Pick n Pay to build on the success it has achieved in partnership with Bottles in recent months, and further strengthens what is already sub-Saharan Africa’s largest and most popular online grocery business. Bottles was launched in 2016 as South Africa’s first alcohol on-demand delivery app, and partnered with Pick n Pay in 2018. Its offer was the first of its kind, promising that orders would be fulfilled within 60 minutes. Following the prohibition on the sale of alcohol…
Nexio, South Africa’s digital system aggregator and solution provider, has strengthened its management with the appointment of six executives. In August, Nexio appointed Mickey Mashale as CEO to drive the company’s digital transformation strategy to greater heights. Mashale joined the organization from Vodacom where she held the position of chief sales officer for Vodacom Business from February 2018. The company said on Monday it has supported its fit-for-purpose organisational strategy with the appointment of six new exceptional senior executives that will complement the organisation’s dynamic team and complete its executive leadership. Last month, Dakalo Kangala was appointed as Executive Head…
SixThirty, US-based tech venture capital fund, is making a big bet on South Africa’s InsurTech company Click2Sure. SixThirty is a venture capital fund and a business development accelerator program that focuses on financial-based technology, InsurTech, and Cybersecurity solutions. The company said in a statement it has made a multi-million rand investment in Cape Town-based Click2Sure, marking the first time an African startup has caught the eye of the US-based tech venture fund. It invests in early-stage enterprise technology companies building. The investment will enable Click2Sure to further develop its product and ensure businesses offering insurance take advantage of the benefits…
Nyiko Shiburi has been appointed the new CEO of MultiChoice South Africa (MCSA). Until now, Nyiko has been the Regional Director of MultiChoice Africa: Southern Region — a role that spans nine countries. His appointment is effective from 1 December 2020. Nyiko is an extremely experienced leader and has successfully navigated the complexity of multiple territories and businesses, working with deeply skilled teams within the organisation as well as a multitude of stakeholders in our ecosystem,” comments MultiChoice Group CEO, Calvo Mawela. As the new CEO of MCSA, Nyiko will further drive the growth and momentum of the South African business based…