Author: Staff Writer

Zulu Nomad, a travel tour operator that creates curated experiences, has partnered with Geekulcha, the Northen Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism,  and BrownSense InSights will be hosting the Africa Travel Hackathon on 5 to 8 September 2019 while on the Premier Classe Train from Johannesburg to Cape Town. #TrainTourHack will consist of 20 teams of coders, designers and data scientists who will work on practical technological solutions for tourism industry for approximately 36 hours. With the guidance of mentors and seasoned travel influencers, the teams will work on developing solutions to tourism challenges around tourist safety, SMME digital…

London headquartered cryptocurrency exchange Coindirect has announced that customers can now buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on its platform using credit cards. This is a pioneering development in the South African cryptocurrency market, which has not yet experienced credit card to crypto payments. Using a credit card for cryptocurrency payments helps ensure the process is as quick as possible from sign up to ‘buy Bitcoin’, unlike purchases through bank transfers which are subject to traditional banking delays. Coindirect now has one of the largest offerings of cryptocurrencies in South Africa and stands as the only exchange in the country to offer credit…

Vodacom, South Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator announced on Thursday it has added 1.1 million new customers and also signed up 1.3 million data users for the quarter ended 30 June 2019. The Vodafone–owned mobile phone company said it added 608 000 customers in South Africa in the quarter, 522 000 added in prepaid and contract customer base grew by 8.9%. It also added 560 000 customers in international operations, up 5.3%. Its data customers increased to 38.9 million, adding 1.3 million in the quarter. The revenue of M-Pesa, its mobile money service,  increased 42.7% to R905 million, representing 17.7%…

In the congested and somewhat complex arena of blockchain technology lays a singularly unique company, built around the fundamental foundations from which crypto is built. MinedBlock is a Fintech Crypto payments processor who specialises in transaction processing (mining) for cryptocurrencies. MinedBlock has adopted a very concise and progressive mission statement from the offset and aim to capitalise on this through the execution of their Initial Exchange Offering (IEO). “Our vision is to become a major player in the cryptocurrency arena and for MinedBlock to own a significant part of the infrastructure required to process transactions and mint new crypto assets.…

Leading global beauty and cosmetics company, Avon Justine, has announced that it is once again the Diamond sponsor of the Direct Selling Association’s (DSA) Awards Luncheon held on Tuesday, 23 July, in Johannesburg. Avon Justine SA took the decision to sponsor this event in line with its quest to capacitate the regulatory body and ensure that it undertakes its mandate of ensuring that member companies conduct themselves with the highest level of business ethics. DSA’s worldwide are trade associations with member companies that market products and services to consumers through an independent, entrepreneurial salesforce also known as direct sellers. There are…

One of the last of the original motorsport-inspired BMW 5 Series models unearthed in South Africa. Car number 100 of South Africa-only “homologation” special built at BMW Group Plant Rosslyn to be subjected to full restoration. In December 2018 BMW South Africa announced that it would start restoring the legendary BMW 530 Motorsport Limited Edition (MLE). The restoration process began and included a special appearance by two retired BMW employees who worked at BMW Group Plant Rosslyn in the 1970s and built the legendary cars. Three months ago marked the start of the restoration process and included a special appearance…

MTN prepaid customers could get up to 99% discount on the newly launched MTN Ska Wara Bundle Sale promotion. Staying connected on South Africa’s best network should not be one of the mid-month expenses MTN customers have to juggle with. MTN has introduced an exciting promotion called Ska Wara Bundle Sale, which offers dynamic discounts of up to 99% on bundles purchased through USSD channel when they dial *136*2# and select Ska Wara Sale to purchase the bundles. Customers can qualify for these discounts by buying voice, data and social bundles using the USSD *136*2# or when they dial142#. The…

MTN Group has appointed Thato Motlanthe to the position of Executive for Investor Relations, with effect from 1 September 2019. Motlanthe replaces Nik Kershaw who left MTN Group at the end of May 2019, and will report to Ralph Mupita, MTN Group CFO. Motlanthe brings to the role extensive experience of  South African and global capital markets, having worked in both the sell-side and buy-side of equity capital markets. He joins MTN from Absa Asset Management, where he held the role of Portfolio Manager, co-managing the flagship funds within the Equities franchise. Prior to this, he has held senior positions…

Naspers has announced plans to list Prosus on Euronext Amsterdam along with a secondary, inward listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in South Africa on Wednesday 11 September 2019. The Cape Town-based company said it expects to own at least 73% of Prosus and the free float is expected to be up to 27%, created by Naspers through a capitalisation issue of Prosus shares to Naspers shareholders (as described below). Last month, Naspers  announced it has delayed the listing of its international internet assets on Euronext Amsterdam and secondary, inward listing on JSE. The company attributed the delay to…

In line with international trends and following on the success of Black Friday, the Takealot Group is once again leading the charge with a first-of-its-kind shopping event in South Africa. The Ultimate Checkout Sale is the Takealot Group’s beginnings of creating a South African version of an annual shopping event akin to those already established in the USA, China and India. “The year on year growth of Black Friday is an excellent indication of the appetite for big shopping events in SA. Internationally, annual events such as Amazon’s Prime Day, Alibaba’s Singles Day and Flipkart’s Big Billion Days highlight the…