Author: Staff Writer

South African payment technology platform Ozow has broken through the R10bn milestone in transactions processed – and is looking at doubling the number of users on its platform in 2020 as part of aggressive expansion plans. Ozow enables merchants to receive and process payments from any South African with a bank account across all payment environments, allowing people who do not have debit or credit cards to transact quickly and safely. More than 4 million consumers have already used Ozow, which has the vast majority of ecommerce leaders like Take A Lot, MRD and Superbalist as registered merchants business users…

The iconic Volkswagen Polo – a modern-day legend when it comes to car sales in South Africa, has been dethroned by the mighty Ford Ranger. According to George Mienie, AutoTrader CEO, the Ford bakkie was the top-selling used vehicle in South Africa during the second half of 2019. “We have just released the next iteration of our Car Industry Report covering the period 1 July to 31 December 2019, and this is one of the most notable facts to have surfaced” he notes. The Volkswagen Polo is, after all, a vehicle that clocks up one sales achievement after the other.…

Good lawyers are expensive, let us be honest. So much so that when one needs a contract or legal document, its generally prohibitively expensive, with the result that you either go without, or you end up hacking a contracting together yourself without the legal knowledge necessary to ensure that all bases are covered. Hello Contract is changing all of that for the ordinary South African business. The startup provides South Africa’s first fully automated business legal document webshop. The platform, which focusses on entrepreneurs and small to medium-sized enterprises will bring automated business contracts and documents to these businesses at massive…

Teraco has announced that Africa’s largest Internet Exchange Point (IXP), NAPAfrica, has reached a landmark with 1 Terabit per second (Tbps) of peak traffic. According to Andrew Owens, Manager of Interconnection & Peering at Teraco, this is not only a significant milestone for the exchange, but also for the continent. “The NAPAfrica members, including global content and cloud providers, over 250 telecommunication providers, managed service providers and a growing enterprise base, are the driving force behind achieving this momentous goal,” says Owens. Launched in 2012, NAPAfrica first recorded traffic of 532Mbps. Eight years later the exchange has reached 1Tbps, showing…

While there haven’t been any reported cases of the Corona-virus in South Africa, entrepreneurial locals are already selling masks and “survival kits” online at higher than average prices. According to Gumtree SA Marketing Manager Estelle Nagel, the surgical masks sell for between R6 – R13,00 each on the site, but prices will go up even further. “In other markets, these masks are being sold at 600% mark-ups.” Nagel says the site is removing adverts purporting to 100% prevent Corona-virus infections and similar claims. “Some sellers are selling welding masks and construction-grade facemasks (used for working in dusty conditions during demolition),…

After more than five years of connecting domestic workers with clients for homes and businesses, SweepSouth, the online cleaning service, is diversifying its offering to customers with the launch of SweepSouth Outdoor. With bookings currently available through the SweepSouth website – with the app soon to be updated – SweepSouth clients in Johannesburg and Cape Town can now book an Outdoor SweepStar to assist with outdoor necessities whether it be gardening, pool cleaning, making sure that the outside of your windows are sparkling clean or even helping with carrying boxes when moving. SweepSouth is looking to launch the service in…

Controversial Net1 UEPS Technologies (Net1) has appointed former mobile phone operator Cell C’s chairman Kuben Pillay to its board. The JSE and Nasdaq-listed firm, which is a shareholder in struggling Cell C, said Pillay’s appointment as an independent non-employee director is effective June 1, 2020. The company added that he will also serve on the nominating and corporate governance, audit and remuneration committees. Pillay served as the non-executive chairman of Cell C from August 2017 to October 2019. “I am very pleased that Kuben will be joining our Board,” said Christopher S. Seabrooke, chairman of Net1. “His qualifications and broad…

Samsung Galaxy S20, a new series of flagship devices that fundamentally change the way we capture and experience our world, is now available at MTN from R649 per month for 36 months and R899 per month for 24 months on MTN Made For Me XS. The Samsung Galaxy S20 range, unveiled on 11 February, introduces a brand-new camera architecture that combines AI with Samsung’s largest image sensor yet for stunning image quality. Along with the camera, the Galaxy S20 makes the experience of everything we love to do with our phones easier and better – enjoy personalised music for every…

MTN sees progress in shutting down battery theft syndicates. Seven individuals were arrested, a total of 55 batteries were recovered, and four vehicles with tools were confiscated in a series of operations across the country in the past few days. In one of the biggest hauls to date, members of the South African Police Services (SAPS) arrested a suspect at the Beit Bridge point of entry in possession of 32 batteries. His vehicle including a trailer were also impounded. In another successful operation in Greytown in Kwa-Zulu Natal, three suspects were apprehended after a tip-off while they were still inside…

JSE-listed technology group Altron’s acquisition of Ubusha Technologies for R360 million this week got the green light from the Competition Commission. In a statement, Altron said security is one of Altron’s growth areas and the acquisition will give impetus to the company’s strategy and growth targets. Other growth areas include cloud, IOT and data analytics. Altron acquired the identity security company in December 2019. Founded in 2003, Ubusha, as a next-generation IT security services provider enables dynamic authentication and authorisation, identity management and governance and privileged account security for leading local and international banking, financial services, insurance, telecommunications and retail…