Author: Staff Writer

South African stock exchange A2X Markets launched on 6 October 2017 with three listings and four of the industry’s leading brokers on board. After just two years, A2X boasts a combined market cap of about R2 trillion with nine approved brokers, including five of the six largest brokers in South Africa. It was also recently named best new stock exchange in Africa in the 2019 Global Banking & Finance Awards. “We are very excited about how the business has developed over the past two years. Starting an exchange to compete with an incumbent that has been a monopoly for over…

MTN Group on Tuesday announced that its instant messaging platform, Ayoba has reached 1 million monthly active users. Ayoba is an advanced communications application localised for African and Middle East consumer needs, under an independent Over the Top (OTT) brand with unique features for MTN customers. The app supports many local languages spoken across the MTN markets including isiZulu, isiXhosa, Pidgin, Yoruba, Swahili, Hausa, French and English. MTN, together with its partners, is driven to improve access to affordable communications to ensure that people in its markets can reap the social, economic and developmental dividends of being online. Ayoba underscores…

EVINA is expanding into South Africa to help local telecoms players to protect their end-users from fraud, the French anti-fraud solutions provider said on Tuesday. The company, which is based in Paris and provides services in Ivory Coast, Morocco, Cameroon and Senegal, will provide local telecoms players with solutions to beat mobile fraudsters. Mobile digital marketing has become an eldorado for fraudsters. African telecoms firms are increasingly exploring partnerships with firms like EVINA in order to protect their end-users from fraud. EVINA is now protecting 90% of mobile transaction activities in Ivory Coast, Morocco, Cameroon and Senegal, and is also…

FNB customers have made over R14 billion in ‘tap’ or contactless payments in the twelve months to June 2019, with continued month on month growth. This upward trend points to a growing appetite for the convenience of contactless payments in South Africa’s consumer and business sectors. The bank’s customers processed over 60 million ‘tap’ transactions over the 12 months using their contactless-enabled FNB Credit and Debit Cards. In excess of 46 million transactions were on Debit Cards while Credit Cards accounted for nearly 20 million. “All our customers have contactless-enabled cards, and this contributes significantly to our efforts to empower…

Tomorrow (12 November 2019) marks the 28th birthday of the South African Internet. The year 1988 saw Mike Lawrie lead the Rhodes University team that established the very first South African Internet networking system. While SA’s first Internet Protocol (IP) address was established in 1988, it was on 12 November 1991 that the first local IP connection was made. “With over 10 000 days of Internet excellence under its belt, South Africa stands ready to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). “Mike Lawrie and his colleagues have provided SA with a phenomenal foundation…

The Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has presented President Cyril Ramaphosa with its draft diagnostic report towards the country’s 4IR plan and opportunities available to harness it. The report was presented to President Ramaphosa during a meeting on Thursday. The Commission, which was established earlier this year and chaired by the President with Professor Tshilidzi Marwala as his Deputy chairperson, is tasked with advising the President and government as a whole on relevant policies, strategies and action plan to position South Africa as a smart, connected and competitive global player. The Presidency in a statement said President…

Hlayisani Capital, which is chaired by former Nedbank chair Reuel Khoza and a majority shareholder, continues to invest millions in growing South African startups. The company, which also includes former FNB head Michael Jordaan as its investment committee chair, said in a statement it has so far invested R200 million to a number of enterprises in Southern Africa. The firm started operating early this year and is majority-owned by the Khoza family. The funds have been invested through Hlayisani Growth Fund which offers high-growth private equity investments in South Africa and Africa. The fund specialises in growing SMEs into large,…

The Post Office has warned the public about a parcel delivery scam designed to defraud them of their hard-earned money. “Members of the public receive SMS messages informing them that a parcel could not be delivered to them because VAT needs to be paid on the parcel.  A link on the SMS leads them to a web page where they are requested to deposit money into a bank account,” it said on Wednesday. The SA Post Office does not require customers to make any bank deposit before parcels are released. If VAT or any other fees are payable on a…

Volvo Cars will become the first carmaker to implement global traceability of cobalt used in its batteries by applying blockchain technology. The announcement follows the reveal last month of the company’s first fully electric car, the XC40 Recharge. Traceability of raw materials used in the production of lithium-ion batteries, such as cobalt, is one of the main sustainability challenges faced by carmakers. Volvo Cars is committed to full traceability, ensuring that customers can drive electrified Volvos knowing the material for the batteries has been sourced responsibly. According to Greg Maruszewski, Managing Director of Volvo Car South Africa, cobalt has long…

“Disruptive digital and e-commerce businesses, from scale-ups through to big giants like Amazon or Google, are growing at such unprecedented rates that the gap between the staff they need and the talent available in the marketplace is widening,” says Matt Putman, CEO of iKhokha, one of SA’s fastest-growing FinTech companies after returning from Paris where he attended Unleash World, the world’s top HR tech event. “This is particularly true in South Africa.” He adds: “To challenge entrenched market players, digital businesses need to innovate, but at times battle to find the technical expertise to do so. It’s ironic that in South Africa,…