Author: Staff Writer

Vodacom South Africa is excited to announce the launch of its new RED VIP flagship plans, designed to offer customers additional value and a host of new features and benefits. These plans are tailored to meet the evolving needs of our customers, ensuring they stay connected on South Africa’s most reliable network. Vodacom launched these RED VIP plans to provide customers with additional value to meet the growing demand for cost efficiency, particularly in response to the challenges posed by the tough economic times where consumers are seeking more for less. “We are excited to offer customers a portfolio of…

It’s been an interesting month for used car sales in South Africa, with the latest data from AutoTrader revealing that used car sales have fallen by -9.6% year-on-year and -10.3% compared to last month. While overall sales have taken a dive, several models saw growth in September 2024. Overall, September used car sales totalled 28,609, with a combined value of just under R11.6 billion. This represents a year-on-year decrease of -8.7% in accumulative sales value. It’s no surprise that Toyota, Volkswagen, and Ford retained their top three positions, with 4,964, 4,134, and 2,962 units sold, respectively. Toyota experienced a modest -2% decline…

Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) have signed an agreement to improve access to financing for Singaporean companies looking to expand into Africa. This marks the first partnership between EnterpriseSG and a multilateral development bank, under the Enterprise Financing Scheme – Multilateral Development Banks (EFS-MDB). The partnership will allow Singaporean businesses to tap into new financing options from one of Africa’s key lenders as they venture into the continent. Through the EFS-MDB, EnterpriseSG offers risk-sharing of up to 50% to support lending from partner multilateral development banks. The partnership will cover financing needs such as working capital,…

Terra Firma, a South-African independent power producer (IPP) and renewable energy company, has announced a new R1.3-billion utility-scale solar energy build programme that will deliver a combined 110MWp of wheeled energy services once completed.  Grant Berndsen, CEO at Terra Firma, says the project will provide improved cost savings and sustainability benefits to customers throughout the country. “Commercial and industrial customers specifically in the manufacturing, extractive and digital infrastructure sectors with power purchasing agreements (PPAs) in place will benefit from cost-effective renewable energy delivered via Eskom’s grid. We believe wheeling will be a vital part of South Africa’s rapidly evolving energy…

SA-founded B2B software-as-a-service fleet management company GoMetro, now headquartered in London, has been selected as a recipient of a £147,000 or R3.2 million grant from the UK Freight Innovation Fund.  This comes within months of GoMetro announcing its Series A funding of £9 million ($11.4 million), led by Zenobē Energy and Futuregrowth Asset Management. “The grant will be used to finance a six-month trial with leading UK logistics companies Maritime Transport and Welch’s Transport to implement GoMetro’s EV-FIT solution for electric vehicle (EV) fleet transformation and the GoMetro Bridge fleet management software platform,” says Group CEO and founder of GoMetro…

Huawei Cloud will take its mission of building an equal, diversified, and prosperous digital South Africa to the next level, when it hosts its first ever South Africa Cloud Summit in Johannesburg. This landmark occasion will see over 600 industry leaders from a broad range of sectors meet at the Gallagher Convention Centre on the 24th of October for discussions, speeches and product showcases that will shape the future of South Africa’s digital industries. From being the first international vendor to host a local hyperscale cloud data centre in South Africa, Huawei Cloud has consistently shown its commitment to introducing…

Electrified vehicles (EVs) remain a rare sight on South African roads. Still, an increasing number of consumers are interested in battery-electric vehicles, traditional hybrids, and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), according to the 2024 AutoTrader New Energy Vehicle Report. And it’s not hard to see why. Lower running costs, superior refinement, and, of course, the environmental benefits are all draw cards. Despite this, 94% of survey respondents said they have not owned an NEV. Among those who have previously owned an NEV (6%), 73% of NEV owners said they have owned hybrids, while 21% had owned electric vehicles. 6% of these respondents have…

The Chief Operations Officer of the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA), Dr Gavin Isaacs, has been dismissed with immediate effect. Both the SAIPA (former) Chief Executive (CE), Shahied Daniels and Isaacs, faced disciplinary hearings chaired by independent chairpersons. The CE was dismissed two weeks ago. Both processes have now been concluded. FOUR CHARGES AGAINST ISAACS Isaacs faced four charges, summarised as contravening the Institute’s rules, policies, codes, processes, procedures and amounting to gross negligence, misconduct and serious governance breaches by: Being directly involved in the improper procurement of the services of an international company; Issuing instructions for the establishment of a company in Switzerland without…

A new generation of tech pioneers have been recognised as winners of the SATNAC 2024 Industry Solutions Challenge, which invited postgraduate and undergraduate students who are passionate about innovation to address real-world problems. They were required to propose cutting-edge solutions, across five key categories: Energy and Sustainability, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Customer Experience and User Experience, and Networking Technologies. This allows students to translate academic knowledge and research into practical, industry-ready innovations. Under the theme “The AI-driven hyperconnected future; Co-creating shared value,” the competition attracted more than 300 students from 13 academic institutions, including from Malawi, Lesotho and Eswatini.…

Old Mutual has launched a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) service known as Old Mutual Connect. “The launch of the MVNO service which will be known as Old Mutual Connect is a part of our Integrated Financial Services (IFS) strategy to deliver tangible value-added services to our customers”, says Clarence Nethengwe, Managing Director of Old Mutual Mass Foundation cluster and CEO designate of the OM Bank. “Affordable data and reliable connectivity is critical for our customers in the Mass Market to fully participate in the mainstream economy. It is also an important enabler for our customers to interact with the…