Author: Staff Writer
Vodacom Eastern Cape region will invest over R500 million into the network and power backup upgrades across the province during the 2023/2024 financial year. This significant investment into the network will help the region expand connectivity in deep rural areas and townships that had no connectivity before. This will enable hundreds of thousands of people to participate in the digital economy for the first time. This coupled with a concerted effort to drive down the cost to communicate through innovative platforms such as Just4U and Just4YouTown has lowered voice and data rates across the province and enabled scores of people…
South African-based aviation group Pegasus Universal Aerospace has announced that it has launched a new shares sale to raise capital for the next developmental stage of its ground-breaking Vertical Business Jet (VBJ) project. Aimed at raising a minimum of R200,000 in funding, the sale will remain open for three months until 21 August 2023. The company has made some six million Class A, seven-year preference shares available at an issue price of R2,900 per share, offering a fixed interest rate of 10% per annum. With a minimum transaction requirement of four shares per investor, this means that South Africans can…
Take Note IT, a leading provider of innovative IT solutions – is thrilled to announce the launch of the Cyber Excellence Academy, in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and with the support of the Media, Information, and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority (MICTSETA). The Cyber Excellence Academy aims to revolutionise the cybersecurity landscape by empowering individuals with advanced skills and knowledge to combat evolving digital threats. The Cyber Excellence Academy is an intensive training programme designed to equip participants with industry-leading expertise in cybersecurity. By fostering a deep understanding of cybersecurity principles, strategies…
During his keynote speech on the afternoon of July 7, at the opening of HUAWEI Developer Conference — HDC.Cloud 2023, Zhang Ping’an, Huawei’s Executive Director and CEO of Huawei Cloud, announced the launch of Huawei Cloud Pangu Models 3.0 and Ascend AI cloud services. Guided by its three stated purposes — reshaping industries, honing technologies, and sharing success — Pangu Models 3.0 will focus on building up core competitiveness and helping customers, partners, and developers operationalize AI and drive real value creation across industries. With Ascend AI cloud services, a single compute cluster can provide 2,000 petaFLOPS of compute capacity,…
Huawei this week hosted its flagship Eco-Connect Sub-Saharan Africa 2023 event, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Run under the theme, ‘Leading Digital for New Value Together’, the event brought together nearly 3 000 delegates from more than 10 countries, representing a wide variety of industries and organisations. Huawei has long recognised Africa’s potential. It has operated in Africa for 26 years and has worked with partners to help Africa achieve inclusive and reliable network connectivity and support the digital transformation agenda in various industries on the continent. In his opening address, David Wang, Executive Director of the Board, Chairman of ICT…
Vodacom is South Africa’s ‘Most Reliable Network’. The latest biannual network report by the independent benchmarking organisation umlaut, part of Accenture, has ranked Vodacom ‘Best in Test’ ahead of competitors and scored the highest for reliability, data services and crowdsourced quality. This is testament to Vodacom’s commitment to deliver unparalleled connectivity to its valued customers and reaffirms its purpose of connecting South Africans to a better future. Sitho Mdlalose, CEO of Vodacom South Africa, expressed his pride in achieving this remarkable milestone, stating: “We are honoured to be acknowledged as South Africa’s most reliable network. This achievement reflects the tireless…
JSE-listed telecoms group Blue Label Telecoms announced on Friday the appointment of Happy Masondo as an independent non-executive director and as a member of the Social, Ethics and Transformation Committee. Her appointment is effective from 1 August 2023. Masondo is a qualified senior attorney and director, with specialist skills in renewable energy projects, information technology projects and public-private partnerships. Her expertise includes legal and regulatory project management skills including collation of relevant compliance tender documents, analysis and review of the legal and regulatory requirements. She is an experienced non-executive director and currently serves on the boards of Dis-Chem Pharmacies, Bright…
The Information Regulator (Regulator) issued an Infringement notice to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJ&CD) in which it ordered the DoJ&CD to pay an administrative fine of R5 million following its failure to comply with the Enforcement Notice issued by the Regulator on 09 May 2023. The Regulator issued the Enforcement Notice following the finding of the contravention of various sections of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) by the DoJ&CD. The Enforcement Notice had required the DoJ&CD to submit proof to the Regulator within thirty-one (31) days of receipt of the Notice that the Trend Anti-Virus…
Vodacom South Africa (VSA) is the latest company and property owner to partner with the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) to ensure that traffic signals along major intersections operate during load shedding. This partnership spearheaded by the JRA and facilitated through a Service Level Agreement (SLA) will leverage electricity sourced from Vodacom’s adjacent buildings to power traffic lights. Through this initial phase of the partnership Vodacom will provide backup power to the traffic lights at intersections near the Vodacom campus in Midrand specifically on 13th Road and Vodacom Boulevard (entrance and exit) as well as Lever Road and Vodacom Boulevard. According to Sitho…
What is the NHI and how will it change the system? The NHI is a Fund, paid by our taxes, from which the government will buy health care services for all of us who live in the country from health care providers in the public sector and private sector. This means when you feel unwell, you can go to your nearest GP or clinic of your choice that has a contract with NHI and not worry about the cost of care. Why do we need NHI? What are the benefits of NHI? Providing health care for all: South Africa is a…
The South African Breweries (SAB) is constantly exploring new and innovative ways to educate consumers about the positive impact that beer has on the economy – something the company has called Beernomics. Its latest campaign is a fun and engaging word puzzle game, named SABeerdle. Like its international equivalent, operated by the New York Times, Wordle, it is a free game that allows players to guess a five-letter word on a tiled grid, with each guess indicating which letters are correct or incorrect using colored squares. Consumers will need to derive clues from the Oxford Economics report published by SAB…
Cell C today announced Rachael Ayo-Oladejo as the newly appointed Chief of Staff, Strategy and Business Transformation, reporting directly to CEO Jorge Mendes. With over 17 years of invaluable experience in the telecommunications industry, she brings a wealth of expertise to the executive team. Having excelled in various roles across Enterprise, Consumer, and Customer Operations, her journey began at (Vmobile) Airtel Nigeria and continued with significant contributions across South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. Notably, as the former Executive for Strategy, Execution, and Performance Management at Vodacom’s Consumer Business Unit, she worked closely with Mendes as part of his executive team,…
MTN’s Mobile Money (MoMo) or e-wallet service, which was first launched in 2012, has now garnered 8 million users. Bradwin Roper, Chief Financial Services Officer at MTN, highlights the increasing demand for alternatives, especially among those in rural areas lacking traditional infrastructure. Driven by a need to reduce expenditure and service costs, South Africans are seeking connectivity, simplicity, reliability, added value, and an increasing range of services from a single source. “As more South Africans look to join the mainstream financial services sector, they encounter discouraging fees, complexity, and bureaucratic hurdles. Compounding this is the present economic situation, which is…
Huawei Eco Connect Sub-Saharan Africa 2023, which is set to take place on 6 July at the Sandton Convention Centre, will feature leading experts to discuss the latest innovations in optical, storage, and datacom technologies. The conference, which is Huawei’s flagship event in Sub-Saharan Africa, will bring together thousands of business executives, international business innovators, industry thought leaders, and partners under the theme ‘Leading Digital for New Value Together’. Following an opening keynote address by Huawei Sub Saharan Africa Region President, Leo Chen, attendees will be given insight into the latest trends innovations in optical technology by Richard Jin, President…
Streamlining Tax Management Processes and Empowering Businesses Konsise, a South African-developed tax management and tax compliance platform, hosted a highly informative webinar on 9th May 2023, where they introduced an exciting update to their user interface and demonstrated enhanced functionality and capabilities for efficient company tax management. Refreshed User Interface for Enhanced User Experience Konsise strategically upgraded its user interface to align with industry best practices observed in leading software platforms such as Salesforce and Monday.com. The new interface features a visually appealing darker theme and a simplified navigation system that utilises the entire page width. The left-hand bar has…
Growing South Africa’s digital economy has been a major policy pillar for the country’s government for some time now. It’s a key driver of economic growth around the world, with the global digital economy growing at 2.5 times the pace of its traditional counterpart. Additionally, reports from the World Economic Forum (WEF) and International Data Corporation( IDC) suggest that up to 60% of the global economy is now digitised. As such, boosting South Africa’s economy isn’t just a way for it to achieve overall economic growth. It’s also vital to the country’s ability to remain a competitive global economic power.…
Huawei has shown up in full force for MWC Shanghai 2023, with their activities all falling under their theme of “GUIDE to the Intelligent World”. This year, the company’s activities include an experiential tour that takes audiences to multiple cities to learn about their technology and business, as well as the launch of its newest innovative products and solutions for 5GigaGreen, 5G intelligent core networks, Intelligent OptiX Networks, private line + X products, and other intelligent digital transformation solutions. At these activities, Huawei will also host numerous roundtables and dialogues with global operators, industry partners, and opinion leaders, to explore…
At the opening day of MWC Shanghai 2023 today, Sabrina Meng, Huawei’s Rotating Chairwoman and CFO, gave a keynote titled “Embracing 5G transformation”. Meng pointed out that 5G has been in commercial use around the world for four years now. It’s driving new value creation, and 5.5G is the next step forward for 5G. Science and technology are moving towards large, complex systems. This requires matching technology to specific scenarios and performing systems engineering, in order to pave the way for 5G’s ongoing success. 5G is creating value along three different fronts 5G has been in commercial use for four…
Jaguar South Africa is proud to reveal the six female artists participating in the 2023 #GiveHerACrown campaign. Championing a diverse range of artistic disciplines, the women were chosen for their unique and ground breaking work which celebrates female creativity and empowerment. The 2023 campaign will see each artist create a bespoke piece aligned with the theme of “Celebrating the exquisite details of women”. Each art piece will portray a story that aims to not only inspire but encourage women to embrace their uniqueness and individuality. Jaguar firmly believes in empowering women and celebrating their fearless spirits and creativity, so as…
In 2022, Game stores introduced its Halfway Day sale for the first time – with astonishing results. This year, Massmart has taken the decision to extend this sale to its Makro stores, giving more South Africans the chance to shop categories like Electronics, Appliances, Lifestyle, and Essentials at the lowest prices in South Africa for one day only. The sale will once again run both in-store and online, on Friday 30 June. In-store shoppers can visit any Game store between 08:00 and 20:00 on the day, while Makro shoppers can shop between 08:00 and 18:00. For those who prefer to…
In today’s world, knowledge is the key to financial success. So, while a recent study by Nedbank revealed that South Africa’s youth are showing a commendable improvement in their commitment to saving, there is a pressing need for improved financial information and transparent guidance to help them achieve the outcomes they desire. That’s according to Vanesha Palani, Executive of Financial Management at Nedbank who says that the research findings point to the fact that young adults are eager to explore new savings products and methods, but that they are also seeking transparent and unbiased guidance to help them make informed…
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) welcomes the election of its Commissioner Edward Kieswetter as Chairperson of the World Customs Organisation (WCO). The election took place on 24 June 2023 at the organisation’s Council session at the WCO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. The WCO has 185 members, three-quarters of which are developing countries and the Council is its highest decision-making body. It was established in 1952 as the Customs Cooperation Council (CCC), is the only intergovernmental organisation exclusively focused on Customs matters and is recognised as the voice of the global Customs community. In 1994, the CCC adopted the working…
Mzansi’s most loved culinary favourite KOO has been a trusted kitchen companion at the centre of bringing joy in South African households for over 80 years, which is why the brand remains in the Top 10 Iconic Brands in South Africa, the no. 1 Tinned Product and is the no.1 Baked Beans in Mzansi. With a wide range of fruit and vegetables, the heritage brand continues the journey to encourage all South Africans and food enthusiasts to eat better through its brand promise of growing the best, to nourish Africa best. With the ever-growing importance of delivering tasty and nutritious…
Africa REN, a leading renewables project developer in West Africa, is delighted to announce the successful financing of its Walo Storage project, in Senegal. The Dutch development bank FMO and the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), acting through Ninety One, fund manager of EAIF will invest up to a total of €32 million in syndicated debt into Walo Storage, a project fully developed by Africa REN, with the support of the Seed Capital Assistance Facility and FMO. The financing is provided by: FMO, through a €11 million loan, and an additional €8m loan provided by the Access to Energy Fund,…
inDrive, a global mobility and urban services platform, announces the appointment of Mark Loughran as its Group President, effective July 12th, 2023. Reporting directly to founder and CEO Arsen Tomsky, Mark’s role is to chart and drive inDrive’s business strategy, scale the company’s investments and new businesses, and optimize internal processes. He will also spearhead further development of inDrive’s inVision hub, whereas the company engages in initiatives to support justice and equality in science, education, sports and the arts. The appointment comes amid inDrive’s transformation into a multinational and multi-vertical group of companies. This new decentralized structure will facilitate agile…