Author: Gugu Lourie

MTN, Africa’s largest mobile phone group, has increased its shareholding in mobile-micro-insurance firm aYo through acquisition of additional shares. In 2017, South Africa’s third-biggest insurer Momentum Metropolitan and MTN launched aYo, a micro-insurance joint venture. “The share of start-up losses has declined following the strategic decision to reduce our shareholding from 50% to 25%, with MTN’s shareholding increasing to 75%,” Momentum informed investors on Tuesday. “The change in shareholding is still subject to certain conditions precedent.” The insurer also disclosed that aYo has 10 million registered policyholders in October 2020 with over 50% active. The company also operates in Ghana and…

The traditional lay-by system has long represented an enormous headache for merchants and retailers, marked by high administrative costs and high non-completion rates. But through utilising new technologies, South African digital disruptor LayUp seeks to improve finalisation rates up to 60% for businesses, while opening access to South Africa’s untapped low-income market. Latest Experian statistics indicate that there are currently 20.3 million credit-active consumers in South Africa with a staggering R1.4 trillion in outstanding local consumer debt, while 17.9% of loans are four months or more in arrears. Pointing to these figures, LayUp founder and CEO Andrew Katzwinkel notes that…

Wireless communications and signal processing expert Dr Doron Ezri, the Wi-Fi CTO of Data Communications Product Line at Huawei, told an audience of industry professionals at the Huawei IP Club that Wi-Fi 6 – the latest W-Fi specification standard – promises to enhance connectivity in the business environment, thanks to its upgraded MU-MIMO (multi-user, multiple-input, multiple-output) technology. The technology allows a router to communicate with multiple devices at the same time. This will mean offices, shopping malls, airports and public Wi-Fi spaces, where dozens and even hundreds of devices are connected, will enjoy a more reliable Wi-Fi service. To provide even…

PayU, the payments and FinTech business of Prosus, has invested a staggering $1 billion (R15.8 billion) on FinTech and mergers & acquisitions (M&A) globally over the past few years. The payments and FinTech business has received funds from its parent company Prosus, which last year listed on Euronext Amsterdam. Prosus is 73.8% owned by Naspers,and the rest is free float. The past year may have introduced more economic complexity and mercurial market shift than could have been realistically expected when 2020 first kicked off in January, but it has not sat still or rested on its laurels The payments industry…

There is no doubt that Bob van Dijk, the CEO of Prosus, wants to make a big acquisition. The Dutch arm of South African internet titan Naspers has nearly R70 billion in cash that can be used to snap a big ecommerce player or a FinTech player. Last year Prosus, which is 73% owned by Naspers, failed to buy Just Eat for R98 billion. Just Eat was acquired by rival Takeaway.com. The company also was unable to purchase eBay’s classified lucrative asset that was snapped up by Norwegian firm Adevinta paying R140 billion or $9.2 billion at the time. Prosus…

South Africa’s largest online retailer, Takealot.com, reported on Monday a 41% jump in revenue to $238 million (R3.7 billion) in the six-months to end 30 September 2020. The Naspers-owned group was permitted to sell only essential goods, while Superbalist and Mr D Food could not operate at all. “The business rebounded in late May when trading restrictions were lifted and all three businesses exceeded their pre-Covid-19 growth rates in the second quarter,” Naspers informed investors on Monday. The Takealot group generated $407m GMV, growing 85% in local currency. “Given this strong topline performance, Takealot delivered a trading loss improvement of 36%,…

Retailer Pepkor, previously Steinhoff Africa Retail, said on Monday operating profit in its financial technology (FinTech) services business dropped by 5.8% to R455 million in the year to end-September 2020. Pepkor on Monday attributed the drop in operating profit to higher provision levels in the Capfin unsecured lending business. Capfin was founded in 2010 with a vision to provide customers with affordable loan products and services. It has partnered with PEP and Ackermans to provide convenient and reliable services to customers. Pekkor informed investors on Monday that Capfin reduced the number of active accounts from 333 000 at 31 March 2020 to 219…

South Africa’s financial regulators have published a draft declaration of crypto assets as a financial product under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS). This means any person furnishing advice or rendering intermediary services about crypto assets must be authorised as a financial services provider and must comply with the requirements of the FAIS Act. The South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) said this would pave the way for cryptocurrency exchanges, advisors, and brokers to be registered as financial services providers (FSPs). The FSCA and FAIS require that every FSP be registered with the FSCA before they may legally…

Ukheshe, South Africa’s digital banking platform provider, announced on Friday it has agreed to buy 100% of Oltio from Mastercard for an undisclosed amount. Oltio developed the digital payments platform that supports Masterpass, Mastercard’s QR payment service in South Africa and enables people to safely pay for a wide variety of purchases with their bank card by scanning a QR code with their mobile phone. In March 2018, Mastercard acquired mobile payments technology company Oltio from Standard Bank Group for an undisclosed amount. At the time, Mastercard Said the deal builds on a longstanding relationship with Oltio, a startup that pioneered…

Telkom today announces the launch of a cancellation and retention call centre to streamline customer service process. The inbound Interactive Voice Response (IVR) call centre will allow customers to speak to an agent. Telkom customers can simply dial 081180 (mobile) or 10210 (fixed line) to cancel or make changes to their services. With this new IVR option, you can now cancel your arrangement with Telkom by speaking to an agent directly, no form or call back. This service compliments the use of our portal or website. Simplifying the process for customers. It’s a real time service where customers are assisted…