Author: Staff Writer
The Automobile Association of South Africa (AA) has announced that it has acquired a 30% equity stake in the mobile security service CASi as part of its 2030 strategy to diversify and enhance its offering. The Vision 2030 strategy of the AA is supported by five pillars: Providing conventional roadside assistance, AA armed response services, and emergency medical response services, Providing financial services through short-term insurance and the provision of warranties and life assurance products, The expansion of the AA Auto Centre network and the promotion of the AA Technical College as a vehicle for job creation and providing opportunities…
Sitho Mdlalose has been appointed as the Managing Director (MD) of Vodacom South Africa, effective 01 July 2022. Mdlalose is currently the Managing Director of Vodacom Tanzania, a position he has held since August 2021. Vodacom Group said he returns to Vodacom South Africa to assume the role held by Balesh Sharma, who leaves the company at the end of June to pursue an external career opportunity. Mdlalose will report directly to Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub and will join the Vodacom Group executive committee. Mdlalose’s successor in Tanzania will be announced in due course. Mdlalose is a qualified Chartered…
South Africa’s Tafari Capital recently launched a COVID-19 management app in collaboration with the Lesotho government. The app is designed to empower and strengthen the Government’s efforts to end COVID-19 transmissions. In less than 3 weeks since launch, the app has registered over 50 000 users and is growing. “The Citizen App is a tool that government and businesses can use to open up economic activity in the country including movement across the borders safely by identifying people who have vaccinated fully and those who are unvaccinated but have negative COVID-19 tests to openly engage in economic activity,” says Dr…
Helm (previously Praekelt Consulting), Africa’s customer experience innovation experts, will be going global again with its client Dr. Oetker, purveyors of the perfect pizza. Dawood Patel, CEO of Helm, confirmed that the AI work being done locally will be rolled out in Poland next. “This is an exciting time for us. We’ve been working with the team at Dr. Oetker in South Africa for almost three years now. Our relationship with them started when they approached us in Johannesburg to find out if technology and machine learning could help them make an even better pizza.” “The announcement of our…
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has proposed linking biometric data to SIM cards. If successful, new regulations would require all South Africans to provide their biometric data to mobile service providers to obtain a new cellphone number or action a SIM swap. The proposals are included alongside other draft regulations published by the regulator which close for public comment on Wednesday, 11 May 2022. ICASA’s proposal calls for biometric data such as fingerprint mapping, facial recognition, and retina scans to be bound to a consumer’s SIM card. Amid privacy concerns around protecting biometric data, Gur Geva, Co-Founder…
Eskom announced today the resignation of Phillip Dukashe, Group Executive for Generation. Dukashe’s last day will be on 31 May 2022. In his resignation letter and discussions with Eskom executives, Dukashe cited the critical need to achieve balance for the benefit of his health, family and work responsibilities. Eskom said in a statement Dukashe leaves behind a competent team to ensure sustainability of the Generation Division. Rhulani Mathebula will act in the interim as the Group Executive for Generation while the recruitment process is initiated. Rhulani is a seasoned Power Station General Manager and had acted as Group Executive Generation…
The SA Reserve Bank (SARB) is likely to again increase its interest rates next week, say economists at the Bureau for Economic Research (BER). “Against the global backdrop of more rapid policy normalisation and, importantly, the associated recent sharp weakening of the rand exchange rate, and the sustained upside risks to domestic inflation, we now expect the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) to hike the repo rate by 50bps next week,” says BER. “This is a change from the previous view for a 25bps hike at the May policy meeting. The SARB’s decision is unlikely to be unanimous.” The key question…
Gold bullion, in the form of standardised gold bars and coins, has proven its value as an investment over thousands of years appreciating on average 13.5% year on year. Traditional gold jewellery set with precious stones, on the other hand, is usually crafted from 9 or 18-karat gold and loses 80 – 90% of its value on resale and which tarnishes over time due to worthless diluting metals. Gold startup, Nebü Gold is the first African jeweller to give bullion investors the option of wearing elegant 24-karat investment-grade jewellery instead. It’s a winning idea because Nebü Gold which started just…
inq., a Convergence Partner’s company, is set to acquire Syrex, a provider of hyperconverged cloud technology solutions in South Africa. The strategic acquisition bolsters an already robust business offering from Syrex to provide innovative, reliable, and industry-leading solutions to the South African market. inq. a leading Edge computing company has today announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Syrex for an undisclosed amount. The agreement is subject to customary conditions including approvals by the Competition Authority of South Africa and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). Syrex is a hyperconverged solutions provider that delivers the full…
SA’s Voucher System, mybux, has seen its growth reaching new heights while adding more countries to its system. Founded in Cape Town, mybux is currently operating in over 14 African countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa, and more, the company has been experiencing a steady monthly growth of 25% and processing over 20 million vouchers a month. As it continues to grow, by the end of 2022, mybux is anticipated to process double the amount. Today, it processes on average between six to ten transactions a second, 24 hours a day, and services the biggest sports betting platforms…