Category Archives: South Africa News

South Africa News

Towards a world without waste

African Business News

The invention of plastic has changed the world in so many ways – for both better and worse – that it’s hard to picture modern life without it. Instinctively, we might think a plastic-free world could only be an improvement, but that would be to ignore the extent to which plastic is interwoven in almost […]

Doing Business in Top 5 Cities of South Africa

Map of South Africa, with provinces, neighbouring countries and oceans labelled in English. Author: Htonl. Source: Wikipedia.

Easy of Doing Business in Thekwini (Durban) Easy of Doing Business in Cape TownSouth Africa is a country of a mixed economy. It has a relatively high gross domestic product than other countries in Africa. Despite having a mixed economy and high GDP, South Africa has a problem of poverty and unemployment. Business is a […]

Health (in)security and migration: African lessons for a world in transition

By Annamarie Bindenagel Šehović Analysis in Brief: Global health security lies at the intersection of Europe and Africa, between inherited state-based intervention and a new regional, global approach. Given this, it is vital to redefine health security and it is imperative that this new definition include cross-border populations. Likewise, knowledge exchange in both definitional scope […]

SA tech company tackles water crisis

“SAVING WATER GETS A SMART SOLUTION“ Cape Town’s drought has changed most South Africans’ thinking around water usage and the future of the country’s water supplies. Government tariffs and self-regulation has meant a re-think in our relationship with water and how we go about using, saving and re-purposing this scarce resource. A Cape Town company, […]

Transformation in Africa’s digital retail landscape

Undeniably, digital transformation continues to dramatically change the way we live and do business – almost daily it seems. Globally, the retail industry is one of the top industries in which we are seeing massive strides and changes when it comes to the adoption of technology, the evolving customer journey, and innovation in terms of […]

Maputo Could Be a Mega-Ship Port

The Port of Maputo in Mozambique has excellent development potential. It is located along the east coast of Southern Africa, to the north of the Ports of Durban and Richards Bay. It is one of several ports that connect via road and railway line to South Africa’s mega-metropolis of Johannesburg that is still Africa’s leading […]

Super-Wide Rail Cars Could Boost Port Transfers

The majority of maritime ports worldwide offer the option of intermodal transfer of containers between maritime and railway transportation, and at some ports, the port railway may serve as the means by which to undertake ship-to-ship transfers of containers. Railway technology, including parallel railway tracks, offers the possibility of developing super-wide railway cars that can […]

Transparency is key to corruption-free infrastructure

By Peter Eigen, founder of Transparency International The first Regional Roundtable on Infrastructure Governance was held in Cape Town at the beginning of November. Peter Eigen, founder of Transparency International (www.Transparency.org), who addressed the event, reflects on the vital importance of openness and transparency for successful and sustainable infrastructure projects. Corruption is nothing new and it’s certainly […]

Africa Presents Unique Challenges for Multinational Corporations

Thabo Mpelele, Sales Manager: Southern & Eastern Africa, Orange Business Services Despite being plagued by economic uncertainty and socio-economic issues, Africa remains a promising long-term growth opportunity for business; with multinational corporations (MNCs) the world over continuing to enter into the region. When drawing up development and expansion plans any enterprise is faced with the fact that […]

The Trouble with Branding Things African …

James Maposa Director Consultant Intergroup Brand Science (formerly Interbrand Africa) I’ve often heard people describe products and services coming out of our continent as African. Examples include African attire, African cuisine, African print and so on. For those who’ve been lucky enough to have travelled our beloved continent you’d understand the problems that come with […]

Future Options to Store Energy near Cape Town’s City Centre

Electric power arrived at Cape Town around 1900 with the construction of a coal-fired, steam-driven power station located near the Victoria and Alfred dockyard area. The location offered 2-advantages in that the power station was close to the unloading area of coal ships that could sail from Durban. The second advantage was that close proximity […]

Brand valuation missing the so what

James Maposa Director Consultant Intergroup Brand Science (formerly Interbrand Africa) I recently read an article that reported on South Africa’s most valued brands for 2016. The country’s top-10 brands were MTN, Vodacom, Sasol, Standard Bank, Woolworths, FNB, Absa, Nedbank, Investec and Mediclinic; with Multichoice bubbling under at number 11. For me what was missing in […]

An Option for Energy Efficiency and Water Production at Cape Town

Summary: The thermal capacity of seawater off Cape Town’s coast can be applied to reduce the energy consumption of commercial scale refrigerators and air-conditioners as well as sustain the energy efficient operation of refrigeration-based technology that extracts potable water from humid air. Introduction: During successive summer seasons that extend over a period of decades, the […]

The Effects of the Education System on South Africa’s Economic Growth

by Matt Radcliffe .pdf Acrobat Reader Abstract In the two decades since the end of Apartheid, the international community has perceived South Africa to be the most influential country in Sub-Saharan Africa.  The country continues to play an important economic role on the continent and is a driving political force in the African Union (AU).  […]

Espinaca Innovations: A Case Study in Innovation in South Africa

By Johan Burger, NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies   The Espinaca Journey At the age of 24, Lufefe Nomjana from Khayelitsha, Cape Town, in South Africa, came up with a plan to add spinach to foods consumed daily, like bread. He realised that a lot of people in his neighbourhood were obese, yet malnourished! They […]

Two things I wish I had known when I started a small business

By Steven Cohen, Head of Sage One International (Africa, Australia, Middle East and Asia) One of the questions other entrepreneurs most often ask me is what I wish I had known when we first started the Pastel business in 1990. Looking back over the past 26 years, I can distil my answer into two key […]

Tourism an apex industry

The Tourism Indaba is the premier travel exhibition show on the African continent, hosted in the Indian Ocean city of Durban. The tourism industry has gained political mileage with the introduction of the visa regulations last year on the 01 June, which were later revised after intense lobbying by the tourism industry. The voice of […]

Continental Hotel Chain Developments

Following 142 new hotel development constructions in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) in 2014, Ethiopia is ranked among the top 10 largest markets for international chain hotel developments. North Africa has the largest hotel development pipeline with a lion share of 41.4% while West Africa with 34.1% closely follows. Nigeria ranks the highest in terms of […]

Interview with Gysbert Kappers, CEO of Wyzetalk

Gys’s enterprising technology spirit was clearly evident at a young age when in his 20’s he started an online and offline transaction platform company that was eventually sold to SourceCom when the family business beckoned.  What followed was a highly successful 18 years career in building the largest privately owned Concrete Masonry Business in South Africa. […]

Spur buys new gourmet brand, upping its niche market presence

More South Africans will soon get to experience a trendy, new fast but personalised  restaurant concept, now that the Spur Corporation (“Spur”) is set to acquire the majority stake in RocoMamas. The JSE-listed multi-brand restaurant group is buying a 51% share in RocoMamas, a Gauteng-based niche brand, fast developing a following for its customised but […]

Exclusive interview with Mr. Kresten Buch, the founder of 88mph

Kresten Buch, a Danish web entrepreneur turned investor, brought the accelerator model to Sub Saharan Africa nearly 3 years ago and to date has invested over $3million. How many startups do you have in your business portfolio? 35 What are the most interesting ideas associated with these startups? Ideas give some insight into the entrepreneurs […]

88mph startups meet with investors

Cape Town, South Africa – 88mph, a seed investor and accelerator operating in Nairobi, Cape Town and Lagos, is hosting this year’s Cape Town Investor Day at Crossley & Webb’s vintage car showroom. In February, seven startups received investment from 88mph and have been hard at work over the past 10 weeks. Besides the investment, the […]