Thursday, November 28African Digital Business Magazine

South Africa News

South Africa News

South Africa News, Tech

Digital agency 8909 expands leadership team

Digital agency 8909 has made three significant new appointments to their leadership team. Manisha Jogi has been promoted to  Head of Strategy, Yuvisti Ramgulam has been appointed as Head of Client Service, and Khanya Sijaji has been promoted to  Executive Creative Director.  Jogi will be in charge of translating client marketing strategies into well thought out brand, communication and digital strategies while staying true to the 8909 promise of Quantified Creativity. Ramgulam will be directly responsible for client satisfaction, success and retention, and Sijaji, who has many years of experience in advertising and an impressive portfolio of work under his belt, will oversee all brand and creative work, while leading the studio at the digital agency. 8909 has seen immense growth in a fe...
Ghana News, Kenya News, Main, Namibia News, Nigeria News, South Africa News, Tanzania News, Zambia News, Zimbabwe News

Indirect tax developments in Sub-Saharan Africa

By Jana Botha, VAT Consultant, Baker McKenzie Johannesburg There have been significant developments in indirect tax within Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in the past year. The vast majority of developments have been based around VAT amendments and policies, as well as general budget updates for 2022 across SSA. This article includes key developments from Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Ghana The Parliament of Ghana passed the Value Added Tax (Amendment) Act, 2021 (Act 1072) to bring VAT proposals into effect. The Amendment Act came into force 1 January, 2022. The policy includes a revision of the VAT flat rate scheme (VFRS). Act 1072 has now revised the application of VFRS to only cover retailers of goods where the value of taxable supply  is betw...
Business, South Africa News

He who shouts loudest…improving mining outcomes through transforming leadership

By Arjen de Bruin, Managing Director at OIM Consulting The archetype exists for a reason: the mining supervisor, yelling at those he is supposed to lead; entertaining no discussion, questions or other perspectives. It’s his way or the proverbial highway. The leadership style best associated with the mining sector is seen as assertive at best, autocratic at worst – and is undoubtably remnant of South Africa’s tumultuous past.  While our history is certainly a contributing factor in the mining industry being seen as a notoriously difficult environment in which to instil positive work outcomes such as organisational commitment, the good news is that this can be addressed through addressing front-line leadership.  A research paper from the South African Journal of Human Resource Management...
South Africa News, Tech

New Report Shines a Light on Artificial Intelligence in Africa

The State of AI in Africa Report by the AI Media Group South Africa, offers an analysis of the emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) landscape in Africa. It contains multiple statistics and trends while offering insights on key factors and communities driving the ecosystem across the continent.  Report author, and CEO of the AI Media Group, Dr Nick Bradshaw stated, “The origins of this report were motivated from a lack of data about the regional / continental landscape for what is one of the fastest growing tech sectors globally.  When we started our company back in 2018, there was literally no data about the region as a whole.  Most local activity was either academic or developer community focused, with very little connection between these communities, industry practitioners and investor...
South Africa News, Tech

Is your employee communication strategy keeping up with global trends?

Caroline van der Merwe, COO of SmartWage, an innovative HR and communications technology company, says that effective communication is key to a productive workforce, and achieving this in the South African context requires employers to bridge the digital divide. The human need to communicate is as old as time. The first printing press, which introduced the era of mass communication, and status updates on Facebook, while hundreds of years apart, both have one thing in common – they demonstrate our desire to connect with one another through communication. Recently, we’ve been bombarded with events that have put a spotlight on the desperate need for clear communication between employees and management. KwaZulu-Natal’s devastating floods, the pandemic, load-shedding and the July riots all di...
Why should you hire a digital marketing agency?
Business, South Africa News

Why should you hire a digital marketing agency?

Jacques Du Bruyn, Managing Director, Flume  South African’s adoption of digital tech puts us ahead of many bigger economies. If you look at aspects like the way we bank and how we pay for products and services, we’re way ahead of places in Europe and the USA.  The speed at which we’ve adopted that tech (which is only accelerating) means that more and more South Africans are moving online. To reach that growing online audience, companies need to embrace digital and communicate with their customers, where they are. If you’re going to do that properly, you need a smart digital marketing partner. Digital-First A company’s digital platforms are now often the first point of contact for a potential customer, so businesses are taking those spaces more seriously. In the consumer space, companie...
Energy, South Africa News

Global Alliance Africa collaborates with Energy Catalyst to introduce South Africa’s local energy ecosystem to opportunities within the UK

Africa's population is the fastest-growing in the world – putting immense pressure on the development of Africa, especially the high demand for access to energy1. According to the Tracking Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) seven: The Energy Progress Report by the International Energy Agency, the International Renewable Energy Agency, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization, Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest energy access rates in the world2. The 2021 South African Energy Sector Report revealed that the energy sector in South Africa is at the centre of the economy due to the country's high energy intensity3. Despite its recent electricity struggles, South Africa has a well-developed electricity network and one of the highest rate...
Inner cities are growth engines attracting young homebuyers
Real Estate, South Africa News

Inner cities are growth engines attracting young homebuyers

Inner city living is boosting the city residential property market and driving urban rejuvenation Inner cities. Love them or hate them, they play a crucial role in stimulating, supporting and enhancing a country’s economic growth. They are hubs for productivity, and due to the scale, diversity and density of activity, ideas and information flow freely, offering a wealth of creative and entrepreneurial opportunities for those who choose to live there. As a developing country, South Africa is urbanising rapidly. Estimates suggest that just over 67 percent of South Africans are living in urban areas, and this is predicted to rise to 71 percent by 2030. By 2050, eight in 10 people will be living in urban areas. According to Andrea Tucker, Director of MortgageMe, this urban densification tre...
South Africa News

To create a world class supply chain, the SA logistics industry needs better, faster KYC

Estimates suggest the logistics industry contributes around 10 to 12 percent towards South Africa’s GDP. But in order for the country to command a larger market share for its products on the global stage, supply chains need to be world class to ensure efficient delivery of goods. One way to increase efficiencies is by implementing KYC measures that really work says Sameer Kumandan, Managing Director of SearchWorks, an innovative data aggregation platform that allows users to conduct live, accurate searches on individuals and companies and in-depth KYC checks online. “No business process can be managed without necessary, up-to-date information. For the logistics industry, in which planning and coordinating various processes simultaneously is a prerequisite, having the right information a...
New report unpacks principles necessary for gig work readiness in South Africa
South Africa News

New report unpacks principles necessary for gig work readiness in South Africa

Data released by Statistics South Africa in Q4 of 2021 showed that 45% of young people aged–34 years were not in employment, education or training. This means more than four in every 10 young males and females were unemployed and not receiving skills training. In 2022, predictions for the South African youth unemployment rate are projected to be as high as 64%. Globally, we are experiencing the ‘double disruption’ of the economic impact of the pandemic and the increasing automation of jobs. The World Economic Forum (WEF) estimates that by 2025, 85 million jobs worldwide may be displaced by technological disruption. However, as many as 97 million new jobs may emerge. Massive youth unemployment remains a critical challenge for South Africa as many young people struggle to participate mea...