South Africa News Archives - Page 35 of 72

7Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

South African Companies Offer Value Compared To Overseas Counterparts

Heineken’s proposed R40.1 billion offer for Distell is the latest in a series of notable bids for large South African businesses. This follows DP World’s recent proposed R12.7 billion offer for Imperial Logistics and PepsiCo’s R26 billion acquisition of Pioneer Foods in 2020. A key driver for all three deals is using the local companies as a platform for African expansion. Could this be indicative the country is the next hot spot for merger and acquisition (M&A) activity? Typically, our businesses are ‘bargains’ compared to their overseas counterparts. With M&A activity at an all-time high in Europe and the US, it is likely that there will be further spill-over to local shores; especially given the select value proposition that certain South African companies present. This has maj...

6Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Water-Saving Toilet Manufacturer Propelair® Advances With New Partner In Key South African Market

Propelair®, the UK designer and manufacturer of the world’s lowest-water-flush toilet, is making big strides in South Africa as the country continues to urge organisations to conserve water and use it more efficiently, reduce carbon emissions and promote hygiene. Having launched in South Africa in 2019, Propelair has now entered into a distribution agreement with Amalooloo, a South African provider of high-quality, sustainable sanitation solutions, which will supply Propelair toilets throughout the country. Propelair uses an air-powered flush that requires only 1.5 litres of water per flush – a fraction of typical current volumes of six to nine litres in standard toilets. Pretoria-based Amalooloo’s core business focuses on bringing innovation and improved sanitation to rural household...

3Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Global Cities Report – Five strategic imperatives for city leaders

Last year’s edition of the Kearney Annual Global Cities report provided a revealing overview of urban centres amid the unprecedented public health catastrophe of the COVID-19 outbreak. A stark snapshot was painted of a volatile, increasingly fragmented environment characterized by fierce competition among cities for status, a situation acutely exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. “The 2020 report provided a perspective on where the world was just before the impact of COVID-19 was felt. In this year’s report, the data used—largely collected from 2020 and early 2021 publications—provides a view of the impact of the first year of the pandemic. It also sheds light on the different recovery trajectories across the world’s global cities,” says Prashaen Reddy, a partner at global managemen...

29Nov

By Marilyn MoodleyNo Comments

Business, South Africa News, Tech

How software decisions can reduce business costs

By: Marilyn Moodley - Country Leader for South Africa and WECA (West, East, Central Africa) at SoftwareONE The IDC forecasts that South Africa’s IT spend will be $12.78 billion (R197 billion) in 2021, an increase of 5.2% over the previous year. One of the biggest contributors to this figure is software and cloud spend, which has grown exponentially since the start of the pandemic. As organisations rushed to enable remote working, many companies hastily procured software without being fully informed of their longer-term needs. This has potentially resulted in rigid multi-year contracts, overspend on licensing, limited processes in place to manage and control usage and therefore spend, leading to severe implications for future budgets. As the local business world settles into a ...

29Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Harnessing the global potential of SA’s growing youth talent pool

With the South African employment rate forecast to reach 43% by 2023, the focus has turned to leveraging the country’s strengths on a global level to provide multinationals with a hiring pool that is young, talented, willing to learn, and more cost-effective than what other markets can offer. This is according to Business Process Enabling South Africa (BPESA), the industry association for global business services (GBS) in the country. With the international community more embracive of impact sourcing (bringing internet-based jobs to disadvantaged communities) and building inclusive supply chains, South Africa is well-positioned to provide them with a platform to do so at scale. Given its commitment to diversity and transformation, outsourcing to the country means this core business focu...

21Nov

By Quentyn TaylorNo Comments

Business, South Africa News, Tech

Navigating a hybrid work environment – how can businesses remain secure?

By Quentyn Taylor, Director of Information Security at Canon for Europe, Middle East and Africa A central office has typically been most business’s default working location, but the role of the office has significantly changed over the last year. Today, over 90% of organisations say they’ll allow employees to work remotely, at least part of the time, going forward. Changes that were brought about in haste to deal with the pandemic are crystallising into permanent fixtures. The expectation is that employees will have the freedom to move between multiple working environments and connect to a company’s network from each one. But this shift to a hybrid working model poses potential security risks for your organisation and employees. Your business’s network perimeter has evolved to not only...

19Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Startups

How a Hipster, a Hacker, and a Hustler built a booming business

Lessons from the insurtech start-up that caught the eye of industry giants While November has always been synonymous with National Entrepreneurship Month, you’d be forgiven for wondering if it’s really necessary to dedicate 30 days to encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit, when it seems that just about everyone aspires to be coffee-guzzling, always-hustling, meme-inspiring business owner nowadays. Yet, as any successful entrepreneur will tell you, the journey from start-up to scaling is a grueling process, peppered with potential pitfalls along the way. So, what is the secret to getting it right? Ctrl Financial Intermediaries (CFI), founded by three friends, Pieter Venter, Francois Venter, and Pieter Erasmus (no, they’re not related) is one such example. Launched in 2018, Ctrl is a...

19Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Getting SA’s Social Entrepreneurs Investment Ready

The impact investing market now stands at around US$715 billion globally and this figure is climbing steadily[i].What’s more, 43% of impact investors have funds allocated to Africa, with 52% of investors planning to increase their African investment over the next five years[ii]. With South Africa being the largest market for impact investing within Southern Africa[iii], are our social entrepreneurs ready for this investment? Ashleigh Sibanda, Programme Manager: Business Incubation at business growth specialists Fetola explains that investment readiness refers to the capacity of an enterprise to understand and meet the specific needs and expectations of investors. “While there are thousands of social enterprises in the country, not all of them possess this. In fact, the World Bank cites th...

18Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Startups

AfricArena, the leading tech ecosystem accelerator programme, concludes its 2021 event circuit in Cape Town with a bang

AfricArena, which provides open innovation challenges, research and dealflow services to help accelerate the work of founders, investors and corporates, hosted its fifth annual Summit from 16 - 17 November in Cape Town. It was preceded by its Founders’ Bootcamp and VC Unconference Weekends, attended by 60 high level international investors and 40 startups from 15 African countries, as well as the elite of the continent’s ecosystem builders. During the Grand Summit, major announcements took place, including the new partnership between AfricArena, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Double Feather Partners to bridge the Japanese and African tech-ecosystems. Other announcements included the amplification of the AfricArena Vivatech partnership; a $42m Series B raise by Af...

18Nov

By Giorgi MikhelidzeNo Comments

Fintech, Forex, South Africa News

How to get started with trading in South Africa?

The foreign currency market may be speculated on legally and profitably in South Africa via the use of forex trading. Predicting price changes in currency pairings may be lucrative for South African Forex traders. The volatility of the foreign exchange market enables certain traders to make huge gains, with some even making millions of dollars. Because dealers will simultaneously sell one currency and acquire another, prices are given in pairs. Due to the small profit margins in forex trading in South Africa, generating significant profits might need a significant infusion of cash. Each of the world's top ten wealthiest foreign exchange dealers will make a fortune in 2021 by risking enormous sums of money in order to reap the advantages. The money you'll need to support your dre...