South Africa News Archives - Page 52 of 72

28Mar

By Wine Village-HermanusNo Comments

Interview, South Africa News

An Interview with Nadia Langenegger on Biodynamic winemaking

- A return to the natural art of making wine by ULLA DU TOIT Waterkloof was born in the dynamic and unpredictable forces of nature in the centre of the Hottentots-Holland and Helderberg mountains' embrace. With its highest point at 300 metres above sea level and a scant four kilometres from the False Bay coast. A combination of destiny and good judgement brought winemaker Nadia Langenegger, to Waterkloof and it is here were that she learned the essential aspects of quality vines and wines. Having been with Waterkloof since the opening of the cellar in 2009, she can genuinely say that she knows every square inch of vineyard on the farm like the palm of her hand and the tremendous potential that lies within it. Living and work in harmony with nature are to acknowledge, respect and promote it...

26Mar

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Medicine, South Africa News

SA Must Adopt a Human-Centred Approached to Healthcare Delivery

But Can Telemedicine Close the Gap? It’s no secret that the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the existing inequality in South Africa, and in the case of access to healthcare, it exacerbated it. This is according to Paul Cox, Managing Director of the Essential Group of Companies (which includes health insurance provider EssentialMED). The latest figures from the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) estimate that the number of excess deaths in South Africa between May 2020 and March 2021 is 146,626,[1]- a far cry from the most recent official Covid death toll of 52,196[2]. By comparing the time trends in excess deaths, SAMRC says that between 85-95% of the unaccounted deaths were likely to be directly related to Covid and that the remaining 5-15% were probably collateral causes due t...

24Mar

By Conrad KullmannNo Comments

Medicine, South Africa News, Tech

The application of far-UVC as a means of disinfection

By Conrad Kullmann, MD at FAR UVC AFRICA In today’s climate and this century’s most widespread global pandemic, the need for ground-breaking sanitation solutions has never been more critical. At the forefront of modern-day hygiene and sanitation is human safe far-UVC technology. While much of the world’s focus has turned towards the introduction and distribution of vaccines, and rightly so, there is merit yet in businesses and even industries considering far-UVC sanitation methods for the health and wellbeing of their staff and their customers. Far-UVC differs significantly to standard UVC technology, in that it is safe for humans and animals and achieves this by emitting a lower wavelength of 222 nanometres. Much talk of COVID-19 defences in 2021 has been of the formulation and distribut...

24Mar

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Tech

Building a successful multicloud strategy unlocks IT business value

South Africa’s cloud market is showing good signs of growth and development as enterprise customers begin to take serious notice of multicloud and its benefits. As a result, it is imperative to develop and maintain a robust mutlicloud strategy that meets continuously evolving business demands. Andrew Cruise, managing director, Routed, a neutral cloud infrastructure provider, notes there are clear business benefits of pursuing a multicloud approach, including having a choice of best-in-class platforms to match a variety of business requirements and the ability to efficiently allocate scarce capital by utilising the operating cost model of cloud consumption. “However, some other no less important advantages of mutlicloud involve its potential to drive innovation, flexibility, and scalabil...

22Mar

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Energy, Green Energy, Senegal News, South Africa News, Uganda News

REN21’s new report shows that cities across Africa demonstrate progressive leadership to deploy renewables

The 2021 edition of REN21’s Renewables in Cities Global Status Report, shows that one billion people live in cities with a renewable energy target or policy. The number of cities that have enforced partial or complete bans on fossil fuels jumped fivefold in 2020. With a special focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, the report shows that despite many challenges, city governments across the region have taken important steps to advance the deployment of renewables. Africa’s urban population increased more than 16-fold between 1950 and 2018, from 33 million to 548 million, and this rapid urban growth has been and remains a key driver of rising energy demand. Cities across Sub-Saharan Africa increasingly recognise the opportunities around renewable energy use to improve energy access, reduce energy pove...

17Mar

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Fintech, South Africa News

Ukheshe Technologies and Infobip collaborate to create SA’s first WhatsApp payment gateway

Leading digital fintech enablement provider, Ukheshe Technologies, together with Infobip, a global cloud communications platform that enables businesses to build connected customer experiences across all stages of the customer journey at scale, have developed South Africa’s very first WhatsApp payment gateway for use by Telkom, one of the country’s largest mobile operators. In addition to being South Africa’s first digital wallet platform, the solution is also the first WhatsApp channel to enable payments using QR. The project and collaboration with Infobip forms part of Ukheshe’s objective of expanding its international reach as a solution driven B2B provider of digital-first payment solutions that enable banks, telcos and fintechs to provide banking and payment services to their customer...

15Mar

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Kenya News, South Africa News

South African business, AURA, expands into East Africa with new Kenyan office and GM

AURA, South Africa’s leading security and medical response platform, has announced its imminent expansion into Kenya which will be led by its new General Manager, Hilary Itela. Partnering with KK Security, owned by GardaWorld, Aura will offer its emergency and medical response services in Nairobi and Mombasa. Warren Myers, CEO, AURA says that the intention is to address the fragmented and idle response capacity in Kenya while also democratising access to critical services by making them more widely available and more affordable than ever before. With over 15 years’ experience in various management roles in East and Central Africa, Itela brings with him a wealth of specialist expertise within various verticals including security, e-commerce, logistics, pharmaceuticals, FMCG and renewable...

Why ecommerce matters for small businesses in SA

14Mar

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Why ecommerce matters for small businesses in SA

There has been a permanent change in the way that people shop and, in turn, the way that businesses need to operate. In the absence of brick-and-mortar stores being open during the lockdown, as well as a general fear of crowded malls when things were able to re-open, South Africa’s ecommerce sector exploded. According to Trevor Gosling, Co-founder and CEO of Lulalend – financing partner to South Africa’s small- to medium-enterprises (SMEs), he has seen a phenomenal growth in ecommerce businesses who have connected with them for SME financing. Between the period of October 2020 and February 2021, Lulalend saw an 86% increase in loans made to ecommerce businesses and online retailers in comparison to the same period between 2019 and 2020. “The loans were strongly linked to growth-related req...

14Mar

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Repo rate to hold but a rate hike could be around the corner: Finder’s economist panel

Panel of 25 economists unanimously predict the SARB will hold the repo rate Just over a quarter (28%) expect a rate hike this year 92% say South Africa is at risk of a sovereign debt crisis Unemployment rate to increase slightly by July The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is set to hold the repo rate at the 23-25 March meeting, according to a unanimous vote by 25 economists on Finder’s repo rate forecast report. Nedbank chief economist Nicola Weimar thinks the Bank has achieved the goldilocks of monetary policy and it’s now a matter of waiting for previously set policies to take effect. “Hiking now would not make sense since inflation is well contained & the economy is still operating well below potential. Cutting would also not be wise as the SARB has already done enough, the...

Efficient Payment Solutions Essential for SME Survival

14Mar

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Fintech, South Africa News

Efficient Payment Solutions Essential for SME Survival

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) have long been hailed as the lifeblood of the economy. Now, in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, they are critical for its recovery. Not only do they contribute 35-50% of national GDP globally, they also drive over two-thirds of new job creation[i]. Ultimately, the more SMEs succeed, the better our economy performs. However, their success – and survival – hinges largely on cash flow management. This is according to Francois Hamer, Business Development Lead at Pay@ - a leading payment aggregator and provider of secure payment solutions. With cashflow management being the reason why 82% of small businesses fail[ii], Pay@ has developed Yap – an electronic bill presentment and payment tool for on-the-go invoicing and payment requests, specifically for ...