Category Archives: South Africa News

South Africa News

Air France Unveils New Business Class Cabin On Flights Between Paris and Johannesburg

Air France has unveiled its new long-haul Business cabin, elegantly reasserting the French-style art of travel. Constantly striving to offer the highest level of comfort, the airline’s completely redesigned iconic seat features even more enveloping curves and extra comfort. Air France is introducing a new standard dedicated to this travel cabin. Progressively rolled out on 12 Boeing 777-300s, the new cabin will serve […]

Managing IT in (literal) dark times

A CIO’s guide for doing business in South Africa Freshly out of a global pandemic, CIOs have had to think on their feet as loadshedding wrought new havoc on their teams and departments. As a software-on-demand company with software that needs to be available to customers 24/7, e4 understands the current business challenges better than […]

Backing SA entrepreneurs is the first step to job creation

58 entrepreneurs from the SAB Tholoana Enterprise Programme created 237 new jobs and sustained 435 jobs during the pandemic and post-pandemic period By Fundiswa Nkwanyana Small businesses are playing a vital role in creating jobs despite their challenges. The past two years have been difficult for entrepreneurs. because they had to overcome challenges caused by the global Covid-19 […]

PayShap – South Africa’s first rapid payments programme launched

Ashlin Perumall, Partner, Baker McKenzie Johannesburg In March 2023, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) announced the launch of PayShap, a real-time rapid payment platform that is aimed at offering safer, faster and significantly more convenient payment options for South Africans. PayShap is the outcome of an industry-spanning collaboration, driven by BankservAfrica, the Payments Association […]

United for Wildlife brings South African private sector leaders to the front line of the fight against wildlife crime

Frontline conservation organisations joined the private sector and law enforcement in South Africa this week in a conference to tackle illegal wildlife trade across the region. Attended by leaders from government, business, law enforcement and NGOs, the two-day event came hot on the heels of recent commitments from the US Treasury to form a United […]

Everything a retailer needs to know about payment platforms in 2023

by Barry Williams, Head of Sales & Retail Relations at Pay@ In the article Barry Williams, Head of Sales & Retail Relations at Pay@ sheds light on some of the predictions we can expect to see unfold in the retail payments landscape in 2023. Every successful retailer knows that to nurture customer loyalty and establish […]

Risks ahead for buoyant markets

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

While keeping an eye on developing risks, particularly with regards to the US economy, 2023 is nevertheless shaping up well. With market volatility low, investors should take the opportunity to buy protection on portfolios. It’s also a good time to take profits on equities and bonds while income yields are high, and wait for opportunities […]

Smart locker adoption soars amidst global increase in courier delivery and shipping demand

Article by Craig Pitchers, Chief Operating Officer, The Courier Guy Customer demand for an online delivery service that always works is driving growth in the smart parcel locker market and courier industries. The size of the global smart parcel locker market could reach USD 1782.73 million by 2029 growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) […]

The anatomy of a scam: Psychological tricks payment fraudsters use to get their way

The rise in finance and accounting cybercrime through phishing and Business Email Compromise (BEC) has made headlines with massive implications for South African companies with gaps in their payment systems. “However, robust financial controls together with strong server, IT, and email monitoring processes aren’t enough if staff aren’t savvy to the psychological tricks scammers use to manipulate […]

Blockchain innovators flock to Joburg

Blockchain Africa is the continent’s biggest gathering of Web3 expertise and the crypto curious and it’s coming to Sandton on 16 and 17 March 2023 A Web3 wave comes to African shores next week and the continent is perfectly positioned to rise on this tide of innovation in ingenuity. The 9th annual Blockchain Africa Conference gathers together […]

Prohibited transactions raise substantial competition or public interest concerns that cannot be remedied

By Angelo Tzarevski, Director Designate, Competition & Antitrust Practice, Baker McKenzie, Johannesburg On 22 February 2023, the South African Competition Tribunal issued an order prohibiting the proposed intermediate merger between Corruseal Group (Pty) Ltd (Corruseal) and Neopak Holdings (Pty) Ltd (Neopak). In their request for consideration to the Tribunal, Corruseal and Neopak sought to have […]

South Africa: Two birds with one sunbeam – ESG windfall with the expanded renewable energy tax incentive

ENGIE starts operations of Kathu, a 100 MW Concentrated Solar Plant and one of South Africa’s largest renewable energy projects

By Tsanga Mukumba, Associate, and Jordan Moonsamy, Candidate Attorney, and overseen by Kieran Whyte, Partner, Head of Projects, and Virusha Subban, Partner, Head of Tax, Johannesburg. The introduction of an augmented and accelerated capital expenditure deduction for the cost of constructing renewable energy infrastructure in South Africa is a boon for companies that have not yet reached their […]

The mine’s operating model – and why your people underpin it

By Arjen de Bruin, Managing Director at OIM Consulting In its simplest form, a company’s operating model can be described as a visualisation of its business strategy. The intent of the model is to provide a clear framework or blueprint for how this strategy is executed to deliver on the organisation’s goals. But who is […]

8.7% of users encountered phishing attacks in Africa in 2022, global number of attacks exceeds 500 million

Kaspersky’s (www.Kaspersky.co.za) anti-phishing system prevented more than 500 million attempts at accessing fraudulent websites globally in 2022. This is twice more compared to 2021 figures. In Africa, 8.7% of individuals and corporate users were affected by phishing: attacks on their devices were detected and stopped. In South Africa, the share of users affected by phishing […]

WeWork and SiSebenza Announce Franchise Partnership for WeWork South Africa

WeWork, the leading global flexible space provider, today announced a franchise partnership with SiSebenza, a pan-African real estate investor, giving SiSebenza the exclusive right to operate WeWork’s existing locations in South Africa. The deal also grants SiSebenza exclusive rights to grow and operate the WeWork franchise in Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius and Nigeria. The franchise partnership […]

Shopping for sustainability: online stores and e-commerce merchants answer growing consumer demand

While 92% of South Africans say sustainability is important to them, only 58% claim to live sustainably according to a 2022 study by global consumer insights agency InSites Consulting. It’s clear South Africans want to make a change; they just don’t know where to start. That’s where online retailers and e-commerce merchants come in, says Steffen Burrows, CURBON co-founder and director. The […]

MultiChoice Africa Accelerator Programme set to boost prosperity of African small and medium-sized businesses (SMME)

MultiChoice shortlists 11 start-ups to pitch for international funding and take their small businesses to the next level At a time when unemployment challenges and economic instability are high, small and medium-sized businesses (SMMEs) are proving to be the engines of economic growth and job creation throughout the African continent. In recognition of the critical […]

Modernising and regulating SA’s payments industry

In the second half of 2022, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) announced it has its sights set on stricter regulations for the South African payments ecosystem “to ensure financial stability in a world of increasingly innovative and disruptive technology”. Though some new fintech players winced at the thought, it is a necessary move if […]

Strategies for water efficiency and continuity in South Africa

Loadshedding in South Africa has become the norm and will continue for at least two more years but another problem has arisen due to these prolonged blackouts and that is an interruption in water supply. When the stages of loadshedding are higher (stage 6 and 8) and there is no electricity for four hours or […]

How South African small businesses and traders can up their game for financial success

Cape Town Aerial After Sunset

The better financially educated business owners are, the stronger the foundation of their business will be. Financial literacy has been proven to not only affect both saving and investment behaviour, but also debt management and borrowing practices. Financially savvy traders and SMEs are more likely to accumulate wealth, get better returns on investments, and cover emergency expenses. […]

New outlook on skills development can solve CTO headaches and fast-track coding careers in 2023

By Jessica Hawkey, Managing Director at redAcademy As 2023 begins in full swing, we can all be forgiven for feeling as though we have been on a seemingly endless roller coaster during the past year. However, despite the surprises and shocks, one thing remained consistent throughout 2022 and is predicted to be one of the […]

Simple Ways to Support Digital Learning and Help Build SA’s Digital Future

Education in the online space was brought into sharp focus during the COVID-19 pandemic and the COVID-19 and barriers to participation in education in South Africa, 2020 report released by Statistics South Africa showed the scale of the challenge in that only 11.7% of schools offered remote learning options, nationally. Most households did not have […]