South Africa News Archives - Page 8 of 72

Disrupting the Adtech landscape: South African scale-up leads the revolution

29Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Tech

Disrupting the Adtech landscape: South African scale-up leads the revolution

Flow, the leading innovator in automated social media advertising solutions, has transitioned from a disruptor in the real estate sector to a global pioneer in data-powered Adtech. As data is considered more valuable than oil, utilising it successfully is essential in any digital marketing strategy. Co-Founders and CEOs of Flow, Dan Levy and Gil Sperling have extensive experience in Adtech and over the last four years, have diversified Flow’s offering to reach a variety of businesses including financial services, retail, e-commerce, MLMs, and more, beyond South Africa’s borders, gaining an established presence in over 20 regions. Before launching Flow, Sperling and Levy were CEOs of Popimedia, Africa's largest Adtech and performance marketing company, which they sold to Publicis, the thi...

26Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

I’m Handing Over My Keys – Not My Supporters’ Card

By Pieter Twine, General Manager: MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet Pieter Twine, GM at MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet, will be retiring on 29 February. On his parting, he has put together an opinion piece about the impact of the MySchool program since its inception in 1997 (including having raised over R1 billion for more than 8,500 schools and NGO beneficiaries in South Africa). As I prepare to retire from my role as General Manager of the MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet program, the genesis of which is in a program that was established in 1997, I can’t help but be amazed at the impact we as a team have been able to make in everyday South Africans’ lives over the last 27 years. MySchool was started as a solution to help parents raise funds more easily and sustainably for schools and such was its p...

France number one destination for SA travellers wanting snow holidays

26Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Africa Travel, South Africa News

France number one destination for SA travellers wanting snow holidays

From November to April each year, travellers from South African embrace the evolving trends in Alpine destinations, transforming the once-elusive snow holiday into an immersive experience for adventure seekers and winter enthusiasts. With this in mind, pioneers in all-inclusive holidays and leaders in worldwide snow holidays, Club Med Southern Africa have just released their South African Ski Report for the 2023/2024 season. The report was compiled following a comprehensive survey capturing insights to discern key trends in South Africa's snow holiday preferences, expectations, and booking profiles. The geographical distribution of respondents revealed that 45% were from Gauteng, 30.7% from the Western Cape, 14.3% from KwaZulu Natal, and 10% from other regions. The skier profile highlig...

14Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Carefully balancing technology and people can elevate retailers and benefit SA. The Human Face of Retail

By Peter Ludi, Business Development Executive at redPanda Software There’s widespread acceptance that improving customer experience will go a long way towards attracting and retaining customers, especially at a time when there’s increased competition for valuable consumer spend. Naturally, all eyes turn to technology to remove friction, add convenience, automate, drive personalisation and much more. However, the deeper we move into the digital age it isn’t technology and automation that will save and grow retail, it’s the people. The theme that technology should not replace humans but augment them is well understood, but there’s more here than ordinarily meets the eye. Balancing technology with investment in people isn’t just a morally prudent approach, it is fundamental to a retailer’s...

Durban to Dublin — Irish Tech Challenge South Africa 2023 Winners to Showcase SDG Innovations in Ireland

13Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Startups

Durban to Dublin — Irish Tech Challenge South Africa 2023 Winners to Showcase SDG Innovations in Ireland

The Irish Tech Challenge South Africa is excited to announce that the 2023 winning cohort is set to travel to Ireland for a 10-day curated immersion and networking programme with access to top industry leaders and potential for further funding. The Irish Tech Challenge is a prestigious competition that seeks to unearth high-impact South African start-ups that have developed innovative, SDG-aligned solutions. The winning five start-ups emerged from 266 applications and were unveiled on 21 November 2023. From AgriTech to BioTech to HealthTech, their innovations demonstrate the depth and diversity of talent in the South African tech landscape. The five winning start-ups: Thato Schermer — Founder, Zoie Health (HealthTech) Neo Hutiri — Founder, PeleBox (HealthTech) Vuyo Pakad...

13Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Your hot date may be a hotline to becoming a scam victim

Technology has disrupted many aspects of traditional life. When you are sitting at dinner and seeing a couple going out on a "first date", consider that this may be their first in-person date and that they have been interacting (dating) online for months. According to global data and business intelligence platform, Statista, the number of online dating users in South Africa is expected to reach 6.7 million users by 2028. The report adds that the current user penetration rate of dating websites is believed to be 8.0% and may increase to 10.4% by 2028. This is good news for nervous daters. However, people must be aware of a darker side to online dating, warns Nazia Karrim, Head of Product Development at the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS). There are a lot of romance scams...

12Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Energy, South Africa News

Daily power cuts tripled in 2023: SA government must deploy subsidised smart tech solutions in evolutionary next step to maximise energy efficiency in 2024

According to the latest data sets from the Outlier, South Africans were forced to endure the highest degree of loadshedding on record last year. In 2022, citizens experienced 205/365 days of loadshedding - mostly between stages 1 and 4. While glaring, this pales in comparison to 2023, with daily blackouts across 335 days, comprising mostly stage 3 to 6 levels of loadshedding. Not only does this indicate a shocking 73% increase in power cuts year on year, but the number of times the power has gone off each day has almost tripled. While our national government has developed the appropriate legislation to promote the uptake of solar power with tax rebates on solar panels (offering buyers a potential 25% rebate on the cost of new and used solar panels), little has been done to promote the ro...

11Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Babalwa Ngonyama’s Legal Battle with UCT: A Test of Institutional Ethics

By James Bains In the realm of South African higher education and corporate governance, few situations have garnered as much attention as the legal standoff between Babalwa Ngonyama, the former Chair of the University of Cape Town (UCT) Council, and UCT. Central to this unfolding drama is a contentious letter from UCT's Joint Investment Committee to Camissa Asset Management, hinting at a possible withdrawal of funds. These funds are intricately linked to Ngonyama's business interests, and their potential withdrawal has sparked a heated debate over the principles of fairness and autonomy in institutional governance. Ngonyama's response, condemning UCT's alleged tactics, has thrown a spotlight on the university's adherence to its foundational values of impartiality and academic freedom. ...

8Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Tech

Retail is in the midst of the biggest technology paradigm shift yet: Insights from NRF 2024 New York

By Peter Ludi, Business Development Executive at redPanda Software While the environment for South African consumers will likely improve gradually over the course of the second half of 2024 off the back of better-than-expected inflation figures and an easing of global price pressures, consumer spend will likely remain constrained. This reality means retailers will need to stay ahead of competition to compete for valuable customer spend. As the recent National Retail Federation: Retail’s Big Trade Show held in New York recently proved, the world is entering the digital age in the true sense of the word at breakneck speed, and retailers around the world have no choice but to react, deploy and iterate. The conference, with more than 40,000 attendees, 1000 exhibitors and 450 speakers, is a...

International ocean economy stakeholders to meet in SA for innovation summit

6Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Events, South Africa News

International ocean economy stakeholders to meet in SA for innovation summit

Hundreds of stakeholders will gather in Cape Town next month for the Ocean Innovation Africa Summit and exhibition exploring ocean conservation and the opportunities for Africa in the emerging ‘blue economy’. The world’s ocean and seas, critical in the broader climate change discussion, also offer a wealth of new, sustainable business opportunities. Torsten Thiele, Founder of the Global Ocean Trust and speaker at the summit, believes Africa has an opportunity to leapfrog more developed regions in the blue economy space. The blue economy, defined by the UN as a range of sustainable and socially equitable economic activities related to the oceans, seas and coastal areas, offers immense opportunities to investors, entrepreneurs and communities. Key opportunities for Africa “In Africa, th...