ebusiness Archives - AfricaBusiness.com

16Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

AURA, SA’s leading emergency marketplace, secures R62 million Series A funding deal (more than USD 4 mln)

AURA, the leading African-based security and medical response marketplace, has secured R62 million in a Series A funding round, which was led by MultiChoice Group (MCG), KLT Holdings and Buffet Investments. This positions AURA favourably for its global expansion plans. AURA is a marketplace that enables anyone to access the closest vetted private and public security and medical response unit to their location - anywhere, anytime - using a connected device. “South Africa has one of the most advanced private security and emergency response industries which has the capacity to ensure safety to a greater number of people who might not currently have access to it,” says Myers “AURA enables seamless and affordable ways for anyone to get immediate and trusted access to both private and public ...

A challenging, risk driven environment awaits us

As many parts of the world deal with the Third Wave of Covid-19 infections, there are growing concerns that South Africa may face harsher lockdown measures in the future as the country ramps up its vaccine roll out program. This will have a telling impact on society and will only accelerate the reliance on ecommerce business models as the public prioritizes their health and safety. Unfortunately, this also means that there will be a challenging, risk driven environment ahead of us when it comes to fraud. This was highlighted at the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS) & Insurance Crime Bureau International Fraud Summit which was held virtually on 19 May 2021. Increased Risk “We are really reaching a critical point when it comes to the economy and the extreme measures that...

Tearing down barriers for the growth of African rural e-commerce

By Josephine Wawira The rise and growth of e-commerce in the world and primarily in Africa has created a lot of business opportunities, not only in urban but also in rural areas. The good news is that there is undoubtedly increased connectivity, reaching even the previously inaccessible remote villages across the continent and connecting them with e-commerce. Over the past approximately three years, the market has been noted to move substantially in the direction of developing logistics meant to tear down barriers for e-commerce penetration in rural markets. Consequently, online retailers can now reach customers in remote cities, while locals have access to a variety of products from major urban cities. While over 50% of the world is now connected to the internet, only 36% of the African p...