Monday, November 25African Digital Business Magazine

Tag: South Africa

7Sep By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Energy, South Africa News

Energy storage manufacturer expands its operations in Africa

Tesvolt partners with Solarworld Africa Wittenberg, Cape Town, São Paulo, 07/09/2021 – Tesvolt, a manufacturer of battery storage systems for commercial and industrial use, has posted strong growth in the first half of 2021. Alongside high demand for intelligent energy storage systems in Germany, international business is a key engine for growth. Over 40% of Tesvolt’s turnover now comes from international sales. It also plans to enter the North American market next year. Marked rise in international orders “Our mission is to bring affordable green energy to every corner of the world,” explains Tesvolt’s Commercial Director, Daniel Hannemann. “We’ve come quite a bit closer to the goal yet again. In addition to our sales activities in Europe, we’ve established new sales partners...
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2Sep By Africa BusinessNo Comments
South Africa News, Tech

Is Johannesburg The City of “AI” Gold?

Recently announced research by the AI Media Group, Cape Town, South Africa, points towards Johannesburg fast becoming the continents Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tech Capital of Africa Launched in early 2018 the AI Media Group set out to create a new hybrid analysis, trade & advisory operation to build one of the largest communities of technology practitioners discussing the application of AI / 4IR technologies in a business context on the African continent. Dr Nick Bradshaw, Founder and CEO of AI Media stated, “One of our key goals was to assess and showcase the growing emerging market opportunity in the Africa region for this particular technology category. When we started this journey there was literally zero, or at best, fragmented data on the companies and people driving this s...
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2Sep By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Fintech, South Africa News, Startups

Fintech Startup SOL announces rebrand with exciting new virtual card offering

SOL unveils virtual card and new brand as it redefines the customer experience SOLmate, an online payment platform that offers clients a digital wallet facility, has unveiled an exciting new product offering together with an extensive rebrand and renewed corporate vision. Following a name change to SOLmate, the fintech has launched a new, innovative virtual card – placing unbanked and underbanked clients at the centre of SOLmate’s business offering. The new virtual card provides clients with the ability to shop online safely, and to draw cash from various retail stores – making SOLmate one of the first fintech players to offer a virtual card to FICA lite customers who would otherwise not have had access to digital financial services. With a new tagline of “Your money. Your life. Your ...
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31Aug By Africa BusinessNo Comments
South Africa News

Brimstone Posts Solid Interim Results

Group profit before tax up 540% to R430.2 million Earnings per share up 232% to 97.9 cents Headline earnings per share up 230% to 100.8 cents Finance costs down by R151.9 million (58%) Debt reduction of more than R900 million from disposal of the remaining Life Healthcare shares Repurchase of 5.7 million “N” ordinary shares for R34.8 million Improved debt and liquidity ratios [Cape Town, 31 August 2021] Brimstone today released its Group results, reporting a stellar performance for the six month period ended 30 June 2021. The Group reported a 540% increase in profit before tax of R430.2 million, up from a loss of R97.8 million in the comparative period. The profit is mainly due to strong performances by certain of the Group’s subsidiaries, the upward revaluation of in...
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31Aug By Africa BusinessNo Comments
South Africa News

The Protection of Personal Information Act: How will it impact SA’s payments landscape?

The Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA) came into full effect from 1 July 2021. The Act is the comprehensive data protection legislation that obliges organisations to lawfully process the personal information of data subjects (both natural and juristic persons) by applying specific principles and conditions. But how will it affect the payments space specifically? “As businesses in the payments industry process copious amounts of personal information, they now have to change many elements of the way they operate in order to accommodate the Act,” says Cecil Munsamy, Managing Director of AVeS Cyber Security and a consultant to Pay@ - a leading payment aggregator and provider of secure payment solutions. “These businesses now need to have extensive compliance programmes in p...
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24Aug By Sakhile MabenaNo Comments
Fintech, South Africa News

Transforming Financial Inclusion Using Behavioural Science

From Financial Access - to Financial Health By Sakhile Mabena, CEO, OFIN, a fintech startup specialising in Behavioural Data Analytics, Financial Process Automation, Behaviour-based Financing and SME Behaviour Nudges There is currently a revolution in the space of financial inclusion, with around 70% of people worldwide now having access to financial services, up from just 50% a decade ago, according to the World Bank. One of the key drivers behind this phenomenon is the huge increase in mobile phone usage among people of all income levels, allowing institutions to deliver services more easily and cost-effectively to the underbanked. But, does access automatically translate into usage? While it is commonly thought that financial access should lead to financial prosperity, a recent...
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24Aug By Africa BusinessNo Comments
South Africa News, Startups

Youth Content Collective connects corporate SA with township content creators, creating income opportunity

Youth Employment Service (YES), in collaboration with Metropolitan GetUp and Ford SA, has launched the Youth Content Collective (YCC) - a platform that connects talented black South African content creators with businesses, so that these young individuals can earn a meaningful living from their creative abilities. YCC launch: From left to right: James Boulton (Marketing Manager: Metropolitan); Nontokozo Madonsela (Group CMO: Momentum Metropolitan); Jason Levin (YCC); Leanne Emery (Acting Co-CEO: YES); Peter Tshiguvho (CEO: Metropolitan); Kgothatso Mahlaku (YCC content creator); Hillie Meyer (CEO: Momentum Metropolitan); Tlalane Ntuli (CMO: Metropolitan); Matshelane Mamabolo (YES); Vaunn Kelly (Acting Co-CEO: YES)   YCC’s first cohort is made up of 50 photographers, videographers, fil...
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20Aug By Africa BusinessNo Comments
South Africa News

Preventing escalating business fraud in SA starts with robust KYC

While legislation and the introduction of new regulations aim to combat fraud and corruption, South African businesses have the power to fight financial crimes by ensuring consistent Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures are in place. This is according to Sameer Kumandan, Managing Director of SearchWorks, South Africa’s largest innovative data aggregation platform. SearchWorks allows users to perform live, credible individual, company, and property searches via more than 160 different search types. “With the obvious exception of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA), there is no universal set of KYC protocols for businesses to follow. Although demand is growing for more vigorous checks, the risk of businesses not carrying out KYC checks is substantial,” notes Kumandan. PwC’s bienn...
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18Aug By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Business, Fintech, South Africa News

Four steps to fixing cash flow and help SMEs survive

We are all familiar with the saying in business that "cash is king" and, if that’s the case, then cash flow is the lifeblood of any business.  For small or mid-size businesses, cash flow is a critical component of success. Profits are meaningless without it. The harsh reality is that SMEs who don't exercise good cash flow management may not be able to survive the current economic climate. In South Africa, the recession and pandemic have had a devastating impact on the approximately 2.5 million SMMEs accounting for 10.8 million jobs. In a recent report published by Transunion, 6.4% of formal SMEs going into bankruptcy (up 50% from last year), with 260,000 jobs lost and another 240,000 at risk. According to Trevor Gosling, CEO of SME funder, Lulalend, there are four practical ways in which...
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12Aug By Africa BusinessNo Comments
African News, South Africa News

Transnet is a harsh reminder that anyone is a victim in the current environment

The recent cyber-attack on Transnet is a serious wakeup call and a reminder that, in the technology age, no company is safe from cyber criminals who are trying to disrupt operations or steal personal information. While Transnet was dealing with its cyberattack, Macsteel - one of South Africa’s largest steel suppliers - faced a similar cyberattack on its system. At the end of June, there was a major data leak that impacted one of South Africa’s major insurers. "These coordinated attacks by cyber criminals are indicative of the environment that we live in at the moment," says Manie van Schalkwyk, CEO of the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS). He adds that these criminals are motivated, well-funded, and do not care who they go after. Risk based environment The cyber attack ...
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