South Africa Archives - Page 8 of 30

9Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Fintech, South Africa News

2021: The year of the online payment

As the world moved indoors two years ago, the online payment space flourished. These are the biggest developments in 2021, and a brief look ahead. This year, South Africans embraced e-commerce, mobile commerce and digital payments like never before - all four major banks have seen massive increases in these payment methods since the start of the pandemic. Absa, for one, says 66% of people now prefer electronic payments over cash. “This trend will only increase in the coming years with more convenient solutions that meet the customer on the platforms of their choice like WhatsApp for example,” says Andrew Springate, CEO of technology and financial gateway service provider PAYM8. To prepare for the increased volume, South Africa is busily setting up for success. Three development...

9Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Startups, Tech

Adanian Labs Launches Venture Building Program Call For Tech Startups For 2022 January Cohort

Adanian Labs has launched the Adanian Labs Venture Building Program call for startups for 2022. The program invites applications from tech entrepreneurs for the 2022 cohort of exceptional startups to join Adanian Labs in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Nigeria and South Africa. Since its establishment in 2020, Adanian Labs has incubated fourteen (14) groundbreaking tech startups across sectors; have established a first in Africa partnership with Emurgo Africa, a vehicle of EMURGO, the commercial arm of Cardano and have raised seed funding for 4 of its existing startups. Some of these notable startups include: - Afya Rekod - a consumer driven digital health data platform - Phema Agri - an agriculture crowdfunding platform - Paylend - an SME credit lending solution and others such as Twaa, eCob...

9Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Rethinking the norm in the built environment

Hanife Ymer, Head of Sustainability at JLL (Middle East and Africa) joined the Tétris Design and Build South Africa team at the Annual GBCSA Green Building Convention in Cape Town in November to give a talk on ‘How Sustainability is the Now, not the Later’. These are her thoughts. This year’s COP26 – the United Nations Climate Change Conference – saw negotiators in Glasgow thrash out ideas on how to rein in catastrophic levels of global warming. Despite the Paris Agreement adopted at COP21 in 2015 that set a goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, on the current trajectory, the UN is predicting a rise of 2.7 degrees above pre-industrial levels before the end of the century, which will have detrimental impacts. However, it’s not all bad. There is so much to celebrate since...

7Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Real Estate, South Africa News, Startups

South African Proptech Flow Expands Reach Into Australia

API platform connecting real estate agents and social media users leverages significant growth on the continent to target global property market Flow, a proptech startup that enables real estate agents and developers to seamlessly advertise properties on social media, has announced that following consolidated growth in South Africa the company is launching in Australia. Flow’s move comes at a time when African proptechs are building scalable solutions with application beyond the continent more frequently than ever before, with strong reception from global markets seeing the viability of home-grown African businesses. Boasting 90,000 agents and a housing market value of $9 trillion, Australia offers a latent opportunity for Flow to change the way that people find places to live and wo...

7Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

South African Companies Offer Value Compared To Overseas Counterparts

Heineken’s proposed R40.1 billion offer for Distell is the latest in a series of notable bids for large South African businesses. This follows DP World’s recent proposed R12.7 billion offer for Imperial Logistics and PepsiCo’s R26 billion acquisition of Pioneer Foods in 2020. A key driver for all three deals is using the local companies as a platform for African expansion. Could this be indicative the country is the next hot spot for merger and acquisition (M&A) activity? Typically, our businesses are ‘bargains’ compared to their overseas counterparts. With M&A activity at an all-time high in Europe and the US, it is likely that there will be further spill-over to local shores; especially given the select value proposition that certain South African companies present. This has maj...

29Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Harnessing the global potential of SA’s growing youth talent pool

With the South African employment rate forecast to reach 43% by 2023, the focus has turned to leveraging the country’s strengths on a global level to provide multinationals with a hiring pool that is young, talented, willing to learn, and more cost-effective than what other markets can offer. This is according to Business Process Enabling South Africa (BPESA), the industry association for global business services (GBS) in the country. With the international community more embracive of impact sourcing (bringing internet-based jobs to disadvantaged communities) and building inclusive supply chains, South Africa is well-positioned to provide them with a platform to do so at scale. Given its commitment to diversity and transformation, outsourcing to the country means this core business focu...

19Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Startups

How a Hipster, a Hacker, and a Hustler built a booming business

Lessons from the insurtech start-up that caught the eye of industry giants While November has always been synonymous with National Entrepreneurship Month, you’d be forgiven for wondering if it’s really necessary to dedicate 30 days to encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit, when it seems that just about everyone aspires to be coffee-guzzling, always-hustling, meme-inspiring business owner nowadays. Yet, as any successful entrepreneur will tell you, the journey from start-up to scaling is a grueling process, peppered with potential pitfalls along the way. So, what is the secret to getting it right? Ctrl Financial Intermediaries (CFI), founded by three friends, Pieter Venter, Francois Venter, and Pieter Erasmus (no, they’re not related) is one such example. Launched in 2018, Ctrl is a...

19Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Getting SA’s Social Entrepreneurs Investment Ready

The impact investing market now stands at around US$715 billion globally and this figure is climbing steadily[i].What’s more, 43% of impact investors have funds allocated to Africa, with 52% of investors planning to increase their African investment over the next five years[ii]. With South Africa being the largest market for impact investing within Southern Africa[iii], are our social entrepreneurs ready for this investment? Ashleigh Sibanda, Programme Manager: Business Incubation at business growth specialists Fetola explains that investment readiness refers to the capacity of an enterprise to understand and meet the specific needs and expectations of investors. “While there are thousands of social enterprises in the country, not all of them possess this. In fact, the World Bank cites th...

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 ...

15Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Tech

Vote for Stellenbosch’s Smartest City Solutions: Finalists announced in Stellenbosch Network’s second annual #IdeasForChange Challenge

For the past few weeks, Stellenbosch’s best and brightest minds have been pitching their novel ideas to turn Stellenbosch into a 'Smarter City' as part of the second annual #IdeasForChange Challenge. After much deliberation, the judges have announced their top three finalists who will now be entered into a poll on social media and vie for the chance to win the R20,000 grand prize and be named this years’ winner. Organised by Stellenbosch Network – and sponsored by Stellenbosch University and the SU Launchlab – the competition seeks to uncover creative, innovative and scalable ideas to improve municipal decision-making and the quality of life of citizens across a range of services and sectors. Says Stellenbosch Network Operations Manager and organiser of this years’ Challenge, Hanli Brink...