South African businesses Archives - Page 2 of 2

13Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Positivity lies on a foundation of sustainability

Sustainability is more than a box to tick, it is the foundation of a more positive and economically inclusive future for South Africa, says Jonas Bogoshi, Chief Executive Officer at BCX. Sustainability has become the foundation for business growth and economic prosperity. The World Bank believes that organisations focusing on sustainability through measurable objectives and aligned environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals can change the wealth of a nation. Investopedia believes it is a route organisation can take to improve their own long-term viability while improving their investment profile and making a measurable contribution to society. And the Green Business Bureau, along with McKinsey, believe that achieving the objectives of a sustainable business is challenging, but has t...

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

25Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

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

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. On the other hand, financial illiteracy is associated with more indebtedness, costly lending practices, and higher transaction costs and fees. Zunaid Miya, MD of Local fintech company Hello Pay, gives these tips to set your small business up for success: Stay on trend: Technology is advancing rapidly in all fields and finance is no different. For small businesses and informal traders, who often lack ac...

21Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

How South African businesses can start the financial year digitally secure

With phishing, ransomware and other cyberattacks on the rise in South Africa, appropriately budgeting for cybersecurity is a must, as the benefits of having strong measures in place far outweigh the assumed expense of digital security, says Steve Flynn, Sales and Marketing Director at ESET Southern Africa. With a shortage of experienced cybersecurity personnel in South Africa and across the globe, cybercriminals have an advantage with access to significant skills and resources – and determination and persistence to match. Businesses often spend as little as possible on cybersecurity. SMEs often mistakenly believe that they don’t require paid cybersecurity as their business isn’t an attractive target for cybercrime. However, if the average consumer or end-user is vulnerable to cyberattacks...

Sendmarc secures $7m funding to help make the internet a safer place

13Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Tech

Sendmarc secures $7m funding to help make the internet a safer place

Sendmarc, a leader in email and domain security, has announced a $7 million series A funding round led by Atlantica Ventures and supported by Allan Gray E-Squared Ventures, Fireball Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, 4Di Capital, Kalon Venture Partners, Endeavor Harvest, and Alpha Private Capital. The funding will be used to expand Sendmarc's market enablement strategy and to continue improving its product, with a focus on being the best in email and domain security – making the internet a safer place. “We are proud to have protected over 10 billion emails from impersonation last year” says CEO and founder Sam Hutchinson, “And with this new funding we can expand our market enablement strategy and also continue to improve the product, while remaining hyper-focused on being the best in this specif...

South African assets may be cheap, but that’s not a good enough reason not to invest offshore

23Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

South African assets may be cheap, but that’s not a good enough reason not to invest offshore

By Mart Marie de Jongh, Certified Financial Planner at GraySwan and Gregoire Theron, Chief Investment Officer The investment world’s fixation on global inflation and whether we are approaching the peak and heading towards a recession, has many investors sitting on cash, waiting for signals of a better market. Despite this, investing in South Africa presents a convincing opportunity. In the South African Bond market, investors can yield more than 4% above South African inflation, one of the highest real yields compared to other developed and emerging markets. This provides South African investors the opportunity to receive an income well above inflation with a lot of risks already priced into the asset class. South African equities and emerging market equities are also trading at very...

Breaking the ceiling: Women in business are leading the way to economic freedom

7Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Breaking the ceiling: Women in business are leading the way to economic freedom

By Catherine Wijnberg, CEO of Fetola Too often the subject of women entrepreneurs has an underlying condescending tone of reaching down to help them succeed. If we look at the data, the facts and the evidence we see a different story. This story tells us that when the playing field is levelled – especially through equal access to growth finance - female founders outperform men in job creation, revenue growth and impact on society through family support and nurturing. In fact, there has been an exponential rise in women who are succeeding in the entrepreneurial space, despite challenges such as the gender gap and the Covid-19 pandemic1. Notably, in the South African Women Entrepreneurs Job Creators Survey conducted by Absa2, 90% of female respondents said job creation was an important...

Sustaining Heritage Begins With Supporting Local Businesses

22Sep

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Sustaining Heritage Begins With Supporting Local Businesses

By Catherine Wijnberg, Chief Executive Officer of Fetola Heritage Day is an important date in the South African calendar. It is an opportunity to celebrate the cultural wealth of our people; a day on which we honour the vibrant diversity that forms our Rainbow Nation. Yet, amid a backdrop of rolling blackouts, economic contraction, and record-setting inflation, it’s not surprising that many South Africans do not feel like celebrating. Heritage Day is the ideal opportunity to galvanise support for the success of our people – and more importantly, their businesses. This begins with inspiring a return to ‘buy local’. Historically, South Africans have always shown a preference for locally produced goods and services. This sentiment towards ‘Local is Lekker’ comes as South African consumers...

17Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Fintech, South Africa News

Financial Inclusion across Africa starts here

Africa’s first digital in-store lay-by app is aiming to create financial inclusion throughout the continent – starting in South Africa. Local fintech startup LayUp is taking the lay-by process into the 21st century - for merchants and consumers - with a mobile app and rollout of a terminal app via payment & merchant solutions provider Dashpay, which will make the app accessible to millions of potential customers at thousands of POS points, nationwide. Nearly 24% of adults in South Africa are unbanked and R12bn in cash is believed to be held outside of the banking system. COVID-19 related lockdowns have sent unemployment figures soaring to an estimated 7.6 million, meaning that nearly 30 million people are locked out of the South African economy. More people are being forced to turn to...

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...