Friday, November 22African Digital Business Magazine

Tag: technology

South Africa News, Startups

Innovative Ideas for a Smart Stellenbosch: Nominations open for the second annual #IdeasForChange Challenge

With steady population growth and rapid urbanisation in the Cape Winelands expected to put severe pressure on the district’s public services[i], Stellenbosch Network has opened nominations for its second annual #IdeasForChange Challenge. In doing so, the organisation invites all people living, working or studying in Stellenbosch and surrounds to submit their innovative ideas towards making Stellenbosch a “Smarter City” and stand the chance to win their share of R20,000 in cash prizes and more to bring their idea to life. Run in partnership with 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. These ideas must utilise data and technology, but can s...
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...
Ethiopia News, Tech

SITA Passenger Self Services Land At Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, Ethiopia

SITA has announced a new technology deployment offering passengers enhanced check-in and bag drop self-services with Ethiopian Airlines at Bole International Airport (ADD). The deployment, which features SITA Smart Path Drop & Fly baggage solution, has been implemented in the new extension of the check-in area with international passengers of Ethiopian Airlines benefitting from the service. SITA's self-service solutions have helped optimize the passenger experience with many travelers checking in online through the Ethiopian Airlines app, other airline applications and through SITA self-service kiosks. Passengers using the technology can directly proceed to the self-bag-drop area to check in their bags quickly and easily avoiding long lines and reducing congestion in the airport a...
Tech

Why Is It Important to Create Your Own Dashboard?

The X Advantages of Building a Dashboard From Scratch Most business owners already understand the importance of having dashboards tracking metrics related to the business. With a solid dashboard, you can keep an eye on the performance metrics that matter most to your business, critically analyzing them and using them as information to make better informed decisions on behalf of the business. You can also use them to generate reports and visualize data, so you can communicate it better to stakeholders, partners, and other authorities. But why rely on a static dashboard that someone already created? Creating a custom dashboard, rather than relying on one that already exists, can be massively beneficial for your business – and in several ways. Why Custom Dashboards Are Beneficial These ar...
South Africa News, Tech

Protecting your biometrics is your birthright

Fraudsters do not discriminate. As we continually move towards the adoption of a digital and more importantly ‘touchless’ era, the platform for fraud increases. Fraud is a fraudster’s business and they often use the same business tactics we use in legitimate business, the difference being that they don’t have customers, they have victims. Thanks to an increase in data breaches, fraudsters are motivated and armed with the correct information, meaning that is very capable of impersonating an individual. The impacts of this are catastrophic. This was the warning sounded by Dalene Deale, Executive Head of Secure Citizen at the recently held SAFPS Fraud Summit. Having been a victim of identity theft herself, she knows the impact it can have on a person and the importance of creating an environ...
South Africa News, Tech

SA leans toward dystopian tech future unless moves are made soon

South Africa could face a dystopian technological future, unless moves are made to harness technology for societal good now. This is according to Johan Steyn, chair of the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) Special Interest Group on AI and Robotics (SIGAIR), who was speaking at the IITPSA Gauteng Chapter AGM this week. Steyn said the world was at a crossroads, where either a utopian technological future or a dystopian one was possible. “In a potential utopian future, smart technology can bring us an ideal society with higher living standards for everyone on earth. We could be post scarcity, and benefit from the avoidance of suffering and even the prevention of death. Technology could reflect and encourage the best we have to offer as human beings,” he s...
Tech

RIB Schneider Group announces new Microsoft Cloud Service Provider

RIB Schneider Group today announced the merger of 5 subsidiary organizations – ICS Support, Intech, Levtech Consulting, RIB Cloud and SaaSplaza. Effective July 1, these organizations will form a new integrated cloud provider, InTWO, which will help businesses achieve more with cloud technology by delivering a full portfolio of Microsoft Cloud services at a global scale to clients. The new cloud service provider offers a comprehensive range of cloud technology services to deliver digital transformation, covering consulting services, cloud migration, infrastructure management and Azure managed services, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and business applications, MTWO, Microsoft 365, Modern Workplace and collaboration technology, and Data and AI. The merger has resulted in a global team of technology e...
Kenya News, Main

Growth in changing times, not really the utopia for thousands of youth

The new world order is in existence. A lot of young people are held back from greatness by limitations and ceilings that they have set for themselves. Thus, they are constrained from reaching their full potential. They believe that there is no space for being value-driven leaders and entrepreneurs in the modern world. Accordingly, they rely on shortcuts to make them ‘successful leaders’ and ‘rich entrepreneurs’ in the shortest time possible. For them, “the end justifies the means”. Failure to recognize the need for personal growth and development in the changing times could be the leading cause of their frustrations. The Covid-19 pandemic hasn’t made it easier either. Various changes have occurred over the last years, and technology has been critical to these changes. The changing times i...
Tech

GSMA Study Reveals That The Gender Gap In Mobile Internet Use Is Shrinking, Despite The Onset Of The Covid-19 Pandemic

An estimated 112 million more women started using mobile internet last year across low- and middle-income countries, despite the onset of COVID-19, according to the fourth annual GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report published today. Nevertheless, 234 million fewer women than men access mobile internet. Moreover, the underlying gender gap in mobile ownership persists and is proving difficult to close. Affordability, lack of literacy and digital skills, and lower awareness of mobile internet are critical and common barriers for women. Structural inequalities in society and discriminative social norms also remain a challenge. Even when women have the same levels of education, income, literacy, and employment as men, they are still less likely to own a mobile phone or use mobile internet. The rep...
African News, Agriculture, Fintech, Libya News, Mauritania, Morocco News, Startups, Tech, Tunisia News

Official launch of the second cycle of EMERGING Mediterranean – the springboard programme for emerging Mediterranean Tech For Good leaders

The call for applications is open to any startup based in Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia or Libya that has been operating for over 18 months in one of the following areas: e-health, climate, mobility, agritech, social economy and financial inclusion. As a result of the work done during the preparatory forums for the Summit of the Two Shores and with the support of the French Development Agency, EMERGING Mediterranean, created by Samir Abdelkrim in 2020, aims to increase the impact of Mediterranean startups that help their societies become more resilient. After the first year of the programme in 2020 underlined a strong demand for support from entrepreneurs in the Mediterranean, EMERGING Mediterranean is launching its second call for applications to identify, accelerate and publicise...