Browsing: South Africa

According to Refinitiv Data, the value of South African mergers and acquisitions increased by 958 per cent from the same period in 2020 to US$52 billion in the first half of 2021, from a total of 169 deals. When compared to the same period in 2020, deals involving tech businesses soared by US$160 million, or about 2000 per cent.

According to an article by Tech Cabal, acquisitions in South Africa can broadly be categorized into three:

Inbound inter-country acquisitions of South African startups by international companies (mostly US-based),
Domestic intra-country acquisitions of South African startups by well-established South African companies, and
Domestic intra-country acquisitions of South African startups by other South African startups.…

The service is now available to many people, including first-time borrowers, who can reap the benefits of a safe and regulated lending solution.

When the transaction is complete, the funds are transferred immediately into the user’s VodaPay Wallet. It can be used directly for in-app purchases, such as buying pre-paid electricity and water, paying bills, using scan-to-pay technology in stores, and sending money to friends and family members.

Because its fees are lower than those charged by traditional providers of short-term cash advances, this cutting-edge product has the potential to revolutionise the industry.…

In 2020, Wool was the world’s 653rd most traded product, with a total trade of US$2.5 billion. Between 2019 and 2020, Wool exports decreased by -31.4 per cent, from US$3.65 billion to US$2.5 billion. Trade in Wool represents 0.015 per cent of total world trade.

Wool is a part of fine or coarse animal hair, horsehair yarn, and woven fabric. They include greasy shorn wool, not carded or combed, Degreased shorn wool, not carded, combed, or carbonize, Carbonized wool, not carded or combed, Degreased wool, not carded, combed, or carbonized, and Greasy wool (other than shorn) not carded or combed. In 2020 the top exporters of Wool were Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay.

The fastest growing export markets for Wool of South Africa between 2019 and 2020 were China, Eswatini, and Uruguay. In April 2022, South Africa’s Wool exports accounted for up to ZAR205 million, …

The detection of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Botswana has sent shockwaves through the livestock sector and for good reason.

FMD is a highly contagious viral infection that affects cattle, sheep, and pigs. To be clear, the consequences of an FMD outbreak are significant; and, for those directly affected they are dire.

Botswana has suspended all exports of cattle and related meat products while authorities investigate a suspected outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

• Botswana has suspended all exports and movement of cattle and related meat products while authorities investigate a suspected outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease
• The ban on the movement of cattle follows a similar step by neighbouring South Africa to curb an outbreak of the highly contagious viral disease which affects cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, and other cloven-hoofed animals
• China banned the import of all cloven-hoofed animals and their products from South Africa due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD)

Google Wallet, which is only available for Android, provides fast and secure access to all your everyday essentials,” he continued.

Google Pay needs customers to touch to pay with their phones at a point of sale, then verify themselves using a fingerprint, their face, or a Pin, just like rival systems like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Huawei Pay.

“As Google collaborates with partners to bring these to market, South Africa will get access to event tickets, boarding permits, and store loyalty cards. KLM, United, Air France, and Singapore Airlines are already available to South Africans as international airline partners. We’re attempting to broaden our partner network,” Min Kim stated.…

There are increasingly more and more ‘outbreaks’ of non-communicable diseases in Africa and more so in sub-Saharan Africa.

These lifestyle ailments are ironically a symbol of increasing income among the population. As more and more African countries rise from low-income to middle-income status, statistics show a correlation with the rising number of people suffering from non-communicable diseases.

The reason is simple; when you rise in income, people do not increase their eating of the vitamin-rich greens they used to eat when they could not afford unhealthy but yet prestigious red meat; no, they change their diet to gabble up the ‘rich man’ foods, unwittingly damaging their health.

A local paper puts it into perspective; ‘People’s eating habits are shifting from food rich in starchy staples, vegetables and fruits to a more westernized diet high in sugar, saturated fats and oils’ the recipe for non-communicable diseases.

The troubling fact is that …

Nasdaq in an article dated April 20, 2022, said the move is classed as Black economic empowerment (BEE) transaction, a government initiative to reverse ongoing economic inequalities almost three decades after the end of apartheid, encouraging companies to meet quotas in areas including Black ownership, employment, and procurement.

“This deal underpins our firm belief that real transformation is necessary to sustain business growth and serve the best interests of all South Africans,” CEO Iain Williamson said in a statement.

“Through this Old Mutual Bula Tsela Retail Scheme, we will give our people the opportunity to become (indirect) owners of the company they love and trust,” he added.

The new shares will constitute approximately 4.36 per cent of Old Mutual’s current issued share capital and 4.18 per cent of the enlarged share capital.…

The ban on Russian coal imports will further strain coal supplies and force European consumers to look elsewhere at a time when there is already concern about dwindling supplies of Russian gas and a severe energy crunch in the winter.

According to an article by Africa News published May 26, 2022, as Europe takes action to reduce imports of Russian gas, the continent’s leaders have been looking to Africa as an alternative energy supplier. New deals have been signed with Algeria, Angola, Congo, Nigeria, and others are thought to be on the way.

In a related article by AFP dated April 21, 2022, Italy penned a deal with Angola to ramp up gas supplies from the southern African country as it urgently scrambles to break away from Russian gas over the Ukraine war.

“Today we have reached another important agreement with Angola to increase gas supplies,” Foreign Minister Luigi Di …

Hello Pay provides a range of loan amounts, from R30,000 up to R250,000. In addition, the Hello loans’ interest rates are among the industry’s most reasonable rates. Anyone interested in expanding their company is eligible to apply for a loan; Muslim business owners are not the only ones who can do so. The loan can be repaid by the proprietors of the business over a period of up to a year.

“We provide entrepreneurs with the assistance they require to grow into profitable and sustainable enterprises.” Given the enormous challenges that SMEs face, Hello Pay is delighted to play a role in connecting thousands of meriting business owners with solid financial services so that they can focus on running their businesses and providing necessary goods and services to millions of South Africans” Miya explains.

According to Miya, the primary duty of recovering the economy and producing millions of new jobs …

Phishing is a strong attack method because it is done on a large scale. It stressed that by sending massive waves of emails under the name of legitimate institutions or promoting fake pages, malicious users increase their chances of success in their hunt for innocent people’s credentials.

The article explained that phishers deploy a variety of tricks to bypass email blocking and lure as many users as possible to their fraudulent sites, adding that a common technique is HTML attachments with partially or fully obfuscated code. It stressed that HTML files allow attackers to use scripts, and obfuscate malicious content to make it harder to detect and send phishing pages as attachments instead of links.

According to a recent Interpol report, about 90 per cent of African businesses are operating without the necessary cybersecurity protocols and, therefore, are exposed to cyberattacks. The report also noted that there were more than …