Browsing: South Africa

South Africa bears a dark history of racist apartheid. Under the apartheid regime that came to an end in 1994, black people were considered inferior citizens with no rights whatsoever. The end of this callous regime brought policies meant to equalize the previously disadvantaged populace. 

Among these policies is the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) policy that sought to empower and integrate black people into mainstream business and the corporate world.

Is Racism alive in Corporate South Africa?

Allegations of racism have risen in spite of the existence of BEE policies. If this case is anything to go by, it would appear that certain sections of the Corporate world are using the same policy meant to protect black people against them. 

In a matter to be heard in the courts tomorrow, Tuesday 10/11/2020, tech behemoth and businessman Andile Ngcaba is taking on a technology company, Dimension Data Middle …

It looks like a Biden victory has for all intents and purposes been decided in the rather interesting election in the US elections 2020, which saw the largest voter turnout since 1990. The result of the elections stands to have a far-reaching effect on African economies and on South Africa in particular. 

Why is South Africa of consequence?

The US is one of South Africa’s largest export destinations with 2019 figures indicating exports to the USA valued at ZAR 89 billion ( USD5.7 billion) in iron and steel, precious metals, and mineral products among others. In terms of imports, the US commands a significant share of American imports, a figure that stood at ZAR 83 billion (USD5.3 billion) as of 2019.

South Africa is the second biggest gold producer and the largest procedure of minerals such as chrome, platinum, and vanadium. The country also has a significant agricultural sector …

State power utility Eskom reported a loss amounting to ZAR 20.5 billion ($1.2bil) for the financial year 2020. The power producers generated revenue to the tune of R200billion($12.3bil) which failed to match up to the previous year’s revenue by 1.29%. The poor results were attributed to challenges in capacity and untenable economic climate.

The major contributing factor to the huge loss position can be traced to finance costs which came up at ZAR 31.3billion ($1.9bil). The costs in question were related to servicing a debt of ZAR 483 billion($25bil) which the company is struggling to reduce. 

The heavy debt position for Eskom is particularly distressing for South Africa as the South African government is the largest guarantor for Eskom’s debt. Eskom has also been a recipient of government bailout funding set at ZAR138 billion($8.4bil) until 2022. This heavily places a burden on the country’s budget and is a significant threat …

The dawn of 5G in Africa is here with us and what was once seen as a dream has turned to reality, albeit with revised expectations. South Africa became the first country in Africa to offer commercial 5G services with Rain, Vodacom and MTN piloting it in various cities and using different methods to reach their clients.  

Rain launched the country’s first commercial 5G network in partnership with China’s Huawei Technologies in 2019 in Johannesburg and Tshwane, offering subscribers unlimited data at speeds of up to 700Mbps for R1,000 per month. Since launch Rain has doubled its 5G coverage,  achieving it by adding more sites and providing a new 5G router to users. 

Vodacom’s launch to the mobile market covered three cities: Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town. It was able to fast track the launch by using a temporary spectrum assigned by the South African telecommunications regulator …

Forty-three leading global investors from Africa, Europe, the US, and the Middle East have signed up to participate virtually in the 8^th Angel Fair Africa on 5^th November 2020.

The investors are from Angel Africa List (AAL), Africa Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (AVCA), America Capital Association (ACA), Women-In-Capital (WIC), Viktoria Business Angel Network, Brightmore Capital, amongst others. Anime Partners and MSM Property Fund are supporting the investor participation.

The ten selected ventures to pitch to these investors have gone through our one-month Africa Virtual Accelerator (AVA) @ https://www.africavirtualaccelerator.com/in.php. They are, ShopMeAway led by Racine Carr; Kalpay led by Ibrahima Kane; AgroInnova led by Amos Narh; Adi&Bolga led by Abimbola Oladeji; Kladika led by Muthoni Mwangi; Gift Pesa led by Pamela Muriuki; Ejoobi led by Simangele Mphahlele; Kweza led by Ropafadzo Musvaire, Afrijob Network led by Harriet Kariuki and Curacel led by Henry Mascot. Their participation …

A South African health-tech company Udok has sealed $613 000 (ZAR 10 million) in Venture Capital funding from FinX capital. 

The money raised will be used to spearhead expansion. The Capetown-based startup has partnered with Clicks Stores to provide consultations in Click’s pharmacy clinics. With Clicks being one of the largest pharmacy retailers in South Africa, this will give the firm access to a large clientele base.

The company also plans to roll out laboratory testing using the Clicks network to provide lower-cost testing services for patients. Currently, the costs of laboratory testing are above the reach of many.

Founded in 2018, Udok enables individuals to access healthcare services via a digital platform. This includes virtual consultations with doctors, receiving prescriptions, and getting access to remote admissions.

The company uses smart technology for examinations during the consultation and allows users to access their health records from anywhere. Leveraging a digital …

UAE based Emirates Airlines has inked an agreement with Airlink which has paved way for it to enter the Southern African market. The pact with regional airline Airlink is part of Emirates ongoing major expansion in the region even though the Dubai-based company has been cutting off various routes around the World owing to the Covid-19 threat.

The development comes but weeks after South Africa’s state-owned airline, South African Airways, failed to raise the $591 million it needed to bail itself out of the corruption and mismanagement allegations that it was facing.

Earlier this year in June, the SA government had issued a statement that it would step in to bailout the company but on September 30^th, media was ablaze with reports of the company shutting down its doors, pending government intervention.

With such a big player out of the picture, it only makes sense that Emirates, …

Revelations by the Brand Finance Africa 150 2020 Annual report indicate that COVID-19 has cost Africa’s brands $6.3 billion in brand value. This is based on an assessment of the enterprise value of brands across sectors in 2020. 

What’s in a name?

Good brand names create a financial value metric known as brand value. This refers to the worth of a brand in financial terms. In simple terms, how much would someone else pay for the brand. The value of a brand is determined by the earnings attributable to the performance of a brand and how much income the brand owner would receive by licensing the brand on to the market. 

Stronger brands are cross-cutting and usually operate across many markets with success. They are determined by the performance measured against competitors. 

A good brand translates to more profitable operations.

Who is Brand Finance?

Brand Finance is a brand valuation …

BREXIT trade impacts in Southern Africa

If everything goes according to plan (and that’s a big statement), January 1st shall see the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union, its single market and customs agreements.

As much as I would like to, it is becoming increasingly hard to believe that the parties will conclude a trade deal in time for the official divorce date. I am sceptical of a “hard” BREXIT as I believe that some sort of policy extension will remain in place for quite some time; anything else would be economic madness and given the current pandemic no politician would allow that to happen. (I know what you might be thinking but, luckily, that kind of stupid is currently reserved for leaders across the Atlantic).

The EU is South Africa’s largest trade partner while South Africa has long and in-depth trade relations with the United Kingdom. …

What Housing Act? Asks SA’s former Housing MEC 

In a most bizarre turn of events, the now-infamous Mosebenzi Zwane, former Free State human settlements MEC told a panel of jurors that he did not know the country had a Housing Act.

Mr. Zwane, baffled the commission and the world at large after he denied any knowledge of the existence of South Africa’s Housing Act, despite him running the government housing sector for one whole year.

Mr. Zwane is defending himself in a hot corruption scandal regarding ‘irregular use of funds and unlawful contracting processes in the Free State 2010 housing project.’

Read Also: Combatting Malaria in Rwanda

He also said he did not know how many houses were built during his time in office, but admitted that he personally oversaw the handover of at least 50 houses.

The unexpected answer from the former high ranking government official was described …