Author: Tapiwa Matthew Mutisi

A South African school payment’s startup, Karri, has expanded its offering as it launches a new feature on its mobile app to screen students for Covid-19 symptoms before arriving at school. The startup’s online platform has created a Covid-19 screening questionnaire for students which instantly shares the results with their schools…

Ponatshego, a new Botswana-based tech startup, has launched a digital marketplace platform that aims to assist African SMEs in transitioning to an online marketplace and in turn, SMEs are able to sell their products online, allowing a wider customer reach and an increase in overall sales and profits.  Digital transformation…

Liquid Telecom, Africa’s largest fibre network provider, has raised US$307 million from shareholders to expand its data centre business and the new money includes an additional US$40 million equity investment from the CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution. This is CDC’s second investment in Liquid, after a US$180 million equity…

Reports suggests Discord has so far registered 250 million users and around 15 million of them active on any given day… which is the chief reason among others, why it has become a popular target for cybercriminals especially during this time of the Covid-19 pandemic. Discord has one persistent threat…

Telkom has came down heavily, criticizing the roaming deals Vodacom and MTN have initiated with smaller networks and claims that ICASA should investigate these deals in more depth. Speaking at the Mobile Broadband Services Inquiry public hearings, Telkom argued that these do not make sense as roaming deals in the…

FarmCrew, an investment fund dedicated to helping Agric-tech Startups kick start their innovative ideas and solutions, has created an innovation fund that awards 10 African founded agritech startups an opportunity to receive a $50 000 investment fund. The applications for the FarmCrew Innovation Fund closes on 31 October 2020. This…

The French South African Tech Labs (FSAT) incubation programme assists over 15 local entrepreneurs per year and has just announced that it will continue offering an intensive incubator programme for local entrepreneurs into 2021. This is due to continued support from (Small Enterprise Development Agency) SEDA, Methys and the French Embassy of…

UK development finance institution CDC Group has invested an additional $40 million (R651 million) into Liquid Telecom and this follows the R2.6-billion investment from CDC Group concluded in 2018, furthering the investment of the UK firm into the African ICT company. CDC’s additional investment was made as part of Liquid…

MTN Group has announced the appointment of Karl Toriola as the new MTN Nigeria CEO and the incumbent Ferdi Moolman, the Group Chief Risk Officer. The two new executive appointments will take effect from 1 March 2021. Toriola first joined MTN in 2006, and has held a number of key…

Most South African businesses that want to stay competitive in the current market are looking for solutions to save on costs, reduce risk, ensure employee satisfaction, and deliver exceptional customer service. New operating models, technology and process optimisation, such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and digital citizens, can assist…

Leading pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom has been named the ‘Best Middle East Africa Wholesale Carrier’ at the Global Carrier Awards. Liquid Telecom has received the best Wholesale Carrier in Africa for the last eight consecutive years, and with this award, the organisation cements its excellence in the wholesale carrier…

Vodacom rejects the claims of Nkosana Makate and Teboho Motaung that it provided for R63 billion as a potential payment to Makate for allegedly coming up with the Please Call Me idea. This follows Motaung submitting an affidavit earlier this week claiming that he had found invoices totaling billions of…

During Huawei’s global launch event on Thursday 22 October, dubbed  “Leap Further Ahead”, it launched its latest Mate 40 series smartphones with the new lineup comprising of the Huawei Mate 40, Mate 40 Pro, and Mate 40 Pro+ – all of which boast 5G connectivity and flagship features. RELATED READING:…

Lulalend, one of the country’s leading B2B digital lenders, and Paycode, a SA fintech that provides biometric digital identity and low-cost access to basic financial services in rural areas were awarded recognition in the 2020 Inclusive Fintech Awards.  The awards recognises the top 50 inclusive fintech startups across the globe that are…

A Kenyan-based health tech startup, Ilara Health, has received US$1.1 million in grant funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and this funding will be used to improve maternal health outcomes in the country. Emilian Popa, CEO, and co-founder of Ilara Health comments on securing the grant. “We are incredibly…

WhatsApp has announced a number of changes that it is rolling out to its messaging app, including the ability to make purchases from directly within the application. “Over the last few years, we’ve seen a real shift towards messaging apps for personal communication and increasingly people are relying on WhatsApp…

Pick n Pay CEO Richard Brasher announced they are set to launch PnP Mobile, promising to offer “more data for less” but while details around Pick n Pay’s mobile plans remain sketchy, Brasher provided some details about their planned offerings. He said South Africans can expect to see two new…

Two young South African entrepreneurs, namely, Tsepo Sehona ( age 28) and Lebone Segolodi (27), have developed a free-to-download edtech app for local learners. Titled Spongein, the app functions to assist grade 10, 11, and 12 learners in revising for their upcoming exams and will be free until the end of…

Secha Capital, a Southern African investment impact firm that provides long-term capital to established SMEs, has announced the closure of its second fund worth $30-million (R400-million) to support established SMEs in the region. Rushil Vallabh, a co-founder and managing director of Secha Capital comments on the launch of a second…

MTN is threatening civil and criminal action against WASPs or any other service provider which puts the privacy of its customers at risk. This followed revelations of widespread abuse of location-based services, provided by Vodacom and MTN to track South Africans without their knowledge or consent. This location-based data was used…