tech news
What East Africa could Teach the Continent about Economic Growth
The 21st century is widely touted as the ‘African Century’, a period promising unprecedented economic and technological growth for the continent. Africa’s future looks bright. The continent features five of the ten fastest-growing economies in the world. Its population is the most youthful, with 60% of all African citizens under the age of 25. And the world’s largest free trade area in terms of participating countries, the African Continental Free Trade Area, is now active and expected to boost intra-African trade by as much as 52% by 2022. With Africa’s fortunes continuing to improve, one region stands out as a possible example to the rest of the continent. As the world starts its slow recovery from a year of constant disruption and immense challenges, a closer look at the continued econo...
A Cyber Pandemic May Be Next: How Secure are you in the Cloud?
The Coronavirus pandemic has influenced us in a more global way than the Cold War, affecting the environment, industry, finance, healthcare, leisure and almost every other human endeavour. Some of the areas of influence are clear and obvious. For example, the acceleration of digital transformation, which changes how organisations operate and provide value to their customers. There is also an increased demand for cloud computing, which provides most of the foundations, tools and infrastructure to fuel the digital transformation. Some world leaders in the cybersecurity space, including the World Economic Forum, predict that this rapid and unplanned move will result in a cyber-pandemic down the road – more on that later. This acceleration in digital transformation and demand for clo...
MultiChoice South Africa CEO Resigns
Image sourced from The Vanguard Nigeria MultiChoice South Africa has revealed that CEO Mark Rayner has resigned – “it is with great regret that today we announced the departure of Mark Rayner from MultiChoice, effect 30 November 2020.” “Having been part of the MultiChoice family for the past 14 years leading in various parts of the group, Mark Rayner has now decided to further his journey outside the group.” MyBroadband reports that Rayner began working at the company in 2007 where “he served as the CFO of DStv Mobile until September 2008, after which he took the helm at the company”. The African entertainment company ads that an announcement on Rayner’s successor will be made in the near future. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_f46.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_f46.td-a-rec-img img{ marg...
How COVID-19 has Impacted Africa’s Wealthiest Countries by GDP
Sourced from IDG Connect Spanning 54 countries, Africa is a powerhouse in the world of natural resources and innovation. And despite the social and political issues the continent faces, there’s was no doubt that it was on track to see an abundance of opportunities to grow in the coming years – however, there was no telling what impact COVID-19 and subsequent national lockdowns would have on local GDPs. Here is a quick look at the richest countries in Africa in a COVID-19 economy: Nigeria A key component of the African economy, Nigeria has a population amounting to half of West Africa (just over 202 million). With an abundance of natural resources, it remains Africa’s number one producer in terms of GDP output, roughly $446,543 Billion at the end of 2019. The country is Africa’s large...
These WhatsApp Messages could cause your App to Crash
A flaw in WhatsApp allows users to send “Scary Messages” that can cause the recipient’s app to crash, or even worse, result in the loss of their chat history/media etc. According to a report by WABetaInfo, these messages often make no sense to users but WhatsApp interprets the characters differently – “sometimes WhatsApp is unable to render the message totally, because its structure is so weird: the combination of these characters create a situation where WhatsApp isn’t able to process the message, determining an infinite crash.” An infinite crash occurs when users try to open an app but it freezes or closes and restarting the app doesn’t restore functionality. I receive this report every day, really, in particular from Brazilian users.Unfortunately it’s not a fake news.@WhatsA...
Is Africa Heading towards a Cashless Society?
Sourced from Redbubble and iStock. Cash may have traditionally been king, but Covid-19 has contributed to a faster pace of digital payment adoption. Recently, two global fintech players discussed the emergence of a plethora of digital payments and debated if cash is on its way out. Omosalewa Adeyemi, Head of Global Partnerships and Expansion at Flutterwave and Nicolas Vonthron, co-CEO of Mama Money; explored the future of payments and banking in an increasingly digital world. Sending money home during the lockdown Vonthron says Mama Money’s digital offering grew five times during lockdown as users look for ways to send money home online following sudden border closures. “There are 5 million migrants in South Africa who came to find a better future for their families. At Mama Money, w...
Microsoft Unveils the Xbox Series S
Microsoft has officially revealed the Xbox Series S – shortly after visuals of the gaming console were leaked online. In a tweet, the tech company says “Let’s make it official! Xbox Series S”. This marks the first official look at the new console as well as its price tag ($299), additionally, Microsoft revealed that this is their “smallest” Xbox ever. 👀 Let’s make it official! Xbox Series S | Next-gen performance in the ˢᵐᵃˡˡᵉˢᵗ Xbox ever. $299 (ERP). Looking forward to sharing more! Soon. Promise. pic.twitter.com/8wIEpLPVEq — Xbox (@Xbox) September 8, 2020 The Series X and Series S are expected to launch on 10 November, with the previously announced Series X selling for an ERP of $499. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_5f8.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_5f8.td-a-rec-img img{ margin...
Cash Crusaders Launches eCommerce Service in South Africa
Second-hand goods chain, Cash Crusaders has built and launched ‘Click & Collect’, the first instalment in taking their retail business online. “Although we’ve been planning the launch of eCommerce for our business for a while, COVID-19 rapidly increased the rate in which we rolled the service out,” says Sean Stegmann, CEO of Cash Crusaders Franchising. “As discussed in our recent 702’s Franchising for Future Success webinar, with shopper behaviours changing somewhat, the timing was perfect for us to aggressively embrace our digitisation strategy. We started with our WhatsApp Video service back in June and have gone live with our Click & Collect service.” The company says that this service will cater for both private label new goods as well as second-hand goods and works off a live ...
Eutelsat and Paratus Partner to Increase Connectivity in South Africa
Eutelsat and Paratus have partnered to bring high-quality network connectivity to South Africa. Thanks to a new multi-year distribution agreement, Paratus will leverage Eutelsat Konnect in an attempt to connect remote and rural locations, businesses operating in farming, game farms and the SME segment and consumers, for home working, homeschooling and general Internet use across the country. Through this collaboration, Paratus will offer a number of 10, 20 and 30 Mbps packages to consumers – all will 24/7 technical support and using small, cost-efficient dishes. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_e5f.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_e5f.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } “Getting connectivity in remote locations is not easy; while the price is key to attracting customers, the quality of n...
Infinix Launches the Zero 8 Smartphone in Kenya
Infinix has launched its newest flagship device – the Zero 8 – in Keyna. The smartphone has been designed with the ‘stylish and fashion-forward’ consumer in mind, says the tech company. “Infinix is taking a step to be more premium and able to compete and be the face of this new direction as a fashion-conscious brand. This direction is very much in tandem with our target customers, whose lifestyle can be described as image and fashion-conscious and trendy, with a taste for high-end gadgets”, says Mike Zhang, Infinix Kenya Brand Manager. The Zero 8 comes with Android v10 OS, a Media Tek Helio G90 processor, 128 GB ROM and 8 GB RAM. It is powered by a 4500 mAh battery and is 4G, 3G and 2G-enabled. A key feature is the device’s cameras, both on the front and at the back. On the front, for the ...
Huawei and TPAY Join Forces to Drive App Monetisation
Huawei and TPAY have partnered to make it easier for content developers to monetise their apps on Huawei Mobile Services (HMS). This collaboration is expected to allow local MEA developers to fully utilise HMS’s In-App-Purchase (IAP) kit through TPAY’s direct carrier billing (DCB) service. This means that HMS users can pay for apps with just their mobile number. As a result, developers will get 100 per cent DCB coverage. “We are very excited to launch this strategic partnership with Huawei which will equip local and global developers with the tools they need to better monetise their services through In-App-Purchases capabilities,” says Sahar Salama, Founder and CEO of TPAY Mobile. “This agreement further extends the value of TPAY for top global merchants who are aspiring to scale their bus...
Citrix Appoints New VP of Emerging Markets
Citrix has appointed Amir Sohrabi as Area VP of Emerging Markets. He reports directly to Sherif Seddik, Senior VP and MD Citrix EMEA. With over two decades of experience in sales management, business development, strategic planning and marketing, Sohrabi will drive the acceleration to cloud of customer environments in the region enabling both business continuity and digital transformation to new work models, including remote working. “It is an exciting time to join Citrix,” says Sohrabi. “I am looking forward to helping Citrix customers across Emerging Markets build and implement innovative cloud and digital strategies.” Before joining Citrix, Sohrabi most recently served as both COO and Head of Digital Transformation for Central and Eastern Europe and Middle East & Africa regions at S...
