tech news
Mark Zuckerberg Down $7 Billion as Huge Companies Continue to Boycott Facebook
Image sourced from Inc Facebook’s stock price is being hammered by a massive boycott of the social media giant’s major advertisers. CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s personal wealth is also feeling the brunt of the stand-off. As of Saturday last week, Zuckerberg’s net wealth is down around $7 billion, while Facebook’s share price dropped by more than 8% at the close of trading on Friday. Advertising is Facebook’s largest source of income, with the company making $17.4 billion in ad sales alone in the first three months of 2020. Coca-Cola Backs #StopHateforProfit /* custom css */ .tdi_3_83f.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_83f.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Soft-drink juggernaut Coca-Cola is one of the latest brands to halt all of its social media advertising, backing the #StopHateforPr...
HealthTech Startups in Africa Reach All-Time High
Sourced from Getty Images. There are currently 180 actively operating health-tech focussed startups across the African continent, according to the High Tech Health: Exploring the African E-health Startup Ecosystem Report 2020 report, released by Disrupt Africa. According to the report, this number of startups has grown by 56.5 per cent over the last three years and has seen significant investment despite the COVID-19 pandemic as more than half of all funding to have gone into the space in the past five years was transacted in the first half of 2020. So far this year, e-health startups have raised over US$90 million. “Interest in the e-health space in Africa has accelerated in the last 18 months, and with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a sudden spotlight on e-health startups,...
Indebted Eskom Turns to Sukuk Market for Funding
Sourced from REVE South Africa’s embattled national power utility Eskom has new plans to issue a $58 million (R1 billion) sukuk bond in a bid to diversify funding sources as borrowing costs rise. According to spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha, Eskom has appointed a new lead arranger “to work towards establishing timelines for the issue.” The power utility currently has over R450 billion in debt and has yet to announce further plans to ask the South African governments for additional capital injections. What is a sukuk? According to IOL, a sukuk is a Shariah-compliant investment and an attractive alternative to conventional bonds. For all intents and purposes a sukuk – Arabic for ‘investment certificate’ – is issued for the purpose of raising money for utilisation within a corporation or ...
TymeBank is Recognised as One of South Africa’s Top 3 Digital Banks
Image sourced from Business Tech Only 18 months after launching, TymeBank has been rated as one of the top three digital banks in South Africa by SITEisfaction. This recognition follows on the recent Forbes accolade, which claimed TymeBank as the 2nd best bank in the country its high levels of customer satisfaction and key qualities like trust, banking fees, digital services and financial advice. In the latest report, which measures customer satisfaction with digital banking services, TymeBank was recognised for the bank’s user-friendliness, safety features and affordability. The latter was particularly appreciated by those who had recently switched, with the majority saying they switched because of the bank’s extremely low transaction fees and market-leading high-interest rates on all sav...
Apple Might Ditch the Charger and EarPods When Shipping 5G iPhones
Apple may no longer include a power adapter and EarPods with new iPhones claims analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Starting with 2020’s iPhone range, Kuo believes that Apple will ditch the accessories in an attempt to offset the cost increases that come with upgrading the iPhone range to 5G – noting that the company wants to sell the iPhone 12 at a similar price to the iPhone 11. According to 9to5mac, removing these in-box accessories will not only allow Apple to sell the device for less but it could also reduce the size of the iPhone packaging considerably, helping lower Apple’s freight costs and ultimately be better for the environment. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_f2b.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_f2b.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } It’s not yet clear if Apple plans to include the ...
A Future Reimagined for African Economies Post-COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has crippled African economies but also offers an opportunity to reinvent economic systems on the continent and make small businesses more resilient, says VP and Senior Director for Economic Growth at Creative Associates International’s. “We are seeing digital solutions and transformation and awareness among political and business leaders that we can do things now that maybe we didn’t even imagine before,” Creative’s Jim Winkler says. “The pandemic has woken us up.” Speaking at the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA)’s Leaders Forum, Winkler explains that traditional global supply chains were highly efficient, but also vulnerable to a shock-like COVID-19, leaving producers in Africa with no way to sell their products amid the pandemic. Winkler says an “unexpected silver...
Why Real-time Analytics are Crucial to Online Retail
In the digital age, data is a currency all on its own. The retail sector has lagged in leveraging the value of real-time data, due to a number of factors. However, given the current economic climate, they can no longer afford the luxury of remaining in the dark. The power of data is revealed through near real-time analytics, and it can deliver incredible benefits for the retail sector. Harnessing the power of daily sales and stock on hand data is the missing link in enabling Just in Time (JIT) manufacturing – the panacea where manufacturers produce just the right number of goods that are delivered at the right time to the right place to find their way into the hands of the right consumers. Visibility is the key The daily sales and stock data in retail hold a powerful repository of informat...
Angola Committed to Meeting Energy Objectives Amid Worldwide Pandemic
Sourced from Saur Energy. Africa Oil & Power, the African Energy Chamber and the U.S-Angola Chamber of Commerce presented the webinar: Powering Forward – The Pathway to Grid Stability, Increased Capacity and a Diversified Angolan Economy, on Thursday. This webinar addressed how Angola can continue to prioritize its development of national transmission and distribution capacities in the long-term, with a view toward increasing electrification, job creation and economic growth. Panellists included Maria da Cruz, President & CEO of the U.S-Angola Chamber of Commerce, Paul Ghiotto, Energy Officer, Political-Economic Section, U.S. Embassy Luanda and Frederico Martins Correia, Energy, Resources & Industrials Partner, Deloitte. Powering Forward: The Pathway to Grid Stability, Increase...
The DRC’s COVID-19 Response is Based on Approaches Tackling the Ebola Outbreak
Sourced from ScienceMag. The Ebola outbreak in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was declared over today, almost two years since the first case was confirmed. The DRC Ministry of Health made the announcement after no new cases were reported 42 days since the last patient tested negative for the virus. The outbreak started in August 2018. There were 3470 cases, 2287 lives lost and 1171 survivors, making it the second-deadliest after the one in West Africa that lasted from 2014 to 2016. In a context of insecurity, the efforts to halt the 10th Ebola outbreak in the DRC were particularly challenging. Emergency teams from the World Health Organization (WHO), partner organizations, the DRC Ministry of Health and communities made huge efforts to end the outbreak. “During the...
OneDayOnly Records 40% Growth during Lockdown
Sourced from IOL. Unlike anything the world has seen before, the COVID-19 pandemic fuelled a sudden digital surge that catapulted both global and local eCommerce traffic to unprecedented levels. The closest comparable example – while on a much smaller geographical scale – would be the 2003 SARS crisis, which is today recognised as kickstarting Alibaba’s eCommerce success in Asia. This is according to Matthew Leighton, spokesperson from OneDayOnly.co.za, who notes the accelerant role that COVID-19 and the ensuing lockdown has played in boosting eCommerce uptake across South Africa. “While eCommerce has been gaining gradual traction across the country over the past decade, there is no denying that COVID-19 has served as a catalyst for rapid progress in this regard. To put this level of growt...
Intelsat and Liquid Telecom Agree to Extend Partnership
Intelsat and Liquid Telecom have announced the extension of their partnership agreement. The companies have collaborated since 2016 to bring broadband and other critical communications services to people throughout Eastern, Central and Southern Africa. Intelsat has been an integral part of Africa’s communications fabric since 1965; it was the first operator to introduce satellite services on the continent, sparking the growth of critical communications infrastructure. It was also a crucial component to the delivery of Liquid Telecom’s multi-award-winning very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) service thanks to its high-throughput satellite fleet, providing a robust, secure and reliable communications network to communities, schools and businesses in 20 countries across the African contin...
How Businesses Can Think Human and Place People at Centre of IT Decisions
Sourced from TTEC.com Organisations are placing business and shareholder goals above employee needs when adopting new technologies, according to a new study from Lenovo. The research, conducted among 1,000 IT managers across EMEA, found that just 6% of IT managers consider users as their top priority when making technology investments. Lenovo believes that this approach to IT adoption is ultimately leading to productivity being stifled. When businesses implement new technologies without considering the human impact, many employees become overwhelmed due to the complexity and pace of change, with 47% of IT managers reporting that users struggle to embrace new software. With all industries having to adapt to the ‘next normal’ and take stock of their responsibility – to employees, to the envi...
