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SA Amongst World’s Best at Coping with COVID-19 Business Challenges, says Report

/* custom css */ .tdi_4_165.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_165.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Although organisations worldwide found their businesses disrupted, projects postponed, and strategies challenged during 2020, South African companies were very adept at coping with business-related challenges as a result of COVID-19, says Project Management Institute. “Drawing this conclusion in their annual Pulse of the Profession report, PMI reported that project leaders in 72% of South African organizations reported changes being taken in corporate strategy—against the 64% recorded globally,” says George Asamani, Business Development Leader, Africa at Project Management Institute. In addition to being adaptable, South African businesses displayed a higher tendency than the glo...

There Are More Fintech Startups in Africa Now Than Ever Before

Image sourced from Payspace Magazine. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_77c.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_77c.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Africa’s fintech sector is growing and maturing, with more startups active in the space than ever before, platforms increasingly offering a variety of services, and investment and acquisitions taking place to an unprecedented degree. Every two years since June 2017, startup-focused news and research company Disrupt Africa has released the Finnovating for Africa publication, which tracks the extraordinary development of the fintech ecosystem across Africa over the last few years. The 2021 edition of the report, which is for the first time available free to all as part of an open-sourcing initiative in partnership with key partners Flutterwave ...

Elon Musk’s Starlink Set to Deliver Worldwide Internet from Orbit

Elon Musk. Image sourced from CNBC Elon Musk’s satellite network – Starlink – is reportedly on track to deliver broadband internet everywhere on Earth except for its two poles by August of this year. The Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) launched more than 1,500 satellites so far and is running Starlink operations in about a dozen countries. However, the financial investment for these operations has been and will continue to be, steep. Heavyweight Investments Musk said during a presentation at the Mobile World Congress (MWG) on Tuesday that SpaceX’s total investment in the network will be between, brace yourself, $5-Billion and $10-billion before cash flow becomes positive. This is only the beginning, with Musk adding that an additional $20-billion or $30-billion may be n...

Storing Data in the New PoPIA World

Sourced from Tapscape /* custom css */ .tdi_4_64f.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_64f.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } With the Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPI Act or PoPIA) being enforced, more and more South African companies must reconsider their data storage location policy especially when a public cloud is in the picture. Thomas Dubus, VP EMEA at Aiven. Uncertainty with Cloud Storage Cloud companies are global entities–how would you know if your South Africa specific data was being sent to India or Spain for processing? /* custom css */ .tdi_3_c4d.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_c4d.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } The answer is to check that the cloud provider can offer services in a geographically limited area. Many providers will in fact s...

Iron Mountain’s Kevin Akaloo Talks PoPIA – Crucial Steps for Compliance and Harsh Penalties for Not

Kevin Akaloo, National Head of Sales – Private and Public sector – at Iron Mountain SA. PoPIA is here. After months of speculation and waiting with bated breath, the Information Regulator of South Africa has said that the PoPI (Protection of Private Information) Act will become effective as of 1 July 2021. “PoPIA enforcement powers as promulgated by the President of South Africa in June 2020 will still be coming into effect as of 1 July 2021,” said Information Regulator chair Pansy Tlakula. ITNA’s Luis Monzon had the opportunity to chat with Kevin Akaloo, National Head of Sales at Iron Mountain South Africa, a global leader for storage and information management services that is trusted by more than 220,000 organizations around the world, to get his insights into the PoPI Act –...

Social Media Adoption Helps SMBs Power Africa’s Economic Growth, via Study

Sourced from MSU Today /* custom css */ .tdi_4_55b.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_55b.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } A study conducted by Genesis Analytics in eight African countries – Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, the DRC, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Mauritius, and Kenya – reveals that social media platforms help accelerate economic growth and opportunity across the continent. The African continent is heavily reliant on its small and medium-sized enterprises and businesses (SMEs & SMBs), which are the backbone of the economy. As many countries across the continent have embarked on their digital transformation, the research shows that digital platforms can play a key role in the continent’s development. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_0f0.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_0...

COVID-19 Delta Variant May Soon Cause “Catastrophic” Wave of Infections in Kenya

Sourced from Times Live. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_3c5.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_3c5.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } The highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant that is currently causing a massive third wave of infections in South Africa may cause the fourth wave of infections in Kenya over the next two months. This is according to Kenya’s Health Ministry. First identified in India and the cause of significant desolation in the Asian country, COVID-19 Delta is dominant in the West of Kenya, where it was initially detected in the country. In response, Kenya’s government has imposed restrictions on movement in the region in attempts to stem Delta from spreading nationwide. Kenya had 183,603 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 3,621 deaths as of June 29, according to the Health ...

Does the Pandemic’s Impact in East Africa Demand Accelerated Digital Transformation?

Image sourced from US News. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a severe socio-economic impact in East Africa. While the region has escaped the worst of the health impact – infection and mortality rates are comparatively low next to those of Europe – the impact on businesses, communities and households has been devastating. With the exception of Kenya, Tanzania and Djibouti, countries in the region experienced negative real GDP growth in 2020, although all countries (with the exception of Sudan) are forecast to record positive growth this year. Traditional foreign exchange revenue sectors such as international tourism have all but disappeared. Data from the UN indicate that tourism numbers declined by 91% in Kenya: in August 2019, the country received 162,000 tourist visitors. By August 2020, th...

Facebook Increases Transparency for Political Ads in South Africa and Zambia

Image sourced from Reuters. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_a28.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_a28.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Starting June 29 2021, Facebook will launch enforcement on ads about elections or politics in Zambia and South Africa. As a result, anyone running ads about political figures, political parties, the election or “Get out the vote” campaigns must go through the ad authorization process by verifying their identity with a government-issued photo ID, confirming their location in those countries and advertisers are required to provide more information about the person or organization responsible for the ad to place “Paid for by” disclaimers on these ads. This includes any person creating, modifying, publishing, or pausing ads that reference ads about electio...

Microsoft & SAtion Partner to Bring Digital Skills to 50,000 Unemployed, Disadvantaged South Africans

Image sourced from NS Energy. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_b63.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_b63.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } After the announcement this month of record-high unemployment figures in South Africa which paint a grim picture for the country’s youth, SAtion announces a new partnership with Microsoft to enhance South Africans’ employability in the digital age. The partnership’s online platform — the SAtion Digital Skills Hub — will invest in the country’s socio-economic progress by providing free access to Microsoft Office 365 suite technology to young South Africans from 8-24 years, free digital literacy resources, and Microsoft Cloud Society resources. Launched on 14 June, SAtion draws together stakeholders in the private and public sectors — including governm...

Why You Should Use a RAID to Securely Store Video Surveillance Data

Image sourced from SourceSecurity.com A RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive – or Independent – Disks) is a specialized hardware configuration that offers a tremendous amount of versatility in its usage. Generally used for data storage and, more specifically, to achieve data redundancy, it’s useful in applications that require a large amount of data – such as surveillance. While full-scale surveillance systems were once reserved for large businesses and enterprises, their affordability, as well as the affordability of modern hard drives, now makes them a viable option for home use, too. But a digital home surveillance system requires a lot of data storage space as well as routine management and maintenance of that data – and that’s exactly where RAID comes in. RAID Configurations for Surve...