Google unveils new African investments
Kathy Gibson reports from Google Cloud Summit in Johannesburg - As artificial intelligence (AI) permeates every level of the economy, we need to guard against letting the digital divide extend to becoming the AI divide. That’s the word from James Manyika, senior...
Credit trends diverge as consumers navigate affordability
South African consumers are reshaping how they access and use credit as affordability pressures persist, according to TransUnion’s Q1 2026 South Africa Industry Insights Report. The report’s findings show that credit demand remained resilient, but diverging risk...
Ramaphosa urges Africa to take control of its AI destiny
Kathy Gibson reports from Google Cloud Summit in Johannesburg - For too long Africa has had to play digital catchup, dependent on the technologies of more industrialised nations. But the artificial intelligence (AI) era gives the continent an opportunity to take...
Urgent reform needed to unlock SA’s startup potential
South Africa’s startup ecosystem is gaining ground, but it continues to fall behind global and regional peers on regulatory efficiency, capital formation, and access to international markets. This is according to a new report by SiMODiSA, in partnership with Allan...
Vodacom takes a majority stake in Safaricom
Strengthening its position in East Africa, Vodacom has acquired a further 20% stake in Safaricom for $2,1-billion (R35-billion) – increasing its shareholding in the group to 55%. The transaction sees Vodacom acquire a 15% stake from the Government of Kenya, and an...
Visa gears up for the new phase in commerce
Recognising the dramatic shifts shaping the future of commerce, Visa has outlined a series of AI, stablecoin, and token capabilities designed to help clients across the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA) region participate in this next...
A new fraud threat for insurers – AI-generated images
Insurance fraud, unfortunately, is inevitable - a certain amount of fraud is priced into the product. But the ultimate goal for insurers is to find the right balance – focusing on fraud prevention for the biggest cases without alienating trusted customers. Having said...
AI will push cloud-managed revenue over $10-billion
Concerns about AI cybersecurity threats and a desire to focus on AI use cases will push the public cloud-managed LAN market into a phase of accelerated growth from 2026 to 2030 – to more than $10-billion - according to the Dell’Oro Group. “As vendors like Arista,...
Vulnerable economies face lasting consequences from Hormuz closure
The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz would bring relief to global trade and energy markets. But for many vulnerable economies, the shock will not end when ships start moving again. After more than 100 days of disruption, ship transits through one of the world’s main...
Planting trees in savannas can do more harm than good
A new University of Cape Town (UCT)-led study has found that planting trees in African savannas may undermine biodiversity without delivering the expected gain in carbon storage. The study, led by Dr Heidi-Jayne Hawkins of UCT’s Department of Biological Sciences and...
CompTIA poll aims to better understand Africa’s training needs
In an age of constantly-changing technology innovations, CompTIA, the leading global provider of vendor-neutral training and certification products, is running a short survey to gauge how African organisations are tackling their training and certification...
Inside the shockingly efficient business models of cyber cartels
The enduring cultural image of the cybercriminal is an unexpectedly persistent myth. For a long time now, pop culture has depicted the threat adversary as a lone, anti-social hacker operating from a dark bedroom, driven by mischief or vague ideological grievances. By...