News Archive

Microsoft SA invest $475 million in black-owned software developers

2011-03-29T04:51:15Z

Microsoft Corp.’s South African unit will invest R475 million in up to 10 black-owned software development companies as part of its agreement with the government to increase the country’s black majority.

Managing Director of the unit, Mteto Nyati, said “We will support these companies over a period of seven years. Our consultants will work with them to put together a package and a business plan.

“We will fund whatever is relevant for that particular company to meet its own stated objectives of growth,” he added.

This is a big step for the technology giant as it has a global policy of not selling stakes in its units.

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Since the end of apartheid 17 years ago, the South African government has heavily encouraged companies to sell stakes to black investors to address racial imbalances in the country.

As part of Microsoft’s broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) programme, the company was granted permission to put in place alternative empowerment plans. As a result, Microsoft agreed to invest the equivalent of 4 percent of its sales in black-owned enterprises over seven years.

Bill Gates' organisation, which introduced the Windows operating system to the world, will sign deals with four software developers later today – Chillisoft, a developer of software used in the healthcare and manufacturing industries; BUI, a computer-security company; Home Grown Business Integrations, which develops electricity management systems and Maxxor, a producer of mobile phone and web-based applications.

New R5 billion solar plant plans for South Africa

2011-03-28T19:58:39Z

Relying on dirty coal energy rather than renewable sources is anything but fashionable in 2011, not to mention the damage to the environment.

However, South African construction firm Group Five has announced plans to construct a solar plant costing R5 billion to produce solar energy across the country.

The plant in the Northern Cape province aims to produce energy by 2013. Company director Greg Heale said the project could see a construction of a 150 megawatt first phase, although the plant could be upgraded to between 450 to 500 MW.

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Proposals for a $21bn solar park by 2012 could eventually supply 5,000 MW of power, but Group Five’s announcement provides a further boost to South Africa who are trying to plug a shortage in energy,

Solar, wind and nuclear alternatives are being encouraged to meet a renewable energy target of producing 10,000 gigawatt hours by 2013, a shift from the current situation whereby 90 percent of South Africa’s energy comes from coal.

Heale added that Group Five, the country’s fourth-largest construction firm, expects to all contractual arrangements and off-take agreements with mining companies to be complete within the next six months, although did not specify which companies were involved.

Greenpeace earlier this year urged South Africa to adopt solar power to not only help the environment but create jobs and save money.

At last summer’s World Cup in South Africa, Yingli Green Energy unveiled a carbon-neutral commercial display to promote green energy in the country.

Could Ghana make history with win over England at Wembley?

2011-03-28T06:22:39Z

Ghana travel to Wembley on Tuesday night aiming to be the first African side to beat England – and they could have a great chance of making history as the hosts are likely to field a second-string team.

It will be the first time the ‘Black Stars’ line up against the English national side and England manager Fabio Capello has warned he could make 11 changes from the team that beat Wales 2-0 in a European Championship qualifier on Saturday.

However, Ghana players will have had one less day to recover having beaten the Congo 3-0 in an African Cup of Nations qualifier in Brazzaville yesterday.

More than 20,000 tickets have been snapped up by Ghana fans cheering on their heroes to what could be an historic victory against the former “colonial masters”.

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A number of Ghana’s stars are used to the English conditions, earning their living in the Premier League. Trio Asamoah Gyan, Sulley Muntari and captain John Mensah play for Sunderland, while John Paintsil plays for Fulham and goalkeeper Richard Kingson for Blackpool.

“Statistically no African side has ever beaten England so we will go there to try our luck,” Gyan said. “I have never played at Wembley so it is like a dream come true. This is a huge game for us Ghanaians.

“There will be massive support for us. I have had so many calls from people asking for tickets – I don’t know how to get them though. England have been our colonial masters so everyone in Ghana knows about them. If we are not playing everyone at home always supports the English team.

The friendly is a sell-out, although star players Wayne Rooney, captain John Terry, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Michael Dawson have already returned to club duty and will not feature in the match.

Earlier this month, we looked at the continent’s biggest football drug scandals after Ivory Coast defender Kolo Toure tested positive for a banned substance.

The rising number of African stars playing in Europe was also a major factor in African football netting $140 million in TV rights recently.

With England and South Africa both crashing out of the ICC Cricket World Cup over the weekend, why not take a look at the growing trend of South African-born cricketers playing for England.

Wal-Mart faces Namibia Competition Commission over Massmart takeover

2011-03-28T05:41:05Z

Wal-Mart Stores Inc is taking the Namibia Competition Commission (NCC) to court after the watchdog demanded certain conditions be met before allowing the world's biggest retailer control of South Africa's Massmart’s operations in the country.

NAMIBIA COMPETITION COMMISSION

Wal-mart is in the final stages of purchasing a 51 percent stake in Massmart and its subsidiaries including Game, Makro and Builders Warehouse. However, the NCC attached certain undisclosed conditions to the deal which has led Massmart to pursue legal action.

"Wal-Mart launched an urgent High Court Application challenging the merger determination issued by the Commission," the Namibian Competition Commission said in a statement dated March 25.

Currently Massmart operates in 14 African countries, including Namibia. However this is the second time Massmart has suffered due to NCC requirements after it stopped pursuing the controlling stake in Pupkewitz Megabuild after the watchdog insisted there had to be a certain level of location participation in the takeover.

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WAL-MART IN SOUTH AFRICA

Wal-Mart is also considering legal action over a $2.3 billion bid for Massmart in South Africa after competition authorities delayed a hearing by almost two months. South Africa's Competition Tribunal postponed the hearings after the government asked for more time to submit additional information including reassurances over job losses and suppliers.

Even though shareholders voted in favour of the deal in January, Wal-Mart is facing a backlash from trade unions who have threatened to strike against the U.S group. If the deal does go through, it will be Wal-Mart’s biggest acquisition since it took over British supermarket chain Asda in 1999.

University of Johannesburg cuts ties with Israel

2011-03-26T21:30:00Z

The University of Johannesburg has severed its ties with with Israel's Ben-Gurion University because it believes the institution supports military action and human rights abuses in Palestine.

A petition was signed by 400 South African academics calling for the University to cut its links with the establishment and was also backed by Nobel Prize Winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The 25-year-old relationship began when the University was the whites-only Rand Afrikaans University but tensions reached an all-time high this week after a bus bombing in Jerusalem.

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In a recent essay, Archbishop Tutu stated: "Israeli universities are an intimate part of the Israeli regime, by active choice.

"While Palestinians are not able to access universities and schools, Israeli universities produce the research, technology, arguments and leaders for maintaining the occupation."

Links with South African Universities during the apartheid-era were boycotted all over the globe, and now a worldwide campaign to do the same to Israeli Universities has started, with the Johannesburg Uni being the first to do so.

African Business Review has focused on everything from a South African invasion in the England cricket camp, the story of a man who waited for 33 hours outside for the iPad 2 to be released and MTN's latest offering, life insurance through your mobile phone.

Madonna's Malawi school scrapped after millions wasted

2011-03-25T21:30:00Z

Madonna’s plans to open a $15 million school for girls in poverty-stricken Malawi have been scrapped, reportedly wasting $3.8m before the project even started according to an audit.

The pop sensation donated $11m to co-found the organisation “Raising Malawi” with co-director of Jewish movement Kabbalah, which Madonna is a famous member of.

However the education project was very poorly managed and Madonna recruited a Global Philanthropy specialist Trevor Neilson after the board of directors were dismissed, the New York Times reports.

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"Despite $3.8 million having been spent by the previous management team, the project has not broken ground, there was no title to the land and there was, over all, a startling lack of accountability on the part of the management team in Malawi and the management team in the United States," Neilson said.

He added that his group had not yet been able to find out "exactly what happened to all of that $3.8 million. We have not accounted for all the funds that were used."

World Water Day earlier this week raised awareness for the lack of clean water accessible in the continent and all over the world, and the UN warned about the lack of clean water for increasing urbanisation in Africa.

Last week, charity event Comic Relief raised over £74 million to help people in the UK and Africa to aid children from impoverished countries such as Malawi.

“iSad” man is first to queue for iPad 2…33 hours before its release

2011-03-25T06:29:33Z

Today marks the release of the long awaited Apple iPad 2 in 25 countries – and as we have discussed before, sadly South Africa is not one of them.

But just how far would you go to get your hands on the latest version of the tablet?

In London, Jewels Lewis arrived outside the Apple store on Regent Street at 7.30am yesterday ready for the gadget to be officially released at 5pm today – a waiting time of 33 hours.

To make it worse, self-confessed Apple fanatic Lewis even missed his son’s 12th birthday to make sure he was first in the queue for Steve Jobs’ latest creation.

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His eagerness to be the first person to purchase the iPad 2 prompted one sharp-witted reader of the Daily Telegraph website to label him "iSad".

“Last year I was fourth in the queue so I wanted to make sure I was first this year. When I got here this morning and saw no one else I thought, “Yes, this is it,” put my chair down and started enjoying the sunshine,” he said.

The new thinner, lighter and significantly faster iPad was released in the US on March 11, but as yet there is still no official release date scheduled for South Africa.

But while you wait for Apple to confirm when it will hit the shelves, there are plenty of other gadgets to consider. Check out African Business Review’s guide to the coolest portable gadgets and also the best business travel gadgets.

South Africans in the England cricket team: Good business sense?

2011-03-25T04:19:26Z

Recruiting high-calibre employees from overseas is not an uncommon practice when it comes to business.

But when it comes to cricket and national pride comes into play, the situation is a little different.

England however seem to have a preference for calling-up South African-born players. Although yet to feature, seam bowler Jade Dernbach, who was born in Johannesburg, is the latest on an increasingly long list of players born in South Africa to make the England squad.

"I don't owe South Africa anything"

The 24-year-old has told the English media that he feels no sense of loyalty to the country he lived in until the age of 14.

“I only started my cricket career in England as I didn’t play much in South Africa. I was more of a rugby player back then,” said Dernbach.

“South Africa isn’t my home at all and I don’t owe it anything. I was just born there, and did a bit of schooling, but my whole cricket career has been based in the UK, and that’s my home.

“I want to give everything I can for England as it’s the country I love and the country that’s given me everything I have now.”

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England’s current cricket squad at the ICC Cricket World Cup included former captain Kevin Pietersen, from Pietermaritzburg, who had to fly home early due to injury, Jonathan Trott, from Cape Town and Craig Kieswetter, Matt Prior and captain Andrew Strauss – all born in Johannesburg.

An old tradition?

However, this trend of South Africans representing England is not new. Way back in 1968, all-rounder Basil d’Oliveira made his debut for England after escaping the apartheid regime in his native country.

In 1972, Queenstown’s Tony Greig adorned the three lions and went on to captain the English side, by virtue of his Scottish father. His brother, Ian, also made two test appearances for England.

Allan Lamb, born in Langebaanweg to British parents, is another South African-born batsman to become an England legend.

Why England?

The reasons for these players switching allegiance are different in each case. Pietersen, whose mother is English, made the move after slating South Africa’s racial quota selection policy for apparently hindering his progress in the country.

He stated in his autobiography that, “It created an artificial team and that will never do anything to encourage the racial integration of cricket in South Africa.”

Others travelled to England to forge international careers, denied the chance of doing so with South Africa due to their exclusion from international cricket during apartheid.

Some, such as Strauss and Prior simply became British citizens through moving to the country during childhood, just like Dernbach.

South Africa are the continent’s only nation left in the ICC Cricket World Cup and are currently trying to overcome New Zealand to make it into the semi-finals of the tournament – can they finally shake off the ‘chokers’ tag?

Meanwhile, Durban, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth are competing to be South Africa’s official bid city for the 2020 Olympics, but who will win?

New diagnosis technology in SA unveiled on World TB Day

2011-03-24T05:46:11Z

New technology that can diagnose patients with tuberculosis (TB) in two hours is to be rolled out across South Africa.

The GeneXpert machine tests for TB much faster and more accurate than microscopic tests that are used to diagnose the disease, which could take between three to five months to produce results.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed the machine at the Prince Mshiyeni hospital in Umlazi and said: "By unveiling this exciting new TB diagnostic machine today, we will be able to diagnose TB within 120 minutes and start patients on treatment immediately.”

Motsoaledi added this type of machine was the first of its kind in Africa and one of the only five outside the US.

"A single GeneXpert test can detect 98 percent of smear positive TB whilst microscopes detect 60 percent of smear positive TB," he said.

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The machine comes in three different sizes, with the biggest, the GX 38 (Infinity) having the ability to do 48 tests at a time and 197 tests in an eight hour period.

The GX16 can conduct 16 tests simultaneously and 64 tests in the same time, and the GX4 conducts four tests simultaneously and 16 tests.

The machines will be bought for all health facilities across South Africa.

Tweet for World TB Day

Meanwhile, Lancet Laboratories in South Africa have started a Twitter campaign as today is World TB day to help raise awareness about the disease to encourage people to use the hashtag #WorldTBDay in their tweets.

The company is offering one free sputum ZN test for every five times the hash tag #WorldTBDay is used in the country.

Twitter celebrated its fifth birthday earlier this week - click here to read about its African influence.

Yesterday was World Water Day, too and Africa received a warning from th UN about the lack of clean water for increasing urbanisation.

Last week, charity event Comic Relief raised over £74 million to help people in the UK and Africa to help prevent diseases such as AIDS and TB.

MTN launches life insurance service through mobile handsets

2011-03-24T04:37:56Z

MTN has partnered with a South African insurance company to offer life insurance through mobile phones.

Mi-Life has been launched in Ghana in association with Hollard Insurance and will be available through MTN’s Mobile Money banking service, launched in July 2009. As of December last year it had 4.3 million customers in 11 countries.

The plans will cover funeral costs and offer Ghanaians a service that is often too expensive for most as MTN says it will "dramatically reduce the cost of insurance".

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MTN said yesterday that MTN Mobile Money customers would be able to buy life insurance via their handsets and submit claims, queries and make premium payments, said Bruno Akpaka, General Manager for MobileMoney in Ghana.

“Twenty-two per cent of people in Ghana have insurance; 55 percent say they can’t afford it. In terms of affordability, we’ve tried to address that,” said Jeremy Leach, Head of Micro-insurance at Hollard.

Leach added that more Ghanaians have MobileMoney than bank accounts Ghanaians will be able to pay premiums as low as one cedi ($0.65) per month on their mobile phones ach says since more Ghanaians have mobile money than bank accounts, this will revolutionize their access to life insurance.

MTN are already benefiting from increased mobile penetration in the continent – find out how by clicking here. The company has also set itself an ambitious target of doubling its client base in Kenya.

Beer-loving Africans increase SABMiller revenue

2011-03-23T04:37:20Z

The world’s second biggest brewer SABMiller is confident that sub-Saharan Africans will carry on being thirsty for beer after increasing its revenue targets.

The company has invested $1.5 billion over the past four years in Angola, Mozambique and Tanzania – and now says it is focused on growth in Ethiopia, Nigeria and southern Sudan.

Primary beer volumes grew 12 percent in the last three months of 2010 in SABMiller’s Africa business unit, which excludes South Africa. It is the company’s fastest growing beer market along with Asia.

Great expectations

Expectations for revenue per hectolitre growth have been increased from a range of 1 percent to 3 percent, to a range of 3 to 5 percent, subject to currency fluctuations.

Helped by continues population growth and economic improvement, Mark Bowman, Managing Director of SABMiller Africa said: “Africa has good GDP growth, better governance and strong population growth, all conditions to do well.”

He added that GDP in 2010-2013 for sub-Saharan Africa is set to grow at a faster rate than the rest of the world at 5 percent a year compared to 3 percent elsewhere.

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Castle a 'powerful brand'

Africa’s 1 billion strong population is also expected to grow at over 2 percent per year.

African urbanisation has risen from 28 percent in 1980 to about 40 percent now and as a result has led to more middle-class consumers. There are 52 African cities with a population of over a million.

Bowman also said the brewer had struggled to keep up with demand for Castle lager in Africa and heralded it as a powerful brand.

African Business Review profiled SABMiller earlier this month to take a closer look at Africa’s biggest brewer, while only the focus around World Water Day yesterday saw the UN urge Africa to meet water demands in increasing urbanised areas.

MTN is another African company reaping the benefits of middle-class consumerism in the continent, as they recently announced a 22 percent increase in subscribers in 2010.

Sold out Cape Town Jazz Festival prepares to entertain over 34,000

2011-03-22T18:39:43Z

More than 34,000 people are gearing up to attend the world renowned Cape Town Jazz Festival that begins on Friday 25 March.

Weekend passes for the annual event, known as ‘Africa’s Grandest Gathering’ have sold out, and President Jacob Zuma endorsed it, saying it had contributed more than R475 million in ten years to the economy of Cape Town and created 2,000 jobs in 2010.

Over 40 international and local artists will perform over two days on five stages at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

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Artists include 77-year-old saxophonist Wayne Shorter – and festival organisers say they are delighted the American star will finally appear on the line-up.

“For years, it’s been our wish to get Wayne Shorter to the festival. As a touring artist we could never get the time right. We are thrilled that this living jazz legend could make it this time round,” said festival Director Rashid Lombard.

Still wanting to go? Don’t sweat, day tickets are still available priced at R365 and a free concert featuring some of the top headliners in Green Market Square will be held at 5pm this evening in the build-up to the festival.

Wondering what else Cape Town has to offer? Check out our list of the top business hotels in the city and just why it is the leading destination in South Africa for business tourism.

Proteas carry hopes of Africa in Cricket World Cup quarter-final

2011-03-22T05:37:31Z

After the South African batting line-up infamously collapsed in the loss to England earlier this month, African Business Review asked the question: Are South Africa the Cricket World Cup chokers?

Well, the Proteas now carry the hopes of a continent in their ICC Cricket World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand in Mirpur on Friday after Africa’s two other representatives, Zimbabwe and Kenya, both failed to progress past the group stages.

Graeme Smith’s side crushed Bangladesh in a comprehensive 206 run win on Saturday to ensure they finished top of Group B with five wins and a sole loss to England.

But will South Africa be able to shrug off suggestions that they ‘bottle it’ in the big situations?

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A thrilling victory over India suggests that the Proteas can handle the big occasion. They fought back to reduce MS Dhoni’s outfit from 267-1 to 296 all out and executed a brilliant run chase to score 300 with two balls remaining.

However, at the knockout stage there will be no second chances if South Africa under perform against the Kiwis.

Kenya exited the tournament after six defeats in Group A, while Zimbabwe’s two victories over the Kenyans and Canada only saw them finish in fifth place in the table.

While the nation pins it hopes on South Africa’s cricketers to deliver, the race is also well and truly to decide which of the country’s cities will get the go ahead to bid for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

But what about the 2012 Games in London? Getting your hands on tickets can be tricky – to see our lowdown on the process, click ont he link below:

London 2012 Olympics - how to get tickets in Africa

Africa urged to meet water demands on World Water Day 2011

2011-03-21T20:12:48Z

Today marks World Water Day, an event encouraged to get people all over the world to think about the estimated billion people without access to water from a clean source.

A United Nations (UN) report on Africa released earlier this week said that cities must move toward greener water and sanitation projects, such as rainwater collection, to meet the needs of booming urban populations.

The theme for this year is ‘Water for Cities: Responding to the Urban Challenge’ – and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said that Africa is failing to keep up with rapid rates of urbanisation to provide clean water for communities.

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"We need to turn to new and innovative engineering solutions and those that in particular address more green infrastructure," said Tim Kasten of UNEP.

The report entitled ‘Green Hills, Blue Cities’, produced by UNEP and UN Habitat argues that engineering solutions were not able to keep up with the population growth in developing cities to provide water.

"We're not able to keep pace. Some of the solutions of the past are not necessarily going to be able to take us into the future," said Kasten.

“Africa is urbanising at a very rapid pace, from 205 million people living in cities in 1990 to today where we now stand at 400 million in 2011. And by the year 2050 we will have over 1.2 billion people living in urban centres in Africa."

Last week saw the UK raise over £74 million for Comic Relief to help the disadvantaged in Africa, and last month we focused on the One Child per Laptop charity, whose XO laptops are providing schoolchildren across the continent with the latest technology and internet resources.

Twitter's African influence as it celebrates fifth birthday

2011-03-21T05:05:45Z

As Twitter celebrates its fifth birthday today, African Business Review takes a look at how the social media site has taken the world by storm, and made a difference to the continent, too.

Developed by podcast company Odeo, the first tweet was sent on 21 March 2006 as the idea of an online SMS-based service came to fruition. Twitter formally went live in July that year and was initially used as an internal communication system by Odeo employees.

Number of Twitter numbers jumps up

The official Twitter blog documented that Twitter is now seeing an average of 460,000 new users signing up each day – or just under 14 million on a typical month. The record was set on March 12 this year, when 572,000 new profiles were added.

In recent months, while it is unfair and incorrect to suggest that the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya have been fuelled by Twitter, there is no doubt that messages circulating in cyberspace were a factor in the uniting of communities worldwide.

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Twitter revolts

Revolutionaries tweeting updates on the latest developments allowed news to spread much faster, engaging a wider audience than traditional television news reports ever could on a single platform.

As events in Tunisia unfolded leading to Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali being ousted as President, Twitter users at the heart of the action in the country had the power to post a single tweet that could be transmitted around the world in a matter of seconds.

Egypt protests

The same could be said for Hosni Mubarak’s downfall in Egypt. On 11 February this year, the day the President’s regime was finally toppled, news that he had fled Cairo spread like wildfire with rumours that he had travelled to tourist hotspot Sharm-el-Sheikh.

Later that day, a message from Egyptian state TV announced that a statement was imminent and the power of Twitter alerted citizens across the globe of Mubarak’s inevitable resignation hours before it happened.

Ongoing events in Libya are constantly being documented by Twitter sources and with more and more users joining the social media site, Twitter’s role in communication in Africa and elsewhere across the world is only going to become more significant.

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