Company News
Gijima’s T-system SA Take Over is Approved by Competition Commission
Gijima has announced that the T-system South Africa (TSSA) acquisition has been approved by the Competition Commission. This deal is expected to position Gijima as the largest Black-owned ICT company in Southern Africa, with about 500 new employees joining Gijima in March. TSSA has been operating in South Africa for over 20 years, providing ICT networks, applications and solutions to a number of industries. Although the announcement was made in October, after a long period of negotiations, the acquisition was still subject to approval from the Competition Commission. This game-changing deal will enable Gijima to have access to international IP, TSSA’s global Cybersecurity Security Operations Centre (SOC), certificates, expertise and best practices. Further, the acquisition of T-Systems bus...
Microsoft Introduces New Employee Experience Platform
Microsoft has launched Microsoft Viva, an employee experience platform which aims to bring tools for employee engagement. According to the company, Viva has been designed to help employees learn, grow and thrive with the productivity and collaboration capabilities in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams. “We have participated in the largest at-scale remote work experiment the world has seen, and it has had a dramatic impact on the employee experience,” says Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. “Every organisation will require a unified employee experience from onboarding and collaboration to continuous learning and growth. Viva brings together everything an employee needs to be successful, from day one, in a single, integrated experience directly in Teams.” Microsoft Viva builds on the power of T...
Ukheshe Partners with KCB to Boost Payment Services in East Africa
Ukheshe has partnered with the Kenya-based lender KCB Bank Kenya to issue both physical and virtual banking cards across East Africa. According to Victor Ndlovu, VP of Ukheshe Africa, the deal will include other innovative digital products such as QR issuing and acquiring. “By joining forces with KCB we are well-placed to address several open-loop market opportunities while boosting wider consumer adoption. Payment options across various segments will benefit such as payroll, companion cards, multi-currency prepaid cards, travel cards and gift cards, together with social security and other government benefit programs such as insurance claims.” Ndlovu says financial inclusion remains a massive challenge in the region and across the continent where millions of people are either unbanked or s...
Nutanix Appoints New Regional Sales Director Sub-Saharan Africa
Nutanix has appointed Rowen Grierson as regional sales director for Sub-Saharan Africa. Grierson succeeds Paul Ruinaard who has left to pursue personal interests. A seasoned professional, Grierson was formerly the regional sales director for the West, East and Central Africa regions, and with his new appointment will now add the Southern Africa territory to what is a growing market for the company. Prior to joining Nutanix he served a tenure in the leadership of Fortinet and was amongst others the territory manager for F5 in Sub-Saharan Africa. With more than 20 years’ experience in the IT industry, he has a proven track record in business and strategy development, sales execution, and customer experience. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_411.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_411.td-a-rec-img...
Bolt Launches ‘Women Only’ Ride Hailing Service
Bolt has launched a ‘Women Only’ service that enables female passengers to request rides from female drivers only – their request for a ride will not be visible to male drivers. Drivers and passengers utilising Bolt’s Women Only service are protected by an app-integrated SOS emergency button, made possible through Bolt’s partnership with national safety platform Namola. The SOS button enables passengers and drivers to connect quickly and easily 24/7 to private armed response teams, private emergency medical services, and roadside assistance if they are involved in any medical or security emergency while on a Bolt ride. “Gender-based violence is a reality that women across South Africa contend with every day,” says Gareth Taylor, country manager for Bolt South Africa. “Women Only – a servic...
Huawei is Recognised as One of South Africa’s Top Employers
Huawei has been recognised as one of the top employers in South Africa, receiving the annual Top Employers Certification Award for the fourth year in a row. Huawei Sub Saharan Africa achieved Continental HQ Certification for 2021, after being certified a Top Employer in four or more countries, for two years in a row. In addition to South Africa, Huawei also received the prestigious award in Zambia, Kenya and Nigeria. The Top Employer Institute is a global authority on excellence in people practices. Through the Top Employers Institute certification programme, participating companies are annually assessed, surveyed and accredited as leading employers in respect of their Human Resources practices. “Winning the Top Employer Award is recognition of Huawei’s high standards and commitment to enc...
Google Plans to Help Speed Up Delivery of Vaccines
Image sourced from Pymnts Google revealed that it will be giving $150 million to promote vaccine education and making it easier to find locally relevant COVID-19 information. The company is also going to use its technology to improve vaccine distribution. “The pandemic has taken a devastating toll on communities worldwide. While there is much uncertainty still ahead, the development of multiple safe vaccines in such a short time gives us reason for hope. Now the work begins to ensure that everyone can benefit from this triumph of scientific achievement, and quickly,” says Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet. To aid in the distribution, Google Cloud will help healthcare organizations, retail pharmacies, logistics companies, and public sector institutions make use of innovative technol...
DFA is Awarded Top Employer Status in South Africa
DFA announced that it has been awarded Top Employer status in South Africa for 2021 by the Top Employers Institute. DFA joins 1,691 companies in 120 countries globally, including only 97 local companies, who are recognized by the Top Employer Institute for their efforts in various facets of employee management. With headquarters in the Netherlands and offices in several countries around the world – including South Africa – Top Employers Institute was established with the aim of promoting excellence in human capital management to support business strategy. DFA CEO, Thinus Mulder, said that achieving the certification was the culmination of a years-long, concerted effort to align DFA with global HR best practice to attract and retain the best skills in the market. ‘The technology industry re...
Alphabet is Closing Down the Loon Project
Image sourced from MIT Technology Review Alphabet is shutting down its balloon-powered mobile Internet service, Loon. The project’s main objective was to bring abundant, affordable Internet access to unconnected communities around the world. “When we unveiled Loon in June 2013, we meant everything in its name. It was a way-out-there and risky venture,” says Astro Teller, X lead. “Sadly, despite the team’s groundbreaking technical achievements over the last 9 years — doing many things previously thought impossible — the road to commercial viability has proven much longer and riskier than hoped. So we’ve made the difficult decision to close down Loon. In the coming months, we’ll begin winding down operations and it will no longer be an Other Bet within Alphabet.” Teller goes on to say that m...
Citrix to Acquire Wrike in $2.25 Billion Cash Deal
Citrix has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Wrike for $2.25 billion in cash. This deal is expected to Citrix’s digital work platform and Wrike’s work management solution, which streamlines collaboration and work execution. The addition of Wrike’s cloud-delivered capabilities is also expected to accelerate Citrix’s business model transition to the cloud and strategy to become a complete SaaS-based work platform addressing the needs of various functional groups within the enterprise. The combined company will offer customers an enhanced value proposition through complementary solutions, unlocking new revenue opportunities both within existing installed customer bases and new lines of business buying centres, including marketing, professional services, and HR. Together, Citrix a...
