Company News
Rain Introduces ‘My Rain’ Mobile App
Image sourced from MyBroadband Rain South Africa has introduced ‘My Rain’, its new mobile app which is expected to allow customers to manage their accounts and data usage directly from their smartphones. Rain lists the following app features on the Google Play Store page: Manage your account – Users can update their personal details and payment method, and view their current and past invoices. Billing info – Users can see how much they’re going to be billed for the month. No nasty surprises. Daily usage – Users can see how much they’ve been using for every day of the past month. Complete control – Users are always in control. Upgrade, switch plans, or even cancel at any time. Contact support – Users can get support directly through my rain. Log a network, billing, RICA or onboarding query ...
Infinidat Joins Forces with VMware to Tackle IoT Threats
Infinidat has partnered with VMware to deliver a comprehensive software-defined data centre solution that tackles current and evolving IoT Edge security threats. All industries are undergoing major digital transformation, leveraging technology to improve customer experiences, operational efficiency, enhance business agility, and create competitive advantage. IoT solutions play an essential part in meeting these objectives, as they enable digital transformation processes by extending software control of physical assets to optimize performance and enhance flexibility. A recent report, Worldwide Global DataSphere IoT Device and Data Forecast, 2019–2023 from the IDC estimate that there will be 41.6 billion connected IoT devices, and yet data also shows that large companies, typically wit...
MTN Appoints Group Chief Risk Officer
Ferdi Moolman, MTN Group Chief Risk Officer MTN Group announced the appointment of Ferdi Moolman to Group Chief Risk Officer, a new Executive Committee (exco) position – effective from 1 March 2021. Moolman joined MTN in 2002 and has held several senior positions within the group in Nigeria and in Iran. He has spent the past five years as the CEO of MTN Nigeria and, as its CFO prior to that. During that time, the company says that significant progress has been made in stabilising the business and setting it on a sustainable growth path. That’s why the management of enterprise-wide risk is integral to MTN’s growth strategy. Moolman will bring extensive operational and financial experience to the role given his deep knowledge of the MTN Group, its markets and the telecoms sector. He will rem...
MTN Nigeria Appoints New CEO
MTN Group has appointed Karl Toriola, current VP for MTN Group’s West and Central Africa (WECA) region, as the new CEO of MTN Nigeria – effective 1 March 2021. Toriola will take over as MTN Nigeria CEO from Ferdi Moolman, who has served MTN Nigeria with distinction in this role for the past five years. Moolman will return to South Africa, where he will assume the new role of Group Chief Risk Officer. Toriola has a BSc Hons in Electronic and Electrical Engineering and an MSc in Communication Systems. In his five years as VP of MTN’s WECA region, he has overseen the steady progress of the operating companies in the region, notably the turnaround of MTN Ivory Coast and MTN Cameroon over the past two years. In addition, the WECA markets have made significant commercial and strategic strides, i...
Airtel Africa Reports Double Digit Growth
Sourced from Comms MEA Airtel Africa has reported double-digit growth and stronger performance in Q2, with revenue up by 19.6% – in spite of interruptions from COVID-19 and the associated restrictions on activities of both consumers and businesses. The telco saw growth across every region; Nigeria revenue increased 20.2% and EBITDA growth of 21.5%, East Africa revenue up 21.9% and EBITDA growth of 35.1%, Francophone Africa revenue up 4.4% and EBITDA growth of 4.1%. Voice and Data led to a mobile revenue increase of 15.3% while Mobile Money revenue grew by 30.4%. Airtel Money now serves over 20million customers. The telco says that it is in a strong financial position to capture the growth opportunities in a fast-growing region that is vastly underpenetrated in terms of mobile and...
Huawei Launches Petal Search, Petal Maps and Huawei Docs
Huawei unveiled a number of new additions to the Huawei Mobile Services ecosystem; Petal Search, Petal Maps and Huawei Docs. Here’s a closer look at these digital experience updates: Petal Search Huawei’s official search engine app, Petal Search now is available in over 170 countries and regions and supports over 50 languages, letting users conveniently and instantly find out the information and services they need. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_a55.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_a55.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Petal Search offers search capabilities across more than 20 categories, including apps, news, videos, images, shopping, flights, and local business. It also develops and integrates various tools, such as weather, calculator and rate exchange. With the new update, the s...
Acer Introduces New Swift, Spin and Aspire Series Notebooks
Acer has launched a suite of powerful notebooks across its Swift, Spin and Aspire series – all featuring the performance of new 11th Gen Intel Core processors with Intel Iris Xe graphics. The company says that these devices have been “designed to push ultra-portable PC design to new territories” and that notebooks come with “intuitive features, striking design aesthetics and the latest technology in a thin and light package”. Here’s a closer look at the new additions to the Acer Notebook range: Acer Swift 3X /* custom css */ .tdi_3_b9b.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_b9b.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } The Swift 3X sports the new Intel Iris Xe MAX discrete graphics solution paired with 11th Gen Intel Core processors in order to offer creative professionals, such as photogra...
Cellulant Appoints New Country Manager
Cellulant has appointed Faith Nkatha as its new Country Manager for Kenya. In this role, she is expected to lead operations and scale Cellulant’s payment ecosystem within the country. Nkatha joins Cellulant from Oracle where she led their public sector Digital Transformation efforts. Prior to this, she was the Director for Strategy, Monitoring, and Transformation at Sidian Bank. “We are excited that Faith has accepted to join our leadership team and confident that she will lead Cellulant Kenya’s next chapter of growth and success,” says Ken Njoroge, co-Founder and CEO of Cellulant. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_949.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_949.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } “We have all been impressed by her strong track record of digital transformation and vast expe...
Vodacom Partners with AFI to Drive Financial Inclusion in Africa
Vodacom has joined forces with AFI to drive financial inclusion across Africa through knowledge sharing with financial policymakers and regulators. According to the companies, the partnership, which runs until October 2021, should enhance select AFI member services and platforms with private sector insights. “AFI members in Africa are among the world’s pioneers in mobile money services, having fostered decades of ground-breaking innovations that have shaped the financial inclusion landscape across the continent and beyond,” says Dr Alfred Hannig, AFI Executive Director. Regulators in the region have turned the current pandemic into opportunities to accelerate financial inclusion and ensure that no one is left behind. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_891.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_891.t...
Pick n Pay Acquires Bottles, an Online Grocery Service
Image sourced from Guzzle Pick n Pay has acquired Bottles – an online grocery delivery service. The agreement, which concluded on 20 October, is expected to strengthen what is said to be sub-Saharan Africa’s ‘largest and most popular online grocery business’. Bottles was launched in 2016 as South Africa’s first alcohol on-demand delivery app, and partnered with Pick n Pay in 2018. Its offer was the first of its kind to promise that orders would be fulfilled within 60 minutes. Following the prohibition on the sale of alcohol in March, Bottles re-purposed its app within four days, emerging with a new offer to deliver on-demand “Grocery Essentials” to customers. Since its move to groceries on 31 March, the app has achieved more than 700,000 downloads, with more than 350,000 registered users. ...
Basalt Technology Appoints New MD
Basalt Technologies has appointed Kyle Hauptfleisch at its new MD. Together with Wayne Zwiers, Basalt’s founder and CEO, Hauptfleisch is expected to lead the software development agency as it expands operations from Africa throughout the UK and Europe. Hauptfleisch has more than 15 years of senior management, business development, and general strategy experience, seven of which were at an executive level in both corporates and start-ups. His leadership experience spans various sectors, including publishing, media, and fintech. Notably, Hauptfleisch was the GM at a technology news company, Sales Director of the online division at one of the biggest media companies in Africa, and a founding partner at a boutique marketing agency that was acquired in 2016. More recently, he was CO...
Airtel Zambia and Ericsson Joined Forces to Champion eWaste Awareness
Sourced from Comms MEA Airtel Zambia and Ericsson have partnered to launch the ‘Product Take-Back’ programme – an initiative that aims to minimize the potential impact of eWaste on the environment. eWaste, not recycled properly, is said to be an under-acknowledged environmental hazard around the world. The Product Take-Back programme is part of Ericsson’s Sustainability efforts geared towards taking accountability for environmental impacts of all products and services during their lifecycle. The programme is expected to ensure that end-of-life material is treated and recycled in an environmentally responsible manner. Airtel’s CEO and MD, Apoorva Mehrotra says, “Airtel is committed to being socially responsible. We believe that the adoption of responsible eWaste disposal techniques will hel...
