Business & Tech News Coca-Cola Products Recalled – After High Chlorate Levels Discovered Coca-Cola has recalled several Coca-Cola products citing elevated levels of the chemical chlorate in the product having been discovered. The ban has affected several regions across Europe, including the UK, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Containers of Coca-Cola Original Taste, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Diet Coke, and Sprite Zero, distributed widely across these regions are being withdrawn as well as 6x250ml Appletiser multipacks sent to UK supermarkets.The announcement in the UK yesterday (29 Jan), followed an earlier recall of these products across Europe on Monday. While the…
Author: Greg Stewart
Mr Tim Masela, the Head of the National Payment System Department at the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), spoke today of their vision for the future of banking in South Africa called Vision 2030. Masela was speaking at the launch of the newly formed Association of South African Payment Providers or ASAPP this morning in Sandton. He said that late last year, SARB started the process for the planning of their vision on a future horizon currently, termed Vision 2030+. Commitment to Inclusion He made a commitment to the gathering of some of the top Fintech payment companies in SA that non-banks…
The digital payment and digital banking services sector is set for a major overhaul, according to the newly formed Association of South African Payment Providers or ASAPP. The association officially launched this morning (29 Jan) in Johannesburg. “This is our inaugural gathering, today marks an important milestone in our shared journey to reshape the payment landscape for a more inclusive and digitally driven economy. Stated ASAPP’s founding President Lincoln Mali. The Association believes that the South African payment landscape is at a turning point. The reality in the economy is that cash continues to dominate, particularly in the informal economy,…
Entertainment & Media (E&M) markets across South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya have continued to see growth and is likely to continue in the next 3 years. This is according to the latest Africa Entertainment and Media Outlook 2024–2028 report (E&M report) produced by PWC. The key African markets, in this industry of South Africa (SA), Nigeria and Kenya, are seeing revenue growth ahead of the global average (3.9% compound annual growth rate through 2028). Key market highlights South Africa: South Africa has the most well-established E&M market, compared to Nigeria and Kenya, and is set to see the slowest growth…
Business & Tech News US Tech Stocks Rebound U.S. stocks saw a rebound yesterday, led by the Nasdaq’s 1.5% surge, as technology shares recovered from Monday’s AI-driven sell-off triggered by Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek’s announcement of a competitive AI model. Nvidia clawed back 8.8%, recovering some of its historic 17% single-session loss on Monday that saw the Tech company shed $593 billion in market value. Broadcom and Oracle also added 2.6% and 3.6%, respectively, amid broad tech strength. The S&P 500 climbed 0.9%, supported by its tech sector, while Apple and Microsoft saw a 3.7% and 2.9% respective growth in…
Businesstech Africa spoke to Rupert Hare, Head of Multi-Asset portfolio at Prescient Investment Management, about their newly launched Prescient Domestic Balanced fund. Prescient is an independent systematic investment company, meaning that they utilise sequence of data driven systems that deeply analyse stocks and investments, independent from any sentiment type decisions. Why a Local Focused Fund is a Good Move? To understand the dynamics behind the decision to go with a fund that supports local developments, I ask Rupert to explain the rationale. “At the top level”, Hare says, “we see ourselves as financial engineers, and what we’re designing here is…
Business & Tech News Electrification Plans for Africa: Africa holds the awkward distinction of being the continent with the highest number of people without access to electricity. The impact of this is a large number of people without the means of modern agriculture, limited access to communication, information and effective healthcare facilities. The number of people without electricity in Africa is 300 million according to the World Bank and an ambitious plan, dubbed “Mission 300” to connect homes to power by 2030 was launched by the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) in April last year. Yesterday saw…
UD Trucks, held its annual press briefing at the Cradle Hotel in Muldersdrift this morning, where Filip Van den Heede, Managing Director of UD Truck South Africa, unpacked some of the developments in the company and trading environment. Technology Driving Massive Changes Filip believes that 2025 is an important year for the group and comments that there is much change, with a lot of new technology that only came into the picture in the last two years. Particularly with regards AI and the development towards autonomous, self – driving vehicles, that UD Japan has been investing deeply in over the…
South Africa could learn many valuable lessons from Argentina and its economic revival at the hands of President Javier Milei. In Particular there should be much to learn from the significant cuts in Argentina’s public spending that has recently delivered a budget surplus in a country once thought to be doomed to bankruptcy and economic delinquency. South Africa’s budget deficit is currently projected to be around 5% of GDP. The 2024/2025 financial year saw a tax shortfall of R22.3 billion. Despite electricity production becoming more stable with fewer energy blackouts during the period. Overall economic growth for the year Is…
Business & Tech News Indian Court Case Against OpenAI Gets New Momentum: Reuters have reported that the digital news units of Indian billionaires Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, and other outlets like the Indian Express and the Hindustan Times, have mounted a legal challenge against OpenAI’s improper use of copyright content. This follows an original case brought by local news agency ANI, alleging copyright infringements by the global leading AI company. Now, additional parties such as NDTV and Network18 have filed a motion in a New Delhi court to enable them to join the original lawsuit against the ChatGPT. They believe…