Opportunity magazine is a niche business-to-business publication that explores various investment opportunities within Southern Africa’s economic sectors. The publication is endorsed by the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI).
News & snippets Industry
News & snippets Industry insights from the past quarter Taxis get the WOW factor Digital cash payments, advanced fleet and vehicle management systems with GPS, camera monitoring, fuel rebates and a modernised scholar-transport system. All of these things will be available to taxi commuters and taxi owners once the Wealth On Wheels (WOW) platform is rolled out. WOW is an initiative led by the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) business arm of the Eastern Cape Transport Tertiary Cooperative Limited (ECTTC), in partnership with FORUS Digital and Ecentric Payment Systems. WOW aims to revolutionise South Africa’s minibus taxi industry through innovative digital solutions. Statistics South Africa estimates that the minibus taxi industry is the main daily mode of transport for approximately 10.7-million citizens. There are approximately 250 000 to 300 000 minibus taxis in the country, belonging to an estimated 20 000 owners and 1 200 taxi associations. WOW-branded taxis were exhibited at the 42nd Southern African Transport Conference (SATC) held at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Tshwane in July 2024. AI for Equity Challenge tackles climate change in Africa The International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI), an organisation under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), data-science platform Zindi and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced the launch of the “AI for Equity Challenge: Climate Action, Gender, & Health”, a six-month global virtual contest to support researchers, non-profits and startups applying advanced cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) to create new solutions that address gender and healthy equity issues exacerbated by the climate crisis. The AI for Equity Challenge, hosted on the Zindi platform, aligns with the Amazon Sustainability Data Initiative’s (ASDI) mission to accelerate sustainability research, innovation and collaboration by minimising the cost and time required to acquire and analyse large sustainability datasets. ASDI works with sustainability-focused organisations and government agencies to host and deploy key datasets on the AWS Cloud, including weather observations and forecasts, climate projection data, satellite imagery, hydrological data, air quality data and ocean forecast data. The challenge, which is a social coding competition, will focus on building new programming that supports more equitable futures at the intersection of gender, health and climate action. 10 | www.opportunityonline.co.za
Green hydrogen skills centre launched A Green Hydrogen Centre of Specialisation has been launched at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria. Centres of Specialisation (CoS) focus on particular skills that the country needs, with select tertiary institutions and TVET colleges hosting the centres, complementing existing degrees and NQF level 5 or higher occupational qualifications. The signing ceremony in October 2024 was attended by representatives of the parties who will make the Green Hydrogen CoS a reality: the Chemical Industries Education & Training Authority (CHIETA), the Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA) and the Transport Education Training Authority (TETA). Under CHIETA’s guidance, the CoS will tackle various aspects of the green hydrogen value chain, drawing on the skills mapping conducted by the Department of Higher Education and Training. By addressing these value-chain elements, the CoS establishes itself as a comprehensive training hub. The CoS will offer hybrid training focusing on Continuous Professional Development (CPD), aligned with the increasing demand for upskilling and reskilling in the rapidly evolving green hydrogen and derivatives industry. Aviation technology deployed in maritime logistics SITA, an established aviation technology provider, has launched an IT solution for the maritime sector. SmartSea, powered by SITA, aims to digitise the maritime industry by transforming the maritime digital ecosystem through the development of an integrated maritime management platform and the establishment of a broad portfolio of services both onboard and ashore. An initial agreement with Columbia Shipmanagement (CSM), a ship manager and maritime service provider, will kick off this journey to accelerate digitalisation. The CEO of SITA, Julian Panter, pictured, says, “The maritime industry has been working hard to elevate itself to the levels of the automotive and aviation industries from a technology perspective and the inclusion of SITA will dramatically fast-track the process, enabling the maritime sector to catch up. SmartSea will be the platform that will bring the latest technology from aviation to the maritime industry.” SITA serves 95% of international destinations in the air travel industry and over 2 500 airlines, airports, ground handlers and governments. Fibre is available at R99 per month Following a successful pilot project in 2023, Vuma has launched its Vuma Key product, affordable uncapped fibre service priced at just R99 per month. Vuma Key is a prepaid service with no penalties for missed recharges, designed specifically for low-income households earning less than R5 000 per month. This price is equivalent to R3.30 per day, or less than 83c per device per day. The offering has been in the pilot phase in selected Alexandra, Gauteng, and Kayamandi, Western Cape, households. Vuma Key gives all users in a household unlimited access to fast connectivity in abundance. The entry-level product offers a download speed of 10Mbps, an upload speed of 5Mbps and supports up to four simultaneous devices, making it a budgetfriendly solution for households seeking fast and reliable Internet. “Vuma Key has been designed specifically for communities that have traditionally been beyond the reach of high-speed, high-volume uncapped Internet,” says Dietlof Mare, CEO of Maziv, Vuma’s parent company. PHOTO: Eric Mufasa on Pexels www.opportunityonline.co.za | 11
