The next generation of blockbuster obesity drugs isn’t trying to replace GLP-1 medicines. Instead, drugmakers are developing treatments that can complement existing drugs and push weight loss further, or offer new options for potentially millions of people who may not get enough benefit from GLP-1s. That’s the early potential of a new slate of injections,…
Capitec’s fintech business – value-added services including prepaid airtime, data, electricity and money transfers, plus its Capitec Connect mobile service – contributed R2.7-billion to group headline earnings in the six months to 31 August, according to the group’s own breakdown. That is about three-quarters of the R3.5-billion in headline earnings from its Personal Banking business…
Hydropower continues to dominate large-scale investments in Nepal, and some climate activists say the funding has continued despite known disaster risks. The Upper Trishuli-1 project, which has been all but destroyed after last week’s floods, was one of Nepal’s largest foreign direct investment ventures, valued at about $647m. Its backers include the Asian Development Bank…
When energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said recently that “coal is going nowhere” and that scientists were perfecting technology to burn it cleanly, he was making two promises at once. The first is political: that South Africa will not abandon the resource that still keeps the lights on, nor the communities that mine it. The second…
Comsol CEO Iain Stevenson Comsol is building its new consumer national 5G network without a 4G anchor, on a single unfragmented block of spectrum, and will sell every megabit of it through other companies’ brands. The company has around 450 sites live, covering roughly a million Gauteng households. The first ISP goes live on the…
Belgian electronic music festival Tomorrowland came to Shanghai for the first time in July 2025. Hero Esports Hi, this is Evelyn, writing to you from Beijing. Welcome to the latest edition of The China Connection — a snapshot of what I’m seeing and hearing from local businesses. The rise of artificial intelligence could be creating…
Buried in the partner list of a new consortium building a dollar currency for the machine economy – backed by Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and BlackRock – are three familiar names: FNB, Absa and Nedbank. South Africa’s banks have quietly joined the most ambitious attempt yet to solve a problem the internet has ignored for 30…
Karooooo CEO Zak Calisto Singapore-headquartered Karooooo, the parent of South African fleet management and operational intelligence company Cartrack, has reported record quarterly subscriber growth, with South Africa leading the charge. Net subscriber additions jumped 70% to a record 142 472 in the three months to 31 May 2026, the first quarter of the group’s 2027 financial…
Energy regulator Nersa has approved generation licences for four solar projects with a combined contracted capacity of 890MW, clearing another regulatory hurdle for the R16-billion final tranche of Bid Window 7 – the government renewables round that couldn’t award a single wind farm. Nersa said the licences, approved at its meeting on 30 June, cover…
SA QuTI project manager Jodie Robbertse The University of Pretoria last week became the newest node in the South African Quantum Technology Initiative (SA QuTI), launching UP Quantum Science and Technology – UPQuST – as one of six nationally funded quantum research hubs. The university said the node, backed by the department of science, technology…
