South Africa’s shift towards online retail accelerated over the Black Friday weekend, with consumers directing a greater share of their spending to e-commerce platforms than ever before. Standard Bank said online sales by its customers rose 75% year on year, contributing 23% to total retail sales over Black Friday weekend, including Cyber Monday, with value…
African and European leaders have committed to embracing the digital revolution through their decades-long European Union-African Union cooperation. Last week, African Union (AU) and European Union (EU) heads of state, as well as government officials, came together in Luanda, Angola, for the 7th AU-EU Summit to renew and deepen a partnership grounded in peace, prosperity,…
Artificial intelligence has created a device that turns moon dust into energy. The moon vacuum, which was unveiled on Wednesday by Blue Origin at Amazon‘s re:Invent 2025 conference in Las Vegas, was built using critical technology from startup Istari Digital. “So what it does is sucks up moon dust and it extracts the heat from…
For years, cybersecurity was something that got “handled later”, usually after more pressing work was done. That gap between innovation and protection could linger for months, sometimes years, until a breach forced the issue. That world is gone. Attackers are constantly evolving. Digital transformation touches nearly every part of business and security has moved from…
Addis Ababa — The ministry of Innovation and Technology emphasized that Africa’s challenges are not limitations, but rather catalysts for innovation. At the closing session of the inaugural African Union (AU) Conference on Digital Agriculture, Bayissa Badada, State Minister of Innovation and Technology, said the three-day conference reaffirmed the potential of Africa when technical excellence…
There are moments when a forum stops being a gathering and becomes a mirror. The Lomé Peace and Security Forum (11-12 October 2025) did exactly that–a quiet reframing of African peace and security through the lens of technological power. It exposed a shift African policymakers still treat as peripheral: the future of peace will be…
Addis Ababa — Digital agriculture is no longer optional but essential for Africa’s survival and prosperity, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) Ambassador Selma Malika Haddadi said. Speaking at the inaugural Africa Digital Agriculture Conference, which is taking place in Addis Ababa at the headquarters of the African Union, Haddadi underscored the continent’s…
As ComzAfrica celebrates its 15th anniversary, the home-grown technology company reflects on a decade and a half of shaping digital financial services across the continent. Founded in 2010 by three Rwandans, ComzAfrica has grown from solving airtime distribution challenges to powering digital lending, payments, electricity access, and essential utilities for millions of Africans. Now active…
A retail CBDC is defined as a purely digital banknote, denominated in the national unit of account, says SARB. The South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB’s) position paper on a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) in South Africa has concluded there is no compelling immediate need for its implementation. In a statement, the central bank…
Dr Chris Ettmayr, renewable energy and ICT sector manager at the East London Industrial Development Zone; Magama Makgamatho, chief knowledge and digital officer at Coega Development Corporation; and Baphelele Mhlaba, acting executive manager for economic development and sector support at the Eastern Cape Development Corporation. SA’s Special Economic Zones (SEZs), historically viewed as industrial and…
