Checkers has added conversational abilities to Pixie, the Sixty60 AI shopping assistant, closing the clearest gap between it and Penny, the rival Pick n Pay switched on in July. When Pick n Pay launched Penny, the two assistants were built on opposite philosophies. Penny, running on Google’s Gemini models, started from conversation: ask for a…
Capitec has agreed to open its Capitec Pay platform to competing payment service providers, and not to favour it over the banking industry’s shared instant-payments rail, as conditions for regulatory approval of its acquisition of payments fintech Walletdoc. The Competition Commission has recommended that the Competition Tribunal approve the transaction subject to those conditions. The…
Funda ngesiZuluBy Palesa Matlala South Africa says African countries must invest more of their own money in HIV programmes as international donor funding continues to decline. A new once a month HIV prevention pill is showing promise, but it is still being tested and cannot yet be used by the public. South Africa has one…
The President H.E. Adama Barrow Thursday received in audience officials attending the annual Africa Tax Administration Forum Masterclass at the State House. The officials were led to the Presidency by the Commissioner General of the Gambia Revenue Authority, Yankuba Darboe, to brief and update the President on the objectives and outcomes of the meeting, which…
South Africans will soon be able to tap their cards – or their phones – to pay at the Post Office, as the entity rolls out modern payment terminals across 610 branches in a first phase of its branch modernisation programme. The roll-out brings EMV-compliant chip-and-Pin terminals, contactless tap payments and support for smartphone digital…
Pick n Pay is introducing a generative AI shopping companion named “Penny” into its asap! on-demand delivery app. Built on Google’s Gemini models, the feature is scheduled to roll out to select users starting Monday, 6 July 2026, before reaching all asap! customers in the subsequent weeks. The retailer is billing the update as South…
Pick n Pay says Penny is the first step in a broader AI strategy for its asap! delivery platform. Pick n Pay has introduced what it says is South Africa’s first fully-integrated artificial intelligence (AI)-powered grocery shopping assistant. It claims this marks a new phase in the use of generative AI within the country’s retail…
Mombasa, Kenya — For decades, the outlook for the coral reefs has been increasingly bleak. Corals are some of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems, which have faced an existential threat due to rising temperatures that cause increased incidences of bleaching. This makes it inevitable that reefs will experience rapid decline. However, scientists’ latest findings seem…
Electronic waste recycler EWaste Africa has joined forces with retail giant Pick n Pay and the Electronic Responsibility Association (ERA NPC) to roll out a nationwide grid of in-store e-waste collection points. The joint initiative aims to directly confront South Africa’s stubbornly low electronics recycling rates by embedding drop-off points directly into everyday retail environments….
E-waste recycler EWaste Africa has partnered with Pick n Pay and producer responsibility scheme ERA NPC to build a nationwide network of e-waste collection points in retail stores, in a bid to lift South Africa’s stubbornly low electronics recycling rates. More than 95 drop-off points are already in place, with a target of more than…
