TECH TOP SHAPE
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EDITORIAL
The provider
Afrihost According to the company website, Afrihost is the story of ordinary people with extraordinary vision. The brainchild of friends Gian Visser, Brendan Armstrong and Peter Meintjies, Afrihost has grown to be one of the largest internet service providers (ISP) in South Africa. While the company initially offered a variety of services, including web design, web development and tech support, it ceased all other operations and focused solely on web hosting around the mid 2000s. The company has gone from strength to strength, increasing its foothold in the South African market with its broadband and ADSL offerings, and partnership with telecoms giant MTN.
The blockchain boffin
Luno
Luno was born in 2013 after founders Timothy Stranex and Marcus Swanepoel realised that there was a gap in the market for straight-to-consumer Bitcoin wallet and exchange platforms. With a major investment from Naspers in its Series A round, Luno has been able to expand to more than 40 markets across the world. The platform recorded more than 3.5 million users in early 2019. More recently, Luno announced that it will embark on a massive drive to hire more than 150 employees by the end of 2019 – a move that will take its employee headcount to over 400 across its seven offices in Africa, Europe and Asia.
The money man
Capitec Bank Financial highlights year ending February 2019 Headline earnings: +19% to R5.292-billion Total dividend per share: +19% to 1 750 cents Return on equity: 28% Active clients: 11.4 million Active banking app clients: 2.2 million
Capitec started in 1997 through the acquisition of micro-lending businesses such as Smartfin and Finaid and in 2001 listed on the JSE with PSG as shareholder of reference. By focusing on providing a no-nonsense service using technology as its base, the bank has seen exponential growth over the past 18 years. Providing some of the best digital offerings and platforms of any bank in South Africa, Capitec has leveraged digital technology to position itself as the leading retail bank in the country. As the company continues to expand, it’s honing in on hiring talent in the IT and digital spaces, as well as the machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) space. Capitec also shows no signs of stopping when it comes to attracting new customers. In November, the bank announced that it is adding 200 000 customers per month and that it had welcomed its 13 millionth client in October. 25 YEARS OF SUCCESS
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