MERL Tech, which has been successful in London and DC, came to Jozi for the first time. Its purpose was to bring together development practitioners at the intersection of M&E and technology to share and learn how we can, together, tackle the fourth industrial revolution and use technology to do our jobs better.

Richard Ketley asks whether in all the hype about fintech we have lost track of the importance of finding ways to support mobile network operators to establish the infrastructure required for mobile money and to encourage regulators to balance the reward for investment in mobile money while preventing excessive pricing. 

Genesis has proposed a number of changes to the economic provisions in the SA Competition Amendment Bill to avoid the potentially large negative unintended consequences of the current Bill, while still achieving the objective of assisting SMEs and firms owned/controlled by historically disadvantaged persons to participate in the economy. 

Much has been written about the growth of the cashless economy, but new product innovations are giving South African consumers fewer and fewer reasons to open or maintain a bank account. Cash, it seems, is making a comeback.

Rapid urbanisation and industrial growth are exacerbating demand for water but also generating increased volumes of wastewater/effluent that can be re-used by industry. 

Digital technology is transforming economies and the world of work in profound ways. Traditional jobs are being transformed while new forms of work are being created. But is South Africa preparing young people to find employment in the fourth industrial revolution?

The Competition Appeal Court’s recent decision in the Media24 case has brought clarity to the law of predatory pricing in South Africa – the practice of dominant firms cutting prices to levels where equally efficient competitors cannot compete and ultimately exit the market. 

The impact assessment Genesis did for Nedlac on proposed changes to the Liquor Act (which calls for new age restrictions on drinking amongst many other proposals) has received much divided attention in the press. We thought that you might be interested in the full story.

One of the consequences of the mobile money revolution has been the growth of a new class of asset finance business. Banks are starting to take notice.

With greater scrutiny of government and donor spending and rapidly increasing social impact investment, the need for monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) has never been greater - but despite this it is sometimes seen as an exercise separate from core activities.

With margins under ever-greater pressure, banks need to ensure that pricing receives the attention it deserves. To it right, bankers need to be able to answer some fundamental questions about their markets, as well as about the behaviour of their customers.

For banks in trouble one option to preserve margins would be for smaller commercial banks to convert to microfinance banks (MFBs) that fall outside the jurisdiction of the interest rate capping regime.