
South Africa: Accelerator programme empowers fintech startups to scale
The Sanlam Group ESD Accelerator Programme, established by small business development specialist Edge Growth in partnership with the Sanlam Foundation, is a strategic support platform designed to help early-stage fintech businesses scale effectively and access tangible market opportunities.
This 18-month programme offers qualifying entrepreneurs access to coaching, strategic support, and a rare opportunity to pitch directly to leading corporates, with participation at no financial cost and requiring only eight hours of commitment per month.
The programme includes hands-on workshops, high-impact master classes led by business growth experts, one-on-one coaching from seasoned tech entrepreneurs, and access to advisory boards for strategic guidance. Entrepreneurs will also benefit from market access, with a chance to test and pitch solutions and the possibility of qualifying for grant funding. With previous cohorts achieving over 40% average revenue growth, the programme is designed to deliver real, measurable impact.
Previous programme participants include brothers Sipho and Sifiso Mavuso, founders of Vuso Technology, a 100% black-owned ERP solutions provider, established in 2019 to address the shortage of black-owned ERP resellers in South Africa. Despite their accounting expertise and early certification in Sage systems, the company faced initial challenges with market access and brand visibility. Their turning point came in 2023 when they joined the Sanlam Group Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) programme. Through strategic mentorship, Vuso Technology improved its business model, enhanced its branding with a new logo and website, and received operational support, which included a R25,000 subsidy to purchase an inverter to be used during power outages. These changes led to improved efficiency and the company's successful securing of a major three-year private sector contract.
Moving forward, Vuso Technology is preparing to become Oracle-certified, and plans to double their team from five to ten employees and a broader commitment to skills development. Vuso Technology's success illustrates how a combination of targeted support and entrepreneurial determination can accelerate growth and position SMEs to lead in high-value, tech-driven sectors.
To be eligible to participate, businesses must be at least 51% black-owned, operate in the fintech sector, ideally be post-revenue with scalable solutions for the insurance industry, and be able to commit to the full 18-month programme.
All rights reserved. © 2022. Bizcommunity.com Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Zawya
2 hours ago
- Zawya
African Development Bank backs Artificial Intelligence (AI) training to boost Agenda 2063 implementation across Africa
The African Development Bank ( is supporting a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) training initiative to advance the implementation of Africa's continental development blueprint, Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want ( Through its Joint Secretariat Support Office (JSSO), the Bank provided technical and financial backing for the 5th Annual Training Workshop for African Union Member States on harnessing AI for effective monitoring, evaluation, and reporting on the Second Ten-Year Plan (2024–2033) of Agenda 2063. The five-day workshop, held in Lusaka, Zambia, was jointly organized by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF). The event brought together representatives from African Union Member States to strengthen their technical capacity in using AI tools and digital innovations to monitor, track, and report on the implementation of Agenda 2063. The training is part of broader efforts to enhance institutional and human capacity across the continent. Participants engaged in practical sessions on emerging AI platforms, including Ailyse, ChatGPT, Google AI Studio, Google Gemini, and Perplexity, exploring how these tools can improve data analysis, enhance decision-making, and promote evidence-based policy development in line with Agenda 2063 ( priorities. The Bank's support to the workshop reflects its broader commitment to strengthening results-based planning, monitoring, and accountability within the African Union framework, while promoting innovation and digital transformation as key enablers of Africa's development agenda. Speaking at the workshop, Abibu Tamu, Lead Programme Co-ordinator at African Development Bank Group, reaffirmed the Bank's dedication to working closely with the African Union Commission and strategic partners to accelerate the implementation of Agenda 2063, particularly its Second Ten-Year Implementation Plan. 'These tools are not only revolutionizing how data is collected, analysed, and reported, they are also enabling more targeted policy interventions and efficient resource allocation,' said Tamu. The workshop also served as a platform for peer learning and knowledge exchange, with participating countries sharing innovative approaches and best practices in national development planning and results-based reporting. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).


The National
2 hours ago
- The National
Opec expects tighter oil market in 2026 amid increased economic momentum
Opec has slightly increased its global oil demand forecast for 2026, expecting a tighter market amid economic momentum that is expected to continue next year. Demand for crude is expected to grow by 100,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million bpd, with a slower expansion in supplies from Opec's rivals, the Vienna-based alliance of oil-producing nations said in its monthly market report for August on Tuesday. Crude demand in the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development countries is projected to grow by 200,000 bpd, while non-OECD nations would register a 1.2 million bpd rise, it said. Opec, however, kept its 2025 demand growth view unchanged at 1.3 million bpd. The group also revised its 2025 economic growth forecast higher, to 3 per cent, expecting the "strong momentum" in the first half of 2026 to continue into the later part of the year. Growth estimate this year, however, remained unchanged at 3.1 per cent. Growth in the US, the world's largest economy, was slightly revised upwards to 1.8 per cent for this year and remained at 2.1 per cent in the next. "The global economy continues to follow a stable growth trajectory ... economic data at the start of the second half of 2025 further confirms the resilience of global growth, despite persistent uncertainties related to US-centred trade tensions and broader geopolitical risks," Opec said. It did, however, warn that relations between the US and its partners, strained to various degrees by President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, may be a root of trade-related uncertainties that may cause disruption in activity and some inflationary effects. "Nonetheless, a range of fiscal and monetary policy measures is expected to help offset these effects ... the forecast assumes that reasonable trade agreements will be maintained with most key US trading partners, allowing global economic uncertainty to ease further in the coming months," Opec said. Oil markets have remained volatile in a year featuring Mr Trump's tariff plans and the Iran-Israel conflict. Prices started the year strongly. The closing price of Brent, the benchmark for two thirds of the world's oil, peaked at more than $82 a barrel on January 15, while West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, hit almost $79 per barrel on that day. However, demand concerns, a slowing global economy and less-than-stellar growth in China, the world's largest crude importer, have dampened prices this year. Oil is also under pressure as members of Opec+ alliance of crude producers, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, continue to boost supply. This month, the group agreed to increase oil production by 547,000 bpd for September as members unwind voluntary cuts introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic. That followed a 548,000 bpd rise in August and 411,000 bpd from May, June and July. However, Opec's report on Tuesday showed the group raised production by 335,000 bpd in July. Oil prices were down on Tuesday at 5.41pm UAE time, with Brent retreating 0.47 per cent to $66.32 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate shed 0.72 per cent to $63.50. Both benchmarks are down more than 11 per cent so far in 2025 against a backdrop of volatile trading.


Zawya
3 hours ago
- Zawya
AI and data are reshaping Africa's retail sector
The African retail landscape is under immense pressure. Consumers are more digitally savvy and price-conscious than ever, and expect brands to offer convenience, personalisation, and value. About half of consumers will switch brands if their expectations are unmet, compelling retailers to continuously innovate and improve. Industry growth is tapering down across several African markets. South Africa's real retail growth has declined in recent years, constrained by economic stagnation and inflation. In East Africa, while GDP growth remains relatively strong, formal retail continues to be constrained by infrastructure gaps and logistical inefficiencies. In response, retailers across the continent are scaling their technology investments to boost competitiveness in an increasingly digital and data-driven industry. According to Gartner, African retailers are projected to invest $300m in cloud-based enterprise applications in 2025, with an expected growth of 10-12% over the next three years And yet, many still struggle to translate these investments into meaningful business outcomes. The triple disconnect holding retailers back 1. Fragmented systems, broken processes undermine scalability Despite deploying multiple best-of-breed applications and investing in a data lake to centralise data, many retailers fail to achieve differentiated customer engagement, real-time visibility and reliability in their operations. Typical constraints include disconnected systems, a lack of business context within data sets, and AI bolted-on instead being embedded within operational workflows. A pervasive industry pain point is the disconnected customer journeys caused by fragmented systems and broken processes. To illustrate: a customer may browse a product online, call the nearest store to check stock availability, visit in person and still find a different price to what was listed online. Or they may purchase the product online but be unable to return the product instore due to a disconnect between online and physical store data. This is caused when customer data, inventory, pricing, and orders are not synchronised across channels. And it's not just limited to customer experience - these fragmented processes are widespread across retail operations, often leading to operational inefficiencies and higher costs. At the root of this problem is a disconnected application landscape. In fact, 66% of organisations say application sprawl and complexity hinder their digital goals, resulting in process inefficiencies and a lack of reliability in retail operations. 2. Data is an opportunity, but a challenge too African retailers are sitting on mountains of data spanning point-of-sale systems, loyalty platforms, mobile apps, and third-party sources. But is this high volume, variety, and velocity of data being leveraged effectively to drive business outcomes? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Around 55% of business leaders cite poor data quality and fragmentation as the biggest obstacles to making data-driven decisions. Moreover, a disproportionate amount of time is spent on data management and building dashboards as against decision-making, underscoring the urgent need for more efficient processes. 3. AI without a solid foundation doesn't scale While there's palpable excitement in boardrooms over the potential and power of AI, execution remains limited. One study found that nearly three-quarters of organisations are struggling to scale AI projects beyond pilot projects. African retailers face even greater challenges, including poor-quality data, outdated IT infrastructure, and a lack of AI-ready processes. The result is AI initiatives that turn into isolated experiments that fail to deliver any meaningful ROI. Instead, retailers need to leverage a unified data platform that embeds AI directly into their business processes to scale AI initiatives effectively. The power of a unifying platform Leading retailers leverage a comprehensive, connected, and industry-specific suite of applications to confidently execute across their value chain. This helps ensure a consistent and reliable customer experience, minimising stock-outs, enabling fast, on-time delivery and delivering a seamless omni-channel journey. This reliability extends across store operations, finance, and support processes. The SAP Business Suite, for example, enables this efficiency through automation, actionable insights, and process optimisation, while the SAP Business Data Cloud provides seamless access to organisational data. Retailers also benefit from deep industry expertise and global context that helps them identify the correct application mix for integrating, harmonising and transforming business data across various applications. This also provides the foundation to scale AI effectively across retail operations through unified, context-rich data that brings together sales, inventory, promotional, customer behaviour and other data. By connecting end-to-end processes, retailers can also embed AI and enable seamless cross-functional workflows while leveraging innovations from a rich ecosystem of partnerships. Retailers leveraging SAP's connected platform and AI capabilities report a 20-30% reduction in customer churn, 30-50% fewer stockout, an up to 40% increase in workforce productivity and 20-30% reduction in IT spend. Realising Africa's data-rich, AI-powered retail future requires bold steps to shift beyond legacy systems and redefine operations. By utilising a powerful business suite, retailers can unlock new end-to-end capabilities that bring together applications, data and AI for unrivalled competitiveness. All rights reserved. © 2022. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (