From fast-food stores and car designs to logos and buildings, the world does seem to be getting a little less colourful. Designers call the trend “blanding” - where brands and products become simpler, safer and more neutral to...

Sam and Rob Paddock started GetSmarter after testing an online wine course with 281 students. Less than a decade later, the Cape Town edtech company was working with global universities like MIT and was acquired by 2U for...

Shoprite’s latest State of the SMME report shows just how tough building a small business can be in South Africa. Most businesses surveyed are self-funded, many remain small, and access to customers is still a major growth challenge...

*In Today’s Roundup:* We’re doing things a little differently today. The Shoprite Group’s new State of the SMME 2026 report gives us a fascinating look at what it actually takes to start and build a business in South Africa....

Capitec’s latest results show why it recently dropped “Bank” from its name. With 26.6 million active clients, its app is becoming an ecosystem for airtime, data, electricity, phones, insurance and business banking - helping Capitec build a wider...

Clicks is launching KwaMakhi, a smaller-format retail brand built around everyday low prices and designed for areas where traditional Clicks stores may not work. With roughly one in three South Africans living in townships, major companies are increasingly...

*In Today’s Roundup:* America has raised interest rates, putting pressure on the rand and making next week’s Reserve Bank decision a lot more complicated. Meanwhile, Momentum has hit its R7 billion earnings target a year early, and one measure...

*In Today’s Roundup:* South Africa could be heading into its strongest El Niño in living memory, but with dams more than 95% full, the bigger risk could be the infrastructure carrying that water to homes and businesses. Meanwhile, Shoprite’s...

*In Today’s Roundup:* One of the biggest threats to your bank account might not be a hacker, but someone convincing you to hand over the keys yourself. South Africans lost R2.4 billion to digital banking crime last year, and...

*In Today’s Roundup:* The way South Africans eat is changing, and Spur has a plan to take its restaurants to where customers already are. Meanwhile, Capitec’s latest results reveal why it recently dropped “Bank” from its name. Plus, Shein’s...

*In Today’s Roundup:* Sasol is turning used cooking oil into jet fuel, with a luxury expedition company flying from Cape Town to Antarctica becoming its first commercial customer. Meanwhile, SPAR’s independent retailers have picked the man they want as...

Pantry by Marble has just opened its fifth permanent store at The View in Fourways, continuing its expansion across Gauteng. And with former McDonald’s South Africa CEO Greg Solomon now taking over as the new CEO, the plan...

Making friends as an adult is hard - and businesses are starting to build around that problem. From social fitness and dinner clubs to group travel, games nights and organised experiences, the “IRL economy” is turning real-world connection...

Some of South Africa’s biggest companies are raising retirement ages, with Momentum, Nedbank and Standard Bank all extending the time senior employees can stay on. It helps companies hold onto experience for longer - but it could also...

Tshwane University of Technology has become the first South African team to win the Sasol Solar Challenge, with its SunChaser 4 covering 2,369km over eight days. After crashing out early two years ago, the team came back stronger...

*In Today’s Roundup:* Retiring at 60 is starting to look a little less certain in South Africa. Momentum has pushed its retirement age to 63, while Standard Bank has also changed its rules as companies try to hold onto...

*In Today’s Roundup:* Stadio’s share price jumped 23% on Friday despite the company announcing no results, deals or major news. The reason was much stranger: it had just been added to the JSE All Share Index, forcing funds that...

Vodacom is backing a programme with SmartOps that aims to put 55,000 more e-hailing vehicles on South Africa's roads. Ordinary South Africans can apply to finance the cars, while SmartOps handles the drivers, maintenance and operations. The pitch...

*In Today’s Roundup:* A new AI app has overtaken ChatGPT to become America’s most downloaded free app, and it works very differently. Instead of simply answering questions, you can give it a job and let it open websites, fill...

*In Today’s Roundup:* We’re doing something different today. Instead of covering the usual mix of stories, we’re looking at why some of South Africa’s biggest companies are moving into banking. From Pepkor and Discovery to Old Mutual, Sanlam and...

*In Today’s Roundup:* Starlink has a potential way into South Africa that wouldn’t require it to sell any shares, so why is it still not here? Anthropic has made its latest Claude model faster and cheaper to run without...

Bolt’s new EV category has put branded electric cars onto Cape Town’s roads, with Johannesburg next and 500 EVs planned nationally by year-end. While new e-hailing rules require identifying markings, Bolt has turned that into a marketing play...

*In Today’s Roundup:* South Africans wagered R1.5 trillion last year, and government is considering a new 20% tax on online betting to tackle the country’s growing gambling problem. Now, one of the country’s biggest gambling companies is introducing its...

*In Today’s Roundup:* More than a decade after the Reserve Bank stepped in to rescue African Bank, its long-awaited return to the JSE keeps moving further away. Meanwhile, Pepkor is building its new bank for less than R1 billion....

Major South African companies are rushing into banking, from Discovery and Old Mutual to Pepkor, MTN and Sanlam. The appeal goes beyond bank accounts - deposits can provide cheaper funding, customer data becomes more valuable, and banking helps...

*In Today’s Roundup:* Medical aid could get a lot more expensive next year, with some of South Africa’s first proposed increases coming in at roughly double what the regulator recommended. Meanwhile, MTN wants to spend billions buying the company...

Sixty60 may have started as a 60-minute grocery delivery app, but it now stretches across more of Shoprite’s businesses - from pet products and baby goods to outdoor gear, medicine, TVs and generators. As Shoprite buys or builds...

The story behind Michelin stars is stranger than most people realise. They come from the same company that makes Michelin tyres, after the guide was originally created to get people driving further, wearing out tyres and buying new...