#Win big in the #Addo #photo contest. #Competition #giveaway

Calling all Addo elephant park photographers – more than R35,000 in prizes is up for grabs in the Canon/My Addo competition, organised by the SANParks honorary rangers attached to the Addo Elephant National Park.

The aim is to raise awareness about the park's biodiversity and to raise funds for crucial projects, according to Addo honorary ranger spokesperson Nicky Bosman.

Canon has sponsored a Canon 80D plus accommodation prizes at Kuzuko Lodge and the Addo park.

The entry fee is R50 and proceeds will be donated to SANParks Honorary Rangers Addo Region.

The closing date is April 30. Entry forms and rules are available on www.katz.co.za

#PayFast and Xero partner to include South African payments

As a leading online payment service provider, PayFast offers merchants the ability to receive funds via a variety of payment methods including credit cards, debit cards, Instant EFT and mobicred.

Xero has fast become a leader in the online accounting arena with a particular focus on small businesses.

The significant growth of e-commerce and strong SME market in South Africa, makes Xero a natural fit to add to PayFast’s extensive list of over 70 integrated platforms.

Customer centric businesses are the name of the game, and technology is offering more ways to create a positive customer experience. It is no surprise that businesses are looking for more ways to streamline their systems and offer more convenience to customers.

Connecting PayFast and Xero does just that by allowing a “pay now” link to be included on any invoice. Customers can immediately settle invoices creating a quick and seamless experience. Small businesses get paid faster with the added benefit of no longer needing to manually reconcile invoice payments.

“Xero is one of the leading cloud based accounting platforms used by hundreds of thousands of small businesses around the world. We wanted to make it even more useful for South African businesses, by providing local payment options. Through integrating our great services, Xero and PayFast now provide a best of breed and locally relevant accounting, invoicing and payment solution for small businesses in South Africa” says Jonathan Smit, Founder and Managing Director of PayFast.

“Having freshly launched in South Africa we’re thrilled to now welcome PayFast – an innovative local business, to our growing ecosystem of third party tools,” comments Gary Turner, Xero MD EMEA.”South African small businesses will have access to an easy and secure payments processing service that is seamlessly integrated within their accounting software.”

With the recent official launch of Xero in South Africa, PayFast is looking forward to a partnership of continued support for the SME market.

SAA Make Progress

With the conclusion of the 90 Day Action Plan, South Africans now have an aviation asset, says South African Airways (SAA) acting Chief Executive Officer, Nico Bezuidenhout.

“As the 90 Day Action Plan period concluded South Africans now have a national aviation asset that is well on its way to relative stability,” he said on Thursday.

Briefing reporters, Bezuidenhout said that as far back as December the airline was in a precarious position and that it was technically not a going concern and was experiencing substantial liquidity and solvency challenges among others. “The company was in trouble,” said the acting CEO.

Bezuidenhout said the objective of the 90 Day Action Plan, which concluded on 24 March, was to stabilise the organisation and that “we put it on a path to recovery”.

During the duration of the plan, SAA focussed on intervention areas such as commercial stability to restore solvency, governance which included the improvement of control mechanisms and the third being a strategy to revise the Long Term Turnaround Strategy (LTTS).

“When I stood here in December I said that you will hold me accountable for R1.25 billion in changes that we have to effect,” he said, adding that the changes would consist of route and network changes, renegotiation of contracts and restructuring of lease agreements and aircraft activities and actions focussed at reducing the cost of aircraft ownership.

The acting CEO said that the going concern status of the business was effectively restored at the end of January and the airline was able to hold its Annual General Meeting.

Beyond that the company focussed on restructuring its debt profile.

“We’ve also realised substantial cost reductions, SAA has in the last three years reduced its unit costs by approximately 17%.”

Over the 90 day period, the airline looked at renegotiating a number of contracts, supply contracts for the full fiscal ending March 2015. “Cost reduction was just over R400 million. Beyond that we also renegotiated aircraft leases on specifically our A340 fleet, those savings that have already materialised of renegotiated leases in place, amounts to approximately R120 million and the total will amount to R270 million,” he explained.

Over the 90 days, the airline revisited the areas where it flies to. The airline no longer flies to Beijing which cost the organisation approximately R1 billion over three years. “That route has now been removed and therefore those losses have been removed,” he said, adding that connectivity had not been sacrificed as others carriers. The route to Mumbai has also been removed.

The airline is to also focus on African operations. “Our African operations are by far our most profitable operations,” noted Bezuidenhout.

“Total annualised EBITDA improvement from the commencement of our new financial year on 1 April 2015 realised through the 90 Day Action Plan will amount to R1.25 billion as per the initial target as agreed in November 2014.”

This consists of R440 million through network changes, R290 million relating to fleet financing, among others.

Additionally, the airline has reconstituted the board. In a statement on Thursday, National Treasury said that the Finance Minister has extended the term of the interim Board for a further period of six months or until such time as a permanent Board is appointed.

“This extension ensures that the Board continues its business whilst allowing the National Treasury the opportunity to finalise the Cabinet approval process,” it said.

This extension was made on 28 March.

The airline’s LTTS was also revisited taking input from National Treasury as the shareholder department.

The airline has identified R2.2 billion in additional cost savings that it will be targeting in the next 18-24 months. “It consists of labour cost. Over the course of the 90 day period we deeply assessed this business in terms of what is the head count structure like.”

The airline is currently in talks with labour and has looked at a voluntary reduction in early retirements. – SAnews.gov.za

Are You Beautiful Or Average? Choose Beautiful!

A shocking 96% of women do not choose the word ‘beautiful’ to describe how they look.

Dove believes feeling beautiful is a personal choice women should feel empowered to make for themselves, every day.

Dove is launching the Choose Beautiful campaign to encourage women worldwide to reconsider the choices they make about their beauty and how those choices make them feel.

The Dove Choose Beautiful film captures real women in San Francisco, Shanghai, Delhi, London, and Sao Paolo considering about their own beauty. The women made a choice about the way they see themselves: ‘average’ versus the frequently avoided ‘beautiful.’  The film reveals that women often struggle with recognizing their own beauty.

“Although the majority of women don’t describe themselves as beautiful, 80% agree that every woman has something about her that is beautiful.  It’s time women think differently about this choice,” said Steve Miles, Senior Vice President, Dove.

“While we were filming, it was so clear that the women who chose to feel beautiful shined with a positive, empowered outlook,” said Paul Dektor, Film Director of Dove Choose Beautiful.  “We all have the personal and powerful ability to rise above others’ points of view, social media, and pop culture. I hope the Dove Choose Beautiful film inspires women around the world to reconsider how they view their own beauty.”

Dove has long been committed to creating a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety.  Dove hopes to inspire women to develop a positive relationship with beauty, because when women recognize the beauty in themselves, they then have a powerful ability to positively impact the next generation.  The brand has set a goal of reaching 15 million young lives with self-esteem programming by the end of 2015 and has reached over 14 million to date.

 Visit the Dove South Africa website and their Facebook page or follow @Dove_ZA on Twitter for more information.

Exciting Times Ahead For Lafarge Orlando Stadium

Lekker things keep happening in the townships! What do i mean?

The vibrant township of Soweto is synonymous with football in South Africa as it houses three Absa Premiership clubs, that are among the biggest in the country. These are namely 2013 CAF Champions League finalists Orlando Pirates, reigning champions Kaizer Chiefs and Moroka Swallows.

Now thats something right? Read on: The stadiums too have a dose of nostalgia embedded on them.

First built in 1959, Orlando Stadium has a rich and proud history associated with soccer, entertainment and the surrounding community’s involvement in the political struggle for recognition. Demolished in 2008 and rebuilt at a cost of R280 million, the new 35 000 capacity stadium featured in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Fast forward to 2015, Lafarge South Africa, one of Southern Africa’s leading building materials manufacturers, concluded a sponsorship deal with Stadium Management South Africa (SMSA) for the exclusive naming rights to Orlando Stadium in the heart of Soweto: to be known as the Lafarge Orlando Stadium.

Branding is currently underway and the dramatic transformation of the Stadium’s appearance will be revealed at a prestigious launch function scheduled for May.

"The exciting branding project with Orlando Stadium will emphasise that we have always been, and always will be, very much a part of the South African community," said Lafarge South Africa’s Country Marketing Manager, Alta Theron.

Exciting times surely lie ahead for Lafarge Orlando Stadium and the screaming Vuvuzela's will tell the true story come May.

MTN Launches First Firefox Phone In South Africa

Back in November MTN revealed that it was looking to release a Firefox OS-based smartphone in South Africa.

We have had a number of opportunities to play around with the device in the past, and MTN has just announced that the Alcatel OneTouch Fire E smartphone is available locally.

“Having a smartphone based on the Firefox operating system means we can deliver numerous unique product innovations. For example, the phone can be easily set up for four of the 11 official languages, namely English, Afrikaans, isiZulu and Xhosa. MTN will incorporate other languages in future versions of the phone. This means that our customers can choose the language they are most comfortable with and get a more naturally appealing connected experience,” explained Larry Annetts, chief marketing officer of MTN South Africa, in a media statement.

Unlike Android and iOS, Firefox OS apps aren’t developed around a native framework. The operating system is designed with HTML5 apps in mind, and there will be a locally curated app store to support the first tranche of handsets.

“It is designed for the Web in mind, the Alcatel One Touch Fire E is the ideal device to use in the digital age where access to information and social networks from a mobile device has become a way of life for consumers,” MTN said.

It is available at selected MTN outlets on prepaid and contract for R89 per month on the MTN MyChoice 25 package. If you fancy picking up the phone without a contract, it will be R1 699.

The smartphone has a 4.5-inch qHD screen (960 x 540 pixels), a dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor running at 1.2 GHz, a 5MP rear-facing camera and a 1 700mAh battery.

Unilever Grabs 8 Kasi Star Brands Awards

Unilever South Africa has received eight Kasi Star Brand Awards. Kasi Star Brands, a Daily Sun and Ask Afrika partnership initiative, are brands that have been determined to be used most loyally by South Africa’s township consumers, irrespective of their background or living standards.

According to Kasi Star Brands, South African township consumers voted with their wallets and their hearts, putting their money where their mouths are to demonstrate this commitment. This has led to four of the FMCG giant’s brands being voted as Kasi Star Brands, cementing them as true star township brands.

Unilever SA’s winning brands are: Sunlight Hand Dishwashing Soap (winner of the Dishwashing Detergents Category), Robertsons (winner of the Herbs and Spices Category), Knorrox (winner of the Stock Cubes Category) and Rama (winner of the Margarine/Butter Category).

Four additional Unilever brands were honoured as Category Winners, for having the highest overall scores per industry. These brands are: Shield (winner of the Deodorants for Men Category), Shield (winner of the Deodorants for Women Category), Dawn (winner of the Male Personal Care Category), and Knorrox (winner of the Soya Mince Category).

“Brand loyalty can only be achieved through the provision of excellent quality at affordable prices. These Awards are evidence of Unilever’s dedication to supplying its consumers with quality products that not only enhance their lives but foster a Brighter Future for all,” said Peter Cowan, Unilever South Africa’s Chairman.

In order to evaluate which brands deserved the Kasi Star Brand status, an in-depth survey was held, conducted through 6 763 interviews in South African townships. According to Kasi Star Brand, this survey by Ask Afrika was the largest of its kind in South Africa with 19 sectors, hundreds of product categories and thousands of brands being included in the measurement.

Kasi Star Brands are weaved into the fabric of South Africa’s vibrant township communities. This ethos is echoed by Unilever’s Sustainability Plan goals to create a Brighter Future for all South Africans. “Our purpose is to make sustainable living commonplace. We work to create a brighter future every day, with brands and services that help people feel good, look good and live life to the full,” confirms Cowan.

The Kasi Star Awards ceremony was held on the 19th of March 2015 in order to recognise South Africa’s number one township brands. The winning brands were lauded as township symbols, contributing to the way township consumers define their status and their personalities.

“Unilever is committed to supporting sustainability and providing consumers around the world with brands with purpose that truly meet their needs. As such, we are proud of these achievements, driven to improve the lives of our consumers and look forward to many more years of creating brands that people love, can identify with and would choose over any other,” concludes Cowan.

- Press Release

Diepsloot's Tech Hub Ignites New Hope

On the outskirts of Johannesburg North, close to the leafy suburb of Fourways lies the poverty stricken township of Diepsloot. This township mostly houses migrant workers and job seekers from neighbouring countries.

Diepsloot has constantly suffered from the perils of negative media publicity with developmental projects often going unnoticed.

One such amazing story is that of Britehouse Group, who in partnership with social entrepreneur enterprise Got-Game, have transformed Sunrise Secondary School into a digital hub.

The R1.5 million Britehouse Got-Game digital hub boasts of a state of the art seating and tablets for 14 people, along with a supervisor station, servers and a smartboard. On the roof lies a satellite broadband dish.

The hub itself is also immune to the woes of loadshedding, thanks to a solar generator donated by Samsung housed next door. The electronics giant also supplied the tablets being used by the learners, while educational material has been provided by local non-governmental organisation, the Mentec Foundation .

“For me training these kids to be project managers was just something I felt we had to do to help them grow micro-businesses inside the hub,” said Arthur Anderson, CEO of Got-Game.

Anderson sees the hubs his organisation gives to communities like Diepsloot as seeds for something bigger, and something which should be self-sustaining in a short time.

“These youngsters can derive value from running this themselves. They grow the hub and move on to train other youths to run the next hub. It becomes like a franchise for all of them,” he professed.

The exquisite facility that can make any 'A' school drool with jealousy, prides itself in more ways than one.The hub has also doubled up as an employment creation conveyor belt.

According to Anderson, having learned a few online skills in the hub, learners can create and upload profiles via the Got-Game jobs platform and start doing small online jobs such as capturing data, creating documents, and other projects for various companies.

“We want to try connect people to digital work spaces. You shouldn’t leave school, have nowhere to go, nothing to do and find that all you have learnt and done was for nothing,” Anderson eluded.

A total of four managers have been trained to help local entrepreneurs use the facilities to expand their businesses – and by charging a fee for the use of the space and internet access time it will provide a revenue stream for the school too.

With a large number of Spaza shops and taverns sprouted throughout Diepsloot, it will be interesting to see them enhancing technological advancements for their businesses through the use of Britehouse Got-Game digital hub.