Africa’s tech revolution needs you – come forge connections, influence policy and accelerate growth
From AI-driven healthcare to blockchain-powered financial inclusion, the continent is rewriting its narrative as a global tech powerhouse. But to sustain this momentum, collaboration, innovation, and strategic dialogue are non-negotiable. Sentech Africa Tech Week 2025, taking place from 3–4 June, at the Century City Convention Centre in Cape Town, is where Africa’s brightest tech minds converge to shape the future. This isn’t just another conference, it’s a catalyst for growth, a platform for disruptive ideas, and a launchpad for partnerships that will redefine the continent’s digital landscape. Why your company can’t afford to miss this 1. Tackle Africa’s most pressing tech challenges: 2. Unlock cutting-edge opportunities: 3. Network with decision-makers and disruptors: Rub shoulders with ministers, CIOs, global cloud leaders, and rising startups. Forge alliances in the “Global Alliances, Local Impact” session, where cross-border partnerships are redefining Africa’s digital economy. 4. Position your brand as a leader: Think your startup is the next big thing? Then the Pitching Den is for you. Sessions that will redefine your strategy Why sponsor, exhibit, or attend? Sponsors: Gain unparalleled visibility. Position your brand as a pillar of Africa’s tech ecosystem Act now—Africa’s future won’t wait. The clock is ticking. Secure your spot at the forefront of Africa’s digital revolution. Register now: https://qkt.io/MCKP8m
Innovation meets opportunity: Apply now for the 2025 Sentech Africa Tech Week Pitching Den
By Topco Marketing Calling all visionary African tech entrepreneurs! If you’re ready to showcase your innovation, connect with top investors, and win life-changing opportunities for your startup, Sentech Africa Tech Week 2025 is your stage. The Pitching Den is back, bigger and bolder, and we’re inviting you to step into the spotlight. You will have the opportunity to share your idea and battle it out against some of Africa’s brightest minds in tech, with a powerhouse investor panel and an audience filled with key decision-makers in the sector. Finalists will pitch their ideas live at the Sentech Africa Tech Week Conference in Cape Town, one of the continent’s great incubators for start-ups. Finalists will have access to mentorship, pitch training and have a platform to make connections that could redefine your startup’s trajectory. On offer is a grand prize worth R295 000 and the winner will also receive a 12-month high-value media package, a speaking slot at the 2026 conference, a guest slot on Topco Media’s Business Unusual podcast, and three HAVAÍC consulting courses which could supercharge your growth. The Pitching Den isn’t just a competition—it’s a launchpad. Past finalists have landed funding, partnerships, and media buzz that propelled them to new heights. Whether you’re revolutionising fintech, healthtech, edtech, or green energy, this is your moment to shine. There are three simple requirements: Get your tickets for Sentech Africa Tech Week 2025 The simple four step process Don’t let this opportunity slip away. Sharpen your pitch, polish your MVP, and submit your application today. The road to Cape Town—and to scaling your startup—starts now. Apply now: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ATW2025 Got questions? Reach out to marketing@africatechweek.co.za or marketing@topco.co.za for support. Listen to what 2024’s winner had to say on the Business Unusual Podcast Key dates: (Note: Finalists must cover their own travel costs to Cape Town. Apply only if you can commit to attending the live event on 3-4 June 2025.)
Video and audio surveillance in the workplace
By Jessie Taylor A balance of rights Video and audio surveillance in the workplace is an increasingly common practice used by employers to monitor employee behaviour, ensure security, and prevent misconduct. However, while surveillance can be a useful tool, it also raises important legal and ethical considerations. Employers must balance their need to protect company interests with their employees’ rights to privacy. Employers often face challenges when proving employee misconduct at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and bargaining councils. The burden of proof lies entirely on the employer to establish that a dismissal was fair. Many employers rely on video evidence to strengthen their cases, believing that visual proof of wrongdoing, such as theft, guarantees a favourable ruling. However, this is not always the case. While the CCMA and courts have accepted video evidence in certain cases, there have been instances where such evidence was rejected. Factors that influence the admissibility of video evidence include: While video evidence can be useful, it is not automatically admissible. Employers must ensure compliance with evidentiary and privacy laws to use surveillance footage effectively. In South Africa, workplace surveillance is subject to various legal provisions, including: Employers must inform employees of surveillance measures and ensure that monitoring does not infringe on their rights. Failure to comply with these legal requirements may render surveillance footage inadmissible in legal proceedings and expose employers to legal action. Employers do have certain obligations when installing surveillance in the workplace. While employers have the right to implement surveillance, recourse is available to employees who feel their rights have been violated. Video and audio surveillance can be a powerful tool for employers, but it must be used responsibly and within the boundaries of the law. Employers should prioritize transparency, compliance, and fairness when implementing surveillance systems to avoid legal disputes and maintain a positive workplace environment. On the other hand, employees should be aware of their rights and take action if they feel their privacy is being infringed upon. A well-balanced approach ensures that workplace surveillance serves its intended purpose without undermining trust and employee well-being. Sources: Labour Guide | Legal Leaders
Driving gender parity in tech: A blueprint for scaling inclusion
By Nyari Samushonga Women remain underrepresented in the IT industry, a fact that is both well-known and well-documented. While numerous programmes and interventions aim to enrol more girls in STEM subjects, large-scale change remains daunting. The underrepresentation of women in technology is not due to a lack of capability but the result of historical, structural, and systemic exclusion. Over time, this exclusion has created a false perception that women are less suited for technology roles. The reality is that women have always been capable. The real challenge is not about “fixing” women but rather unlearning our biases and reframing social perceptions—both in the minds of young girls and in the broader tech ecosystem of employers, mentors, and collaborators who shape career opportunities. This reframing starts with early exposure to technology and intentional career guidance that normalises women’s participation in tech. If young girls can see technology as a viable and exciting path from an early age, they are more likely to pursue it with confidence. At the same time, the industry itself must shift its perception of who belongs in tech, ensuring that hiring practices, mentorship, and workplace cultures actively foster inclusivity. From high school, I followed a more traditional path, studying finance and building a successful career over 11 years in the sector. I enjoyed my work, and my background gave me deep insights into business and problem-solving. But as technology evolved, I realised that software solutions and products were transforming industries, and my financial expertise was valuable in teams building tech-driven solutions. This opened my eyes to the fact that technology was not an isolated field but a tool shaping every industry, offering opportunities for professionals from diverse backgrounds to contribute meaningfully. What was strange, however, was that despite this expanding need for varied expertise, I was often the only woman in the room or on a team. It was a stark contradiction: an industry unlocking new possibilities for different skill sets yet still lagging in gender diversity. This experience ignited a passion in me to support more women in entering the field and claiming their place in shaping the future of technology. Success stories: Proof that women have always been capable The potential is almost unimaginable. When given the opportunity, young women don’t just participate—they excel, lead, and inspire. WeThinkCode_’s deliberate approach to gender inclusion has not only opened doors but has also proven that talent knows no gender. Many of our female graduates have gone on to become role models, demonstrating their initiative, resilience, and ability to thrive in the tech industry. These young women are proof that their ability has always been there—when given the chance, they grab opportunities with both hands and redefine what’s possible for the next generation. Scaling the vision: Public-private partnerships for inclusive growth Now, we need to scale this vision. Achieving true gender parity in tech requires public-private partnerships that bring together: Investments from key partners continue to bolster WeThinkCode_’s ability to scale nationally. JPMC and Standard Bank Tutuwa are funding a 60-person cohort at Central Johannesburg College (CJC), with JPMC also engaging public sector stakeholders for nationwide TVET adoption. Meanwhile, DGMT and the Caterpillar Foundation are supporting a 30-person cohort at South Cape College’s rural Garden Route/Hessequa Campus. The roadmap is clear. The talent is there. The ambition is there. Now, we must build the pathways that bring more women into tech—not just in pockets, but at scale. Nyari Samushonga is the CEO of WeThinkCode, a South African software development academy that operates in Joburg, Durban and Cape Town.
Trust and fact-checking capabilities on social media platforms in South Africa
By Dr Mmaki Jantjies Has a social media post ever left you wondering whether the information it conveyed was accurate and reliable? The role of social media platforms has grown significantly across business and society. These platforms are now integral to daily life in South Africa, influencing aspects such as communication, information sharing and public discourse. Businesses and public organisations now rely on social media platforms having invested in marketing, customer engagement and information sharing for their service users and customers. Considering the substantial role and influence of such platforms amongst users, should we be concerned about the new fact checking mechanism introduced by the global social media platforms? According to DataReportal’s Digital 2024: South Africa report, in January 2024 South Africa had 26 million social media users, representing about 42.8 percent of the total population (DataReportal, 2024). Here, the DataReportal survey highlighted the following key reasons for social media use among internet users aged 16-64: finding information (83.6%); researching how to do things (79.9%); staying in touch with friends and family (72.5%); finding new ideas or inspiration (69%); and keeping up-to-date with news and events (66.2%) (DataReportal, 2024). A significant number of young people thus leverage social media platforms both as trusted platforms for key information and as a news platform. These include many USA based social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok (its parent company headquartered in Beijing), remain dominant among South African users, offering a space for connection, content sharing and news access. Recent changes in fact-checking by social media platforms Some platforms have recently reduced their emphasis on fact-checking. An example of this is Twitter, coming under new ownership as X, this company has significantly reduced personnel of its fact-checking teams (Nieman Lab, 2022). The reasons cited for these changes often include cost reduction, concerns about bias and a shift towards prioritising ‘free speech’, even if at times this may include misinformation (Freedom House, 2023). In January 2025, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Meta Platforms Inc., announced the discontinuation of its third-party fact-checking programme in the United States. Replacing it with a “Community Notes” system (Meta, 2025), Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg cited concerns over political bias in traditional fact-checking, emphasising free expression instead. Fact-checking plays a crucial role in maintaining information integrity by preventing misinformation, promoting informed decision-making and maintaining public trust. Establishing trust is even more critical in the age of AI-generated content as AI can blur the lines between authentic and fabricated information, making discernment challenging. Social media platforms should thus implement robust measures to ensure content accuracy and reliability. Are community notes a substitute for fact-checking? As social media platforms continue to grow in importance in communities, trust in these platforms becomes paramount which explains why fact-checking processes have been built into these organisations. In replacing fact-checking teams, social media platforms will then rely on community notes as part of the fact-checking process. Community notes are a crowdsourced fact-checking system on social media platforms. Users can flag potentially misleading posts, and other users can add notes providing context, corrections, or links to fact-checks. These notes are then voted on by other users, and the most helpful notes are displayed alongside the original post. While community notes aim to combat misinformation by leveraging collective knowledge, they also present challenges, including potential manipulation, slow response times, and reliance on the expertise of non-professionals. Despite these challenges, community notes represent an evolving approach to information moderation on social media. X has for a while introduced “Community Notes” which allow users to add context to potentially misleading tweets (X Help Center, 2025). However, although such notes can provide diverse perspectives, they still raise concerns about information manipulation and the spread of misinformation. Moreover, it is still debatable whether or not this crowdsourced approach is as effective as professional fact-checking. As Meta’s “Community Notes” system represents a shift towards a community-driven approach, this switch in approach raises similar concerns about accuracy and potential misinformation spread by relying on user input rather than professional fact-checkers (Meta, 2025). Impact of misinformation on South Africa Misinformation has had a tangible impact in various sectors in South Africa. An example is the Listeriosis outbreak in 2017 where there was a lack of clarity on the source of the outbreak. The impact of misinformation spreading had an impact on various suppliers of processed meat with sales being impacted because of this. Another example is in cases that require complex domain knowledge, such as scientific or legal matters. During the COVID-19 pandemic, false information about vaccines spread rapidly, contributing to vaccine hesitancy. This misinformation, often fuelled by social media, led many individuals to doubt the safety and efficacy of vaccines, despite overwhelming scientific evidence supporting their effectiveness. As a result, businesses and governments faced challenges in encouraging vaccination, which in turn affected public health efforts and impacted the broader economy. (Africa Check, 2021). Political disinformation campaigns have also exacerbated social divisions while undermining democratic processes (Media Monitoring Africa, 2022). The challenge of misinformation is thus not unique to South Africa with several examples of its global impact available in the public domain. Safeguarding against misinformation As social media platforms evolve their approach to content moderation and fact-checking, users should assess and utilise the resources available critically. Maintaining vigilance regarding information helps to uphold the quality of public discourse while supporting the democratic process. Equally organisations engaging users on these platforms should continue to invest in the education and protection of their users on platforms they rely on while also being aware of the implications of such information changes, not only on users but also on relying on third party platforms as trusted platforms for critical user engagement. Here are several reputable fact-checking platforms available for public use: Dr Mmaki Jantjies is an innovative leader who is passionate about harnessing the power of technology and R&D to drive change. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in Information Systems. Sources: Africa Check (2022). The changing face
Top technology trends that will continue to dominate 2025
By Dr Mmaki Jantjies Let’s take a look at the key technology areas that will continue to dominate the tech sector in 2025. Anticipating these shifts is not only crucial for the companies seeking to remain competitive, but for the policymakers, educators and individuals aiming to adapt to the evolving demands of the future. Immersive technologies While multinational technology companies such as Apple, Meta and Microsoft continue to invest in R&D exploring various spatial technologies, we will continue to see an improvement in technologies seeking to combine the physical and virtual worlds. For example, Meta has extended its partnership with Ray-Ban on fashionable smart glasses aiming to provide better ergonomic experience offerings and still offer users great style. The glasses are generally comfortable, allowing users to make calls, send texts, live-stream and listen to music using Meta AI alongside many other capabilities and features. In 2025, the rising use of immersive technologies will be stimulated by the reduction in cost of their hardware and increased comfort of devices. Coupled with improving network speeds underlying the experience, more regular device use points toward more universal access to fast speeds from network infrastructure such as fiber and 5G which is required to power up and ensure improved AR and VR experiences without any network lag. Possible applications of these technologies vary from their use as training technologies – especially in areas which are considered dangerous such as mines, oil rigs etc. – to applications in healthcare where, for instance, they can be used to support the rehabilitation process. They can also be used to overlay the user experience in entertainment and sports. Artificial intelligence Over the past two years, AI has received increasing attention owing to the accelerated growth of investment in the field. Meanwhile, increased computing power and data availability have enabled algorithmic breakthroughs, allowing the field to attract more investment and talent. With the ability to create new human-like content spanning from images, text and code, generative AI promises to experience higher adoption as various organisations continue to deploy it in a variety of use cases. Next year will see a surge of organisations pushing for enhanced AI adoption, but this time companies will adopt a sharper focus on extracting value for business in 2025. The key integration of generative AI will be to accelerate innovation and provide bespoke experiences, examples of which are customer service teams making increased use of far more intelligent AI-powered chatbots. These bots are available in multiple languages, including those indigenous to many countries. They seek to improve personalised experiences of customers, being able to handle routine inquiries in order to allow human call center agents to solve much more complex problems. In transport and logistics, for example, warehouse optimisation is being powered by AI-powered robots that navigate warehouses with precision, autonomously picking and packing orders, optimising storage space and dramatically accelerating fulfillment processes. Parallel to these innovations, 2025 will see the continuing sharpening of focus on AI governance and related platforms. Here, countries, organisations and society will need to get to grips with the demand for responsible use of both AI technology and data across multiple economic sectors. As we observed locally, South Africa also developed a national AI Policy Framework with private sector organisations developing similar strategies and policies to guide its use in business. While generative AI technology continues to strengthen, AI systems will go beyond doing single tasks to resemble “a team of specialists” working together. Categorised as “agentic AI”, this new type of AI will essentially give bots the ability to act independently. Think of it like this: instead of just following your commands, agentic AI can figure things out on its own like a detective solving a case. Agentic AI can analyse information, make decisions and take action, all in the name of achieving a specific goal. We could take another real-world example here, imagine a company that uses AI to manage its warehouse. With agentic AI the system would not only track inventory but also predict future demand for products, optimising storage space based on real-time needs, ordering new stock automatically when supplies run low and even controlling how robots move and organise goods within the warehouse. This application is just one example of how agentic AI can make business more efficient and intelligent across a range of industries. Cybersecurity With digital transformation remaining a key focus within the 4th industrial revolution, cybersecurity will remain an important investment area in ensuring the security of technology systems and related data. There are various forms of cybersecurity threats which have continued to impact organisations within South Africa, both within the public and private sector. TransUnion is an example of one of the large organisations in South Africa which was impacted by a ransomware cyberattack in 2022 where the attackers demanded $15-million threatening to expose the customer data which it had access to. There were many similar such experiences in 2023 and 2024. The cyber threat landscape has been further complicated by the rise of AI-powered attacks, cloud vulnerabilities, third-party exposures and insider threats. All of these potentially criminal interventions demand increased vigilance and proactive security measures, and as enterprises integrate AI into various processes so does the growth of AI-powered attacks. Cybercriminals are increasingly using AI to enhance their attacks, making them more difficult to detect and defend against. AI models themselves may be vulnerable to attacks like data poisoning, model stealing and adversarial examples. Economic sectors such as finance and telcos are predicted to strengthen investments significantly in this area as they seek to counter the risk of cyber threats identified globally. Furthermore, we will see a rise of investment in technologies that address disinformation and deepfakes. Quantum computing It was in the early 1980s when the tech world first glimpsed a few of the theoretical concepts representing the breakthrough of quantum computing. Now potential applications of quantum computing are endless and span diverse fields. In drug discovery, quantum computing can simulate molecular interactions, speeding up the development of new treatments.