Celebrating South Africa's tech innovations: A look back at 2024 and ahead to rocky 2025
As 2024 draws to a close, when one looks at South Africa’s technological progress, there’s a reason to rejoice. Globally, artificial intelligence has without a doubt dominated; however, in the South African context, there are major tech developments that are worthy of celebration.
The first one, which stands out in the fintech sector, is the Yoco Table, a restaurant device, which goes beyond the capabilities of the small payment device. The Yoco Table completes the Yoco product suite.
In the past, restaurant owners had to use other hardware products with the small Yoco payment device. The Yoco Table, together with the management software, enables restaurant owners to get tech power from Yoco. It’s something beautiful to watch from a growth point of view. Here’s a startup that started with just a payment device. Now it has almost everything that is needed to run a restaurant.
When one of the Yoco founders came across the Square product in Silicon Valley, no one could have imagined that they would build a Square-inspired product that is customised for local conditions.
The second product that deserves an award is the SABC Plus app. The SABC app has been around, however, in 2024 it matured. To appreciate the significance of the SABC app, you have to look back to a period when the public broadcaster relied on external platforms for video and audio broadcasting. At some point, YouTube was one of the key video channels for SABC.
Now the SABC has a modern way of enabling citizens to access content via mobile. The quality of the SABC streaming service has improved to an extent that the app has become the main channel through which some citizens access SABC content. In terms of revenue generation, the app can be better. For now, it’s laying an important foundation for the future of the public broadcaster.
These tech products fill one with hope that 2025 and beyond will be filled with impactful tech. Current challenges in South Africa will inspire many to innovate. One hopes that in 2025 spaza shops will receive tech attention. I have no doubt in my mind that tech will assist in alleviating some of the challenges.
I’m also looking forward to more innovations in the govtech sector. The desire to enable ease of access to government is an area that will unleash impressive innovative solutions not only in South Africa but in other parts of the world as well. I have good reason to believe that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the US will inspire innovations across governments.
If all things go according to the plans of the tech lobby in the US, 2025 will be a different year. It will probably be a year of groundbreaking tech innovations. It’s expected that tech will see fewer regulations in the US, which may trickle down to innovations that will be launched in other parts of the world. It’s a year that will present opportunities for businesses and some harmful innovations for consumers. Safeguards will be required even more.
Wesley Diphoko is a technology analyst who has worked at the intersection of technology and media as the Editor-In-Chief of Fast Company (SA)
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