Recently launched RunwaySale is a new and exciting flash-sale website that brings high-end designer labels to the consumer at hugely discounted prices -- all at the click of a button. Although this concept is already entrenched in the minds of European, American and Australian fashionistas, the idea is relatively new to the South African market and RunwaySale has hit the ground running, taking the South African public by well-dressed storm. We spoke to founders Elmien Smit and Karl Hammerschmidt about some of ...

Africa's tech hubs are coming into their own and now more than ever, the continent is ripe for the taking. It seems Intel is in agreement. The chip maker has announced that it will invest in a cloud company based in Ghana, reports The Next Web. The company in question, Rancard Solutions Limited ("Rancard"), claims to be "a leading provider of cloud based software for mobile content discovery and delivery, focused on Africa". Kofi Dadzie, CEO of Rancard, believes the ...

A new reality show announced earlier this year, tentatively titled "Silicon Valley" is shaping up to be a riot, by the looks of things. The New York Times published an update on the show's progress and provides some insight into what viewers can expect. The show is set to air in the latter part of the year and being a Bravo TV production, the show is sure to ruffle a few tech industry feathers as it explores the "raucous reality of ...

A uncovered autobiography and cookbook written by Kentucky Friend Chicken founder Colonel Harland Sanders was made available for download via KFC's Facebook page last month, which documents Sanders's life up to 1966 -- annoyingly you have to "like" and add an app to your account, so we pulled out some lessons based on anecdotes for you. In 1971, Sanders sold KFC to a liquor and food conglomerate called Heublein, which later lead to the Colonel becoming bitter as the quality of ...

A flurry of online buying companies has rushed in on South Africa, some local and some from abroad, and a relatively new kid on the block has launched recently, offering any number of products amidst stiff competition. We spoke to Ardi Coetzee and Kevin Pillay from EasiOnline about their plans and aims in this market. Ventureburn: Perhaps we can start with a little on each of your backgrounds? Kevin Pillay: Prior to Easionline, I've been involved in the financial selling and credit ...

Readers of Ventureburn are probably well aware of AngelHub, the business angel investment group that pools funding, expertise and networks from a range of early stage investors to foster startup growth. AngelHub has recently extended its network by partnering with FNB Private Clients, First National Bank's specialist banking solution that works with wealthy entrepreneurs, business professionals and others to increase their asset values. So basically, FNB Private Clients help make rich people, richer. The partnership is however, quite significant for two reasons. ...

With all the affection bestowed upon restaurant services like Zagat and OpenTable, it’s high time that a standout name starts crescendoing in Africa. Cape Town-based Table Magic is stepping forward to lend its voice. Last year, Google paid US$151 million to acquire restaurant ratings service Zagat -- after its US$500 million bid to acquire Yelp fell through -- and restaurant reservations service, OpenTable, is currently valued just over a billion US dollars. Whether one agrees with the jaw dropping price tags ...

Pop quiz. Who had the second largest IPO this year, after Facebook? If you guessed Felda Global Venture Holdings, the Malaysian government-owned palm-oil-plantation company you are dead on -- I certainly wasn't. Felda, who raised US$3.1-billion last week, is among a series of companies turning up the heat in Malaysia’s IPO market this year. According to the Wall Street Journal, the latest proposed billion dollar IPO is one by the Malaysian Cable-television operator Astro All Asia Networks. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., ...

A few weeks ago, speculation hit the media circuit that Draftfcb, a global advertising agency owned by the New York Stock Exchange-listed Interpublic Group (IPG), was in talks to buy a Cape Town-based award-winning digital agency called HelloComputer. It's true: HelloComputer has been bought! In an exclusive interview with the shareholders of HelloComputer, we learned that this acquisition will see Draftfcb’s current digital arm, Mesh Interactive, be absorbed by HelloComputer. At the helm of HelloComputer is co-founder Mark Tomlinson and Managing ...

Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea is a timeless, Pulitzer Prize winning novel, both rich in symbolism and conspicuously relevant in its contemporary application. As a parable for entrepreneurs, it is practically without parallel. A simple tale that sees a man set out to achieve a goal, and tackle the challenges that befall him and his determination to realise his ambition. The Old Man and the Sea's succinct, powerful grit registers as a fundamental guide to business. It’s ...