Covid-19 and African tech startups roundup [30/04/2020]

SA employers are angry and frustrated with having to put up with the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s (UIF) ever changing directives to claim under its Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (Ters).

This, while Nedbank announced it is partnering with crowdfunding platform Thundafund, to support for businesses impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic — through its BackaBusiness movement.

With the coronavirus (Covid-19) headlining news all over the world, Ventureburn has launched a regular daily roundup on the virus and how it is affecting Africa’s tech startup sector.

SA employers are frustrated with having to put up with the UIF’s ever changing directives around Ters

Those with any news releases relating to Covid-19 and Africa’s tech startup sector can send these to editor@memeburn.com.

Here then is the latest on the coronavirus and African tech startups:

Anger over Ters: South African employers are angry and frustrated with having to put up with the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s (UIF) ever changing directives to claim under its Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (Ters), Moneyweb reported in an article today. One employer had to submit applications for all 150 staff members no fewer than six times since 4 April. This, while a Centurion business owner had to secure a loan to pay her 20 employees. Meanwhile, Business Report revealed in an article yesterday that the UIF had tweaked its online platform.

Covid-19 guide: SA fintech LulaLend has created a Covid-19 guide which contains an easy to consume, consolidated breakdown of everything related to funding. To access the guide, business owners will be asked to complete a short survey. Explained the fintech in a newsletter yesterday: “We want to support SMEs as we progress through this together. In order for us to get this right, we need your help. Answering a few questions will go a long way to help us better understand the needs of South African business.” Founded by Neil Welman and Trevor Gosling (pictured above, left and right, respectively) in 2014, LulaLend last year closed a $6.5-million round (see this story).

Crowdfunding initiative: Nedbank is partnering with crowdfunding platform Thundafund to support for businesses impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic — through its BackaBusiness movement, Business Report said in an article earlier this week. The initiative is hosted on SimplyBiz, an online platform with business resources developed by Nedbank for business owners.

Our coronavirus pivot: Enrico Ferigolli and Vincent Viviers, the founders of alcohol delivery app Bottles detail in this podcast and video to TechCentral’s Duncan McLeod how they pivoted their business to start delivering groceries in partnership with supermarket Pick n Pay. After the initial shock of what to do with alcohol sales being banned during South Africa’s lockdown, which started on 27 March, Ferigolli and Viviers quickly decided to pivot their business. But then they faced another challenge — order volumes quadrupled overnight. How did they deal with it?

Read more: Covid-19 and African tech startups roundup [29/04/2020]
Read more: Covid-19 and African tech startups roundup [28/04/2020]
Read more: Covid-19 and African tech startups roundup [27/04/2020]

Featured image (left to right): LulaLend founders Neil Welman and Trevor Gosling (Supplied)