Over the past decade or so, Naspers has gone from being a reasonably large media and publishing outfit to being an emerging markets internet colossus with major investments Brazil, Russia, China and India, among others.That move into the internet and technology sector, as well as its aggressive offshore expansion, has been massively important for the company. The changes, largely driven by CEO Koos Bekker, mean that Naspers has been able to ride positive market sentiment to a market cap ...

The world we live in is vastly different to what it was just a couple of years ago. There can be no doubting that in years to come people will look back on the current era as the one that fundamentally changed way we interact. Forever.In my previous two articles, I explained how having cogent mobile and social strategies is vital to surviving the changes we're all currently experiencing. In this piece I will focus on the roles Data and ...

Tech news site PandoDaily is merging with NSFW, a magazine based in Las Vegas, in a bid to “double down on investigative reporting.”The financially troubled NSFW was founded by Paul Carr, a former columnist for The Guardian. Sarah Lacy, founder of PandoDaily, wrote: "We aren’t just getting Paul. I’m equally thrilled to announce that we’re also adding Mark Ames, Brad Jonas, Yasha Levine, and David Sirota as full-time staffers.”It’s tough making money in online media and it gets tougher ...

By some predictions the global beauty care products industry is set to grow to US$265-billion by 2017.VC firms are aware of the trend. Abroad, Andreessen Horowitz, Jay-Z’s VC company, poured US$10-million into cosmetics startup Julep, while Ipsy, the monthly beauty box subscription service of vlogging sensation slash entrepreneur, Michelle Phan, pocketed US$3.8 million from Crosscut Ventures and Amalfi Capital.Read more on Ventureburn.

A few decades ago there were reasonably sized businesses that didn't have a single computer and if they needed something big calculated they paid somebody with one to do so. Now we carry around devices with way more computing power in our pockets, using them to schedule appointments, have remote meetings with people around the world and play Angry Birds.Think about that for a moment. Now go beyond just the technological advancements and think about the degree to which ...

Apple’s iterant updates to its mobile operating system iOS have traditionally been met with applause -- creating features which are simple, intuitive, and easy to use. However, this hasn’t stopped a more technical variety of iOS users from making personal or widespread changes throughout the system to better serve their needs - aesthetic or otherwise.Interestingly, Apple has played the fastidious schoolboy taking notes on what its own consumers have been crafting -- and in recent software releases, an unlikely brand ...

Sitting in your iOS 7 cocoon and assume everyone has an iPad? Or that SMS died out with the arrival of BBM? Perhaps you're just under the impression that 99% of the population owns a Samsung Galaxy Something?Well, those assumptions are partially true -- but if you're looking at the mobile space in a country like South Africa, they're not painting an accurate picture of which devices are being used, and how. Research company World Wide Worx has some new ...

So here are some staggering statistics:By 2030 India’s urban population will reach 590 million. That’s almost twice the entire population of the United States. The number of urban middle-class households will rise by over 300% to 91 million and the working-age population will increase by 270 million people. What’s more, in order to meet forecast demand from India’s cities, US$1.2 trillion of capital investment is required.India has made some spectacular progress.According to the World Bank, from 2005 to 2012, poverty ...

This is pretty clever. Insurance company Dial Direct has created a Buzzfeed-style site to promote its new designated driver product.The site, which has been given the name BuzzedFeed, includes a collection of drunk texts as well as audio ads that tie in to the campaign."We all do ridiculous things when we are drunk," the site's about section says, "Buzzedfeed is a collection of our drunk selves at their worst".The Designated Driver Assist programme can be added to a ...

I noticed something over the weekend. I can’t recall the last time I visited Facebook.com on my laptop. Even though I sit at a desk, like hundreds of millions of drones every workday -- well, most of it, anyway -- my Facebook experience is primarily in its iPhone app (ditto for Twitter, in case you were wondering).The problem for Facebook is not so much how well it ‘monetizes mobile’... That’s Wall Street’s problem (and, by all accounts, it's doing significantly ...