Last week Heavy Chef hosted a duo of events in Johannesburg and Cape Town, based on the state of the nation’s ‘Online Retail’ sector. On Wednesday evening, the event was held at Workshop17 in Sandton, headlined by Arthur Goldstuck, Managing Director of World Wide Worx and Brad Elliot, Founder and CEO of Platinum Seed, joined by Ally Khan Pretorius, GM of Uber Eats. On Thursday evening, in Cape Town at Workshop17, Waterfront, the final presentation was given by Andrew Smith, CEO of Yuppiechef.

Knife’s investment in PharmaScout will accelerate product rollout to pharmacies, medical practitioners and pharmaceutical warehouses and enhance new product development for the international market. Heavy Chef caught up with Knife’s Keet van Zyl, as well as 5nines’ Doug Siepman, for comment.

This December, Heavy Chef is partnering with Nedgroup Investments to announce the ‘Top 5 Most Exciting Startups In South Africa’, with popular radio and television personality Mo Flava coming on as MC to announce this year’s most successful nominations.

Jonty Acton created, wrote, produced and directed the 13-part Wildlife Reality TV series Frontier Vets, which premiered on SABC 3 in 2016 and has gone on to achieve international recognition. Now, Jonty is embarking on his next big challenge - making a feature length South African film, called Break In. Heavy Chef’s CEO Fred Roed chatted to Jonty about being a film maker and creative entrepreneur - and asked him to weigh in on some thorny topics in the industry.

On November 24th 2018, Katlego Maphai, CEO of one the fastest growing companies in Africa, comes to Khayelitsha to talk at the next Heavy Chef event at Bandwidth Barn at Lookout Hill, in the centre of Cape Town’s biggest suburb. The title of the talk is “The Story Of An African Fintech Company”.

“I think the future for most retail is going to be: this is the brand, they are a retail brand, and you can shop on your phone, you can shop on your computer, you can go into the store, or you can phone in. Integration is the retailer’s challenge,” Andrew Smith, CEO, YuppieChef reveals his three big insights for the future of ecommerce.

Last week, accelerator programme AlphaCode, awarded entrepreneurial packages valued at R16 million to eight of South Africa’s most promising financial services startups. The entrepreneurial packages consist of R1 million in grant funding and R1 million in support, which includes mentorship, monthly expert-led sessions, exclusive office space in Sandton, marketing, legal and other business support services - as well as access to the broader RMI network. Click to read more about the eight winners.

The Business Book Club was founded in April 2017 by Jacques Velleman. The next author to be interviewed in Cape Town is Heavy Chef’s very own CEO, Fred Roed, on November 7th at the Centre For The Book, in Gardens. Fred flipped the roles on Jacques by catching up with him for a few questions, prior to the interview on the 7th.

World Wide Worx in partnership with Platinum Seed, Visa, Heavy Chef and the Ecommerce Forum of Africa, launch new awards to recognise online stores that promote shopper trust.

Following the success of its point-of-sale payment service, which is now used by over 28,000 small businesses, Yoco, a South African-based fintech company, launches Yoco Capital. Yoco Capital provides small businesses with fast, efficient access to a cash advance.

The Karri collection app has grown substantially over the last year. On the back of its success, it is expanding its offering to include collections for just about any purpose or organisation that wants to collect from its members. Click on to read more about the app and Fred Roed’s interview with the founder of Karri, Doug Hoernle.