SA Taxi-owned Zebra Cabs has raised just over $21.6 million from Futuregrowth Asset Management to expand their owner-driver scheme in Johannesburg, and to take on Uber and Taxify. Their big hairy audacious goal is to have 3 000 cabs on the road by 2020.

This development has got us wondering how many players Africa’s ride-sharing market can sustain. There must be easier ways to make a buck, but it seems the prospect of carving out a decent chunk of a potentially multi-billion dollar industry is clearly too much to pass up for VC's like Futuregrowth. The FOMO is real!

It’s going to be interesting to see how quickly Zebra Cabs burns through their newly-found cash. Will they withstand the fierce price war that's almost guaranteed to ensue? How long will their financiers be willing to wait before they turn a profit? And will more funds be forthcoming when Zebra Cabs needs to extend their runway further down the line? Only time will tell.

In this week’s African Tech Round-up we publish snippets from two conversations Andile Masuku taped at SAP’s Executive Digital Exchange, which happened in Camps Bay, Cape Town last week. First, he spoke with SAP’s global Digital Transformation Officer, Dr Chakib Bouhdary who shared some of the most common misconceptions regarding digital transformation he's encountered while interacting with executives around the world. Chakib also explained the strategic mindset driving the trend towards large enterprises keenly making big plays outside their traditional businesses.

Then, Andile then spoke with SAP Africa MD, Brett Parker, who revealed some of the most critical strategic decisions SAP’s global leadership made back in 2010 that helped them to maintain their dominant position in an increasingly competitive global market. Listen in to hear Brett highlight some of the fascinating greenfield opportunities SAP is pursuing on the continent.

Music Credits:

Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution