With an array of entertaining and informative interviews blended with the best music, every week on Mix 93.8, Mondays at 7pm, the weekly Sandton Times Hour brings the pages of The Sandton Times to life as the only radio show and podcast dedicated to Africa’s richest square mile.
- Ujala Satgoor, University of Cape Town (UCT) Libraries’ Executive Director provides an update on the Jagger Library and the Ashes Project, which hopes to bring new life to Africa’s lost literature.
- Sammy Rubin, Founder & CEO of YuLife chats about the market entry of the group life insurance brand into South Africa.
- Actor and Performer, Jethro Tait, chats about becoming Buddy Holly in ‘Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story’ now on in Johannesburg.
- Hannes Wessels, Country Head for Binance in South Africa provides an update on the cryptocurrency market.
- Visit www.sandtontimes.co.za for more stories.
The Sandton Times Hour is the go-to weekly digest on greater Sandton including fabulous food spots, luxurious lifestyle bits, first-hand travel tips, motoring notes, and world-class entertainment, business and so much more beyond the borders of greater Sandton. The radio show and podcast has been selected by Feedspot panellists at #15 on a ranking of Top 40 South Africa Podcasts on the web for 2023.
In this week’s episode [Edition 111 | Week 17] The Sandton Times covers an array of topical news as well as these interviews:
THE ASHES PROJECT With University of Cape Town (UCT) Libraries’ Executive Director Ujala Satgoor
On 18 April 2021, the University of Cape Town (UCT) lost its leading collection of African stories housed in the Jagger Library. Two years later, UCT has partnered with DStv to launch the Stories from the Ashes project, which will retell some of those lost stories and write new ones.
Since the fire, UCT and DStv embarked on a journey to resurrect the stories lost in the blaze for the benefit of the next generation. DStv collected five tonnes of ashes and remnants from the burnt stacks of African Studies literature in the Jagger Library. Working with specialists, they were able to turn the ash into a unique ink to write new stories. They collaborated with some of Africa’s finest storytellers to begin the journey of helping to rewrite this lost history.
The book, titled ‘Stories from the Ashes – Africa’s Story Through the Last Millennium’, includes visuals and reprinted extracts tackling different subjects such as African history and identity, politics, gender and identity, performing arts, literature, language and linguistics, African youth, migration and the African diaspora, environment and climate from surviving African literature in the Special Collections Library.
It also includes personal reflections by distinguished UCT alumni such as Justice Albie Sachs, Dr Mamphela Ramphele, Nkosinathi Biko, Carl Manlan, Musa Ngqungwana, as well as Professors Timm Hoffman, Joan Hambidge and June Bam-Hutchinson.
For more on Stories From The Ashes visit the UCT website.
YULIFE ENTERS SOUTH AFRICA With Founder & CEO Sammy Rubin
Founded in London in 2016, YuLife achieved rapid traction in the UK insurance market through its flagship product: group life insurance. The company’s expansion into South Africa marks a significant milestone as it seeks to redefine how people around the world derive value from financial products.
YuLife’s Group Risk Protection (Life, Income Protection, Lump Sum Disability, and Funeral Cover) includes everything in a traditional group insurance policy – but also adds a globally award-winning wellbeing app and trusted support services. YuLife harnesses the latest trends in behavioral science and game mechanics to encourage employees to make proactive lifestyle changes, while also prioritising prevention by de-risking individuals through healthy activities.
The YuLife app enables employees to complete everyday wellness activities, such as walking, meditation, and cycling, in order to earn YuCoin, YuLife’s virtual well-being currency.
Members can then use their YuCoin to buy vouchers for groceries, data, fuel, clothing and more from leading brands, or to improve the world through donating meals, planting trees, or cleaning the ocean. By incentivising healthy living, YuLife provides employers with a way to simultaneously boost retention rates, improve employees’ standard of living, and safeguard their loved ones’ financial future.
In addition to day-to-day wellbeing, YuLife provides critical wellbeing tools and services to further prevent illness, both mentally and physically. All employees with YuLife get access to a virtual GP service through Kena Health, counseling and advice through ICAS, alongside access to multiple wellbeing apps like Meditopia and Fiit.
YuLife South Africa’s policies are underwritten by Guardrisk Life,SA’s largest life cell captive insurer and the market leader in tailored risk solutions.
YuLife has achieved rapid traction in an industry traditionally lacking in innovation. The company recently expanded into the US, and now covers >600’000 group policyholders across small to large businesses, with over $50-billion of coverage in place. YuLife has seen more than 5x growth in premiums year-on-year, and in July 2022 raised a $120-million Series C led by Dai-ichi Life with participation from T. Rowe Price, bringing the company’s total funding to $206-million.
Visit the YuLife website for more information.
BECOMING BUDDY HOLLY With Actor and Performer Jethro Tait
Believed to be the world’s most successful rock & roll musical, ‘Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story’, this fresh and unique take on the jukebox musical follows the incredible journey of Buddy’s meteoric rise to the top of the record charts during the golden days of rock ‘n’ roll – bigger and better than ever seen before in South Africa.
Leading the all-South African cast is singer-songwriter frontman Jethro Tait as the legendary Buddy Holly. This dynamic young performer has the crowds rocking and rolling, like it’s 1958. The ensemble includes the best in South African talent: Bethany Dickson and Keaton Ditchfield, with Michael Stray, Chad Baai, Gianluca Gironi, Thoko Jiyane, Che-Jean Jupp, Gerard Van Rooyen, Koketso Mere, Gabriela Dos Santos, Nic Sedgewick, Virtuous Kandemiri, Sindiswa Ndlovu, Stephan Bezuidenhout, and Morgan Marshall.
Included are all the favourites; songs such as ‘That’ll Be The Day’, ‘True Love Ways’, ‘Oh Boy’, ‘Peggy Sue’, ‘Chantilly Lace’, ‘La Bamba’, ‘Rave On’, ‘Johnny B. Goode’, ‘Everyday’, and many more!
The duration of the show is approximately 2-hours and 25-minutes (including a 20-minute interval) and musical is suitable for ages 8+.
‘Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story’ runs at the Teatro at Montecasino from May 22 until April 28, 2023.
Tickets range from R150 to R500 are available through WebTickets.
THE CRYPTOCURRENCY MARKET With Country Head for Binance Hannes Wessels
Binance is an exchange used by millions around the world to trade and invest in cryptocurrencies and is constantly finding ways to upgrade and improve its offering to make it more accessible, safer and easy to use. Against a tumultuous economic backdrop, many South Africans are looking to a somewhat surprising alternative to assure their financial security: cryptocurrency.
While this means that crypto, is an assuredly safe currency option at this time, many more factors are adding to its attractiveness at this point. First, there’s the specialized computer coding (called cryptography) used to encrypt and keep it secure, which makes for an effective safeguard against fraud. What’s more, all crypto transactions are recorded on a peer-to-peer network of computers, with thousands of ledgers cross-referenced against each other, ensuring significant transparency.
These networks are so heavily encrypted that, it is believed, they are safe even from sophisticated hackers. This means that so long as users practice safety basics, they have complete peace of mind – there is very little chance of crypto being stolen.
Crypto’s resistance to inflation is another plus. Unlike fiat currencies, where value inevitably declines over time, the value of crypto is believed to likely increase. That’s because there’s a limit on the number of coins released.
The decentralised nature of crypto is yet another factor in its favour because it means that no single organisation can affect the flow of coins, which would impact their value. This is believed to make crypto more stable than currencies that are controlled by governments and helps avoid the development of monopolies.
Added to this, crypto transactions are immediate and seamless because they require little time to process.
Despite all these advantages, it is still a good idea to act with caution when purchasing or transacting with crypto. Basic measures to take include using a two-factor authentification for your account, making sure that the password used to protect your crypto is strong, and choosing a separate password for your crypto wallet.
For more information about how (and why) to use crypto, visit the Binance Academy.
Sandton Times Hour Music Playlist
- Jonas Blue Feat. RANI – Finally
- Amorphous, Kelly Rowland & CeCe Peniston – Finally
- Thabsie – Finally
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