Local AI Business-in-a-Box startup NowNow takes aim at SA’s tender black hole скачать в хорошем качестве

Local AI Business-in-a-Box startup NowNow takes aim at SA’s tender black hole

When using AI in businesses in South Africa, it can be prone to hallucinations as the models have limited training data on local companies, products and regulations. Lars Gumede, a young Swedish-South African tech entrepreneur, has developed a local AI product called NowNow to give businesses in South Africa better access to AI. In an interview with BizNews, he describes it as the ultimate AI assistant for South African businesses, trained exclusively on SA data, including SARS, the CIPC and labour laws. Gumede explains it can handle tasks like email summaries, calendar management, receipt and invoice processing, compliance checks and, crucially, tender discovery. A core focus, he said, is enhancing transparency in government tenders to reduce secretive “nobid” scenarios where corruption thrives, increase competition among bidders and ultimately deliver better value for taxpayers. He has offered his services to the government but says the response has been slow. Timestamps 00:00 - AI & SA regulations 00:33 - Founding Nownow 02:02 - SARS & labour laws 03:02 - Services overview 03:42 - Tender finder 04:05 - Fighting corruption 05:19 - Government outreach 06:19 - Global AI examples 08:52 - Growth & users 09:18 - Funding plans 09:43 - Cybersecurity 10:37 - New features 11:15 - AI in South Africa 12:24 - AI in government & Eskom 14:31 - Jobs & AI Video production by Siziphiwe Ntlaningeshe Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here - https://bit.ly/4ifcIWO Your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider keeps you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here - https://bit.ly/3is4b7l Join this channel to get access to perks:    / @biznewstv