South African technology distributor Mustek is investing 7 million rand in artificial intelligence, launching a dedicated business-to-business AI marketplace as the company looks for new growth drivers following the collapse of its renewable energy hardware boom.
Mustek, founded in 1987 and owner of South Africa's Messer PC brand, last year acquired a controlling stake in local startup Business AI and used it to launch the marketplace, which the company says will screen and list AI products and services from multiple vendors. “Anything and everything related to AI, after testing, will be able to offer their services and support to the market and conduct transactions through the platform,” said Hein Engelbrecht, CEO of Mustek.
This turning point comes as the company recovers from a significant revenue decline. Mustek reported revenues of 8.5 billion rand in the 2023-2024 financial year, down 16% from a peak of 10.1 billion rand due to surging demand for inverters and solar hardware during South Africa's load-shedding crisis. Operating profit fell 39% to 278.5 million rand as the unexpected suspension of load shedding abruptly ended the demand cycle.
Engelbrecht said the move into AI represents a worthwhile opportunity. “While generative AI has passed its initial hype cycle, enterprises are now focusing on practical AI use cases with measurable returns, particularly in analytics, automation, and cybersecurity,” he said. He said Mustek's goal is to help customers “move from proof of concept to scalable, results-driven implementation.”
The core infrastructure of the marketplace is provided by Beyond Now, a Dublin-based AI ecosystem orchestration platform. The partnership is designed to avoid vendor lock-in, allowing South African companies to move between AI vendors as needed.
“Too many projects are failing because of poor implementation, lack of governance or excessive reliance on one model or vendor,” said Rudy Dreyer, CEO of Business AI, who previously served as 4Sight's chief technology officer.
Mustek's AI push reflects the trend of the global hardware industry. Nvidia and AMD are leading investments in AI processors, Lenovo has pledged $1 billion over three years to produce AI-enabled personal computers with dedicated neural processing units, and the broader AI data center market is projected to attract $3 trillion to $4 trillion of investment over the next five years.