Privacy Policy - OceanHub Africa

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy, together with our terms of use sets out the basis on which any Personal Information (as defined in paragraph 2.2 below) that we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be used, stored and processed by us.
African Hub For Ocean Impact NPC, a limited liability non-profit company duly incorporated under the laws of South Africa with the registration number 2020/614530/08 and with the registered address of The Avenue Conference Venue, 40 Dock Rd, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town; and OceanHub Africa Proprietary Limited, a limited liability private company duly incorporated under the laws of South Africa with the registration number 2019/553512/07, (collectively, “OceanHub”) are the “responsible parties” for purposes of applicable data protection legislation in respect of all Personal Information you submit to us via the website, other related URLs, social media channels, via email and/or any ancillary services (“Platform“) and/or in any correspondence and/or communication with us. Please see paragraph 7 below as it deals with Personal Information you submit to third-parties.
We operate within the blue economy and offer start-ups within Africa our acceleration services through our impact-driven acceleration programme and also provide blue economy consulting services (“Services”) and foster global ocean-related partnerships.
We recognise the importance of protecting your privacy in respect of Personal Information collected by us when you use the Platform.

2. Information we may collect from you

When you use the Platform, we may collect certain information that is not Personal Information such as your operating system, browser type, and Internet service provider. This type of information does not identify you personally.
When you register on the Platform, we may also collect Personal Information that you provide to us. For purposes of this Privacy Policy “Personal Information” shall mean any information of a personal nature by which you can be identified as an individual such as your name, postal address, email address, telephone number, postal code, your fax number, gender, age, financial details, and/or company name, business information and VAT number.
We also may collect information including Personal Information in other ways including through carrying out demographic research.
We may collect, process and store the following information (which may include Personal Information) about you such as –
1. information that you provide on the Platform. This includes information you provide to us when subscribing to our Services;
2. information about your device software and hardware, including the unique internet mobile equipment identity (“IMEI“), number of your mobile telephone, the unique integrated circuit card identity (“ICCID“) number of your SIM cards in your device, your email address, personal internet protocol (“IP“) address and mobile phone number;
3. your geographic location information based on your mobile network operator’s tower details, GPS (Global Positioning System) and/or WIFI communications network location;
4. the date and time, country and the IP address of the device from which you connect to our Platform;
5. information that we may ask you for if you enter any promotion or competition or provide us with an application for our acceleration programme on our Platform or if you report a problem with our Platform and/or our Services;
6. details of any of uses relating to our Services facilitated through our Platform and the fulfilment of any contract you enter into with us;
7. details of your visits to our Platform (including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data, weblogs and other communication data, whether this is required for our own billing purposes or otherwise) and the resources that you access; and
8. if you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence;
We may also ask you to complete surveys that we use for research and forecasting purposes, although you do not have to respond to them.
The supply of your Personal Information is voluntary; however you acknowledge that we cannot make certain Services available to you on the Platform if you do not wish to supply such Personal Information.
We may use third-party companies to monitor website traffic, which may, in some instances, store your information, including the Personal Information you submit to such third parties.
By continuing to use the Platform and/or the Services, you consent to the processing, collection, storage, retention and use of the Personal Information you provide to us for any Services that we offer and for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy, and you consent to our collection of any changes or updates that you may provide to us. If you do not agree to the Privacy Policy, please do not use the Platform.
Where you provide us with Personal Information relating to a third-party data subject (for example, your customers and/or clients), you warrant that you have obtained all necessary consents from such data subject, including the data subject’s consent for you to share such Personal Information with OceanHub to process on your behalf. We shall protect, store and process this Personal Information in the same manner and equal level of security as Personal Information about you.

3. How your information is used and disclosed

We may use the information, including the Personal Information we hold about you for the following purposes –
1. to provide you with our Services including during our acceleration program;
2. to verify and keep a record of your identity and details;
3. to ensure that content from our Platform is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer and/or mobile device;
4. to monitor and analyse your use of the Platform;
5. to ensure compliance with laws, reduce the likelihood of fraud on the account and other risk-prevention purposes;
6. in aggregate form, for internal business purposes such as generating statistics and developing our strategic and marketing plans;
7. to provide you with information on our Services and Platform that you request from us or to market our products and Services which we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes;
8. to carry out statistical and marketing research to identify potential markets and trends;
9. to process discounts and cashbacks through the platform and any other related transactions;
10. to allow you to participate in interactive features of our Services, when you choose to do so;
11. to carry out any contracts that may form between us;
12. to respond to any queries, you make;
13. to assess whether you qualify for our acceleration programme;
14. to notify you about changes to our Services;
15. to develop new products and services;
16. to notify you of amounts payable for security, administrative or legal purposes; and
17. to allow you to participate in interactive features made available through our Services;
We may use information provided by you to –
1. enforce agreements and terms of use between us, monitor user activity, such as keyword searches or new postings, and more effectively manage traffic on the Platform;
2. provide customer services, create and manage user accounts; and
3. assist you with technical difficulties.
Also, we may share with third-party service providers certain information, such as your browser capabilities or operating system, that we have collected in order to better understand which Services or content tmay interest you.
We will not use your Personal Information for any purpose (other than as stated above) without a lawful justification. We will not use or disclose your Personal Information to third parties without your consent, unless the use or disclosure is –
1. required to comply with applicable law, order of court or legal process served on OceanHub;
2. disclosure is necessary to protect and defend the rights or property of OceanHub; or
3. where we have another other lawful justification for doing so.
We will be entitled to disclose your Personal Information to our affiliates, agents, advisors, employees, staff and/or third-party service providers and suppliers who assist us to interact with you via our Platform, mobile communications and/or email, and thus need to know your Personal Information in order to assist us to communicate with you properly and efficiently. We will ensure that all such parties having access to your personal information are bound by appropriate and legally binding confidentiality and non-use obligations in relation to your Personal Information.
Your information may be shared with organisations located in other countries around the world. We will only transfer data overseas where we are satisfied that adequate levels of protection are in place to protect any information held in that country or that the service provider acts at all times in compliance with the applicable privacy laws. Where required under applicable laws we will take measures to ensure that Personal Information handled in other countries will receive at least the same level of protection as it is given in this Privacy Policy.
On rare occasions, we may be required to disclose your Personal Information due to legal or regulatory requirements. In such instances, we reserve the right to disclose your Personal Information as required to comply with our legal obligations, including but not limited to complying with court orders, warrants, subpoenas, service of process requirements or discovery requests.
We may also disclose information about our users to law enforcement officers or others, in the good faith belief that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to enforce this Privacy Policy, respond to claims that any content violates the rights of third parties; or protect our legitimate interest and/or the rights, property, or our personal safety or the personal safety of others or the general public.

4. Lawful processing of personal information

We will only process your Personal Information where:
1. your consent is obtained (or if the data subject is a child, the consent of a competent person has been obtained);
2. the processing is necessary to carry out the actions for conclusion of a contract to which a Data Subject is party;
3. processing complies with an obligation imposed by law on us and/or by a regulator;
4. processing protects a legitimate interest of you; or
5. processing is necessary for pursuing the legitimate interests of us or of a third party to whom the information is supplied.
We will only process Personal Information where one of the legal bases referred to in paragraph 4.1 above is present.
We will make the manner and reason for which the Personal Information will be processed clear to you.
If we rely on a Data Subject’s consent as the legal basis for processing Personal Information, the Data Subject may withdraw their consent or may object to our processing of the Personal Information at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out prior to the withdrawal of consent.
If the consent is withdrawn or if there is otherwise a justified objection against the use or the processing of such Personal Information, we will ensure that the Personal Information is no longer processed unless there is another lawful ground for processing such Personal Information.

5. Protection of your personal information

We recognize that protecting your privacy is important to you. For this reason, we are committed to protecting the Personal Information you provide in a variety of ways.
We will –
1. treat your Personal Information as strictly confidential;
2. take appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure that your Personal Information is kept secure and is protected against unauthorized or unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage, alteration, disclosure or access;
3. where required by applicable data protection laws, promptly notify you if we become aware of any unauthorized use, disclosure or processing of your Personal Information;
4. provide you with reasonable evidence of our compliance with our obligations under this Privacy Policy on reasonable notice and request; and
5. upon your request, promptly return or destroy any and all of your Personal Information in our possession or control.
We will not retain your Personal Information longer than the period for which it was originally needed, unless we are required by law to do so, or you consent to us retaining such information for a longer period.

6. Storage and security of your personal information

We will do our best to protect your Personal Information, and we will use technology that will help us to do this, however, the transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure and we cannot guarantee the security of your information transmitted to our Platform. Any transmission of your information to our Platform is entirely at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.
Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password and login details which enables you to access certain parts of our Platform, you are responsible for keeping that password confidential. Please do not share your password with anyone. We will not be liable for security breach arising out of you sharing your password and login details.
We may, from time to time, transfer, store or host your Personal Information on servers outside of South Africa. We will at all times ensure that appropriate security safeguards are in place to secure and protect such personal information held in another country or that the service provider acts at all times in compliance with applicable privacy laws. Where required under applicable laws we will take measures to ensure that Personal Information handled in other countries will receive at least the same level of protection as it is given in this Privacy Policy.

7. Cookies and other information

We may collect information about your computer, including where available operating system, browser type, third-party software installed on your device, installation and uninstallation rates, the language of your device and computers manufacturer, screen size and model of the device and any other technical information for system administration.
This is statistical data about our users’ browsing actions and patterns and does not identify any individual.
We may use cookies to manage our users’ sessions and to store preferences, tracking information, and language selection. Cookies may be used whether you register with us or not. “Cookies” are small text files transferred by a web server to your hard drive and thereafter stored on your computer. The types of information a Cookie collects include the date and time you visited the Platform, your browsing history, your preferences, and your username.
In some instances, our third-party service providers may use Cookies on the Platform. We cannot control, or access Cookies used by third-party service providers. This Privacy Policy covers only Cookies used by us, and not any Cookies used by third parties.
Cookies enable us to –
1. estimate our Platform’s audience size and usage pattern;
1. estimate our Platform’s audience size and usage pattern;
2. store information about your preferences, which allows us to customize the Platform according to your individual interests;
3. speed up your searches; and
4. recognize you when you return to the Platform.
You have the ability to either accept or decline the use of Cookies on your computer, whether you are registered with us or not. Typically, you can configure your browser to not accept Cookies. However, declining the use of Cookies may limit your access to certain features of the Platform. For example, you may have difficulty logging in or using certain interactive features of the Platform.

8. Third parties

We may use third-party service providers to process purchases you make and to monitor our users’ interests. In addition, the Platform may occasionally contain links to third-party websites. If you click on the links to third-party websites, you leave the Platform.
We are not responsible for the content of these third-party websites or for the security of your Personal Information when you use the third-party websites. These third-party service providers and third-party websites may have their own privacy policies governing the storage and retention of your Personal Information that you may be subject to. They may also collect information that is not Personal Information such as your browser specification, or operating system.
This Privacy Policy does not govern Personal Information provided to, stored on, or used by these third-party providers and third-party websites. We recommend that when you enter a third party’s website, you review its privacy policy as it relates to how such third parties collect, process, store and protect your Personal Information.
You agree that we are not liable for any of the following –
1. the content, security, operation, use, accuracy or completeness of any such third-party websites; or the products or services that may be offered or obtained through them; or the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information obtained from a third-party website;
2. the ownership or right of use of any licensor of any software provided through any third-party website;
3. any content featured on third-party website that are accessed through the links found on the Platform; and/or
4. any failure or problem that affects the products or services of a third-party website, for example any telecommunication service provider, internet service provider, electricity supplier, local or other authority.

9. General

You warrant that all information (including Personal Information) that you provide to us is accurate, truthful and current information, and not to impersonate or misrepresent any person or entity or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with anyone or anything. Failure to adhere to this requirement will entitle OceanHub inter alia, to terminate your use of the Platform and/or Services.
You warrant that all information (including Personal Information) that you provide to us will be correct. You acknowledge that we may verify your identity and your Personal Information through an automated email verification process and/or with third party service providers.
You may request access to the Personal Information which we collect from you, including to rectify the information, or object to its processing by sending an email to us at contact@oceanhub.africa.
You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (https://www.justice.gov.za/inforeg/) if you think we are in breach of any applicable data protection legislation including POPIA. The Information Regulator’s address is: JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001 and its email address is complaints.IR@justice.gov.za.
You may access, remove, review, and/or make changes to Personal Information that you have provided to us. If you register, we may send you certain notifications, advertisements, promotions, and specials. We may also send you any legally required notifications and other notifications, including but not limited to, service related notices or notices regarding a change to any of our policies. For example, we may send you a notice regarding server problems or scheduled maintenance to the Platform. In order to opt-out of receiving these notices, you may need to contact us. You can opt out of certain e-mail communications from us, including our marketing and promotional communications.
If this Privacy Policy or any provision in this Privacy Policy is regulated by or subject to the Protection of Personal Information Act (“POPI“) or other data protection legislation it is not intended that any provision of this Privacy Policy contravenes any provision of POPI or other data protection legislation. Therefore, all provisions of this Privacy Policy must be treated as being qualified, to the extent necessary, to ensure that the provisions of POPI or other data protection legislation are complied with.

10. Notification of changes

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy from time to time, and in our sole discretion. We may send you a notice regarding material changes to this Privacy Policy, but we encourage you to frequently check this Privacy Policy for any changes. Your continued use of the Platform after any change in this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such changes.

11. Special person information and personal information about children

“Special Personal Information” means Personal Information concerning a Data Subject’s religious or philosophical beliefs, race or ethnic origin, trade union membership, political opinions, health, sexual life, sexual orientation, genetic information, biometric information or criminal behaviour.
We acknowledge that we will generally not process Special Personal Information and Personal Information about children in the ordinary course of our business and where we do so, we shall only do if:
1. processing is carried out in accordance with the Data Subject’s explicit consent and the competent person for Personal Information about a child;
2. information has been deliberately made public by the Data Subject and/or the competent person for Personal Information about a child;
3. processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a right or legal claim or obligation in law);
4. processing is for historical, statistical or research purposes, subject to stipulated safeguards;
5. where specific authorisation has been obtained in terms of POPIA; or
6. otherwise authorised by applicable laws.

12. Contact details, objections and complaints

Our information officer is our CEO, Alexis Grosskopf.
You have the right to request to access, review, correct or deletion of Personal Information that you have provided to us, or to object to our use of your Personal Information. You can do so by emailing us at contact@oceanhub.africa.