Privacy Policy

This privacy statement was last updated on 27/05/2024 and applies to citizens and legal permanent residents of South Africa.

In this privacy statement, we explain what we do with the data we obtain about you via https://www.cboconnect.co.za.  We recommend you carefully read this statement.  In our processing we comply with the requirements of privacy legislation.  That means, among other things, that:

• we clearly state the purposes for which we process personal data
• we do this by means of this privacy statement;
• we aim to limit our collection of personal data to only the personal data required for legitimate purposes;
• we first request your explicit consent to process your personal data in cases requiring your consent;
• we take appropriate security measures to protect your personal data and also require this from parties that process personal data on our behalf;
• we respect your right to access your personal data or have it corrected or deleted, at your request.

If you have any questions, or want to know exactly what data we keep of you, please contact us.

1. What if you don’t provide us with your personal information?

If you don’t provide us with your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with the information, products or assistance that you are seeking.

2. Cookies

Our website uses cookies. For more information about cookies, please refer to our Cookie Policy.  The inclusion of full IP addresses is blocked by us.

3. Security

We are committed to the security of personal data.  We take appropriate security measures to limit abuse of and unauthorised access to personal data.  This ensures that only the necessary persons have access to your data, that access to the data is protected, and that our security measures are regularly reviewed.

4. Third-party websites

This privacy statement does not apply to third-party websites connected by links on our website.  We cannot guarantee that these third parties handle your personal data in a reliable or secure manner.  We recommend you read the privacy statements of these websites prior to making use of these websites.

5. Amendments to this privacy statement

We reserve the right to make amendments to this privacy statement.  It is recommended that you consult this privacy statement regularly in order to be aware of any changes.  In addition, we will actively inform you wherever possible.

6. Accessing and modifying your data

If you have any questions or want to know which personal data we have about you, please contact us.  You can contact us by using the information below. You have the following rights:

You have the right to know why your personal data is needed, what will happen to it, and how long it will be retained for.

• Right of access: You have the right to access your personal data that is known to us.
• Right to rectification: you have the right to supplement, correct, have deleted or blocked your personal data whenever you wish.
  If you give us your consent to process your data, you have the right to revoke that consent and to have your personal data deleted.
• Right to object: you may object to the processing of your data. We comply with this, unless there are justified grounds for processing.

Please make sure to always clearly state who you are, so that we can be certain that we do not modify or delete any data of the wrong person.

7. Submitting a complaint

If you are not satisfied with the way in which we handle (a complaint about) the processing of your personal data, you have the right to submit a complaint to the Information Regulator South Africa:

P.O Box 31533, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2017

Complaints email:  complaints.IR@justice.gov.za

8. Children

Our website is not designed to attract children and it is not our intent to collect personal data from children under the age of consent in their country of residence.  We therefore request that children under the age of consent do not submit any personal data to us.

9. Contact details

Company name:  CBO Connect (Pty) Ltd T/A Community Business Owners
Company address:  9 Patterdale Complex, Campo Street, Beyers Park, Boksburg, 1459
Websites: https://www.cboconnect.co.za and https://events@cboconnect.co.za and https://virtual.cboconnect.co.za
Email: info@cboconnect.co.za
Phone number: +27813456355

We have appointed a contact person for the organisation’s policies and practices and to whom complaints or inquiries can be forwarded:

Information Officer at Smart Business Solutions
Spaces Rivonia, Rivonia Boulevard, Rivonia, Johannesburg, 2128, Gauteng, South Africa

10. What law are we referring to with referencing POPIA?

In a South African context, we are referring to being compliant with the Protection of Personal Information Act but we also comply with GDPR requirements for any international visitors.

11. Is our Privacy Policy set in stone?

This policy is very likely to be updated in the future as laws and requirements alter.  If there is an important change that affects you or your information, then we will notify you by email.

The current version of this document is highlighted at the top of this page.  As new versions are published we will save older versions which can be made available to you upon request.

12. Third-party links

Please be aware that there may be links on our website which take you to another website.  If you follow these links, then please be aware that you may need to read or accept the other website’s privacy policy as this is no longer our purview.

13. What we collect and store

While you visit our site, we’ll track:

• Products you’ve viewed: we’ll use this to, for example, show you products you’ve recently viewed
• Location, IP address and browser type: we’ll use this for purposes like estimating taxes and shipping
• Shipping address: we’ll ask you to enter this so we can, for instance, estimate shipping before you place an order, and send you the order!

We’ll also use cookies to keep track of basket contents while you’re browsing our site.

Note: you may want to further detail your cookie policy, and link to that section from here.

When you purchase from us, we’ll ask you to provide information including your name, billing address, shipping address, email address, phone number, credit card/payment details and optional account information like username and password.  We’ll use this information for purposes, such as, to:

• Send you information about your account and order
• Respond to your requests, including refunds and complaints
• Process payments and prevent fraud
• Set up your account for our store
• Comply with any legal obligations we have, such as calculating taxes
• Improve our store offerings
• Send you marketing messages, if you choose to receive them

If you create an account, we will store your name, address, email and phone number, which will be used to populate the checkout for future orders.

We generally store information about you for as long as we need the information for the purposes for which we collect and use it, and we are not legally required to continue to keep it.  For example, we will store order information for 5 years for tax and accounting purposes.  This includes your name, email address and billing and shipping addresses.

We will also store comments or reviews, if you choose to leave them.

14. Where are we collecting your data?

We collect your data on our website when you willingly submit your info.

When people join our Facebook group they are given the option of submitting their email to receive updates from us.  This is another place where your info could be collected with your permission.

We may use data collected by 3rd party advertising partners (like Facebook) where you have given your consent to them.  In these instances, we will not have direct access to your information but will have access to be able to show relevant ads to you via their anonymised info.

Should your personal information change, please inform us and provide us with updates to your personal information as soon as reasonably possible to enable us to update your personal information.

You may choose to provide additional personal information to us, in which event you agree to provide accurate 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.

15. How do we use your personal information?

We collect your data so that we can engage with you relating to services or information which you have requested information about or to provide you with the digital products and services that you have purchased from us.  We will only do this with your expressed consent which is given when you provide your information through our website in accordance with this Privacy Policy. 

In order to fulfil our digital products and services, we may disclose your information with WAINWRIGHT CORPORATION and SMART BUSINESS SOLUTIONS team members, each of which has agreed to this Privacy Policy and to our internal information breach policies as required within the laws of the POPI Act.  In the event that you have selected to opt-in via one of our affiliate partners then the information may be shared with that specific affiliate.

If required to fulfil a service, we may pass your information over to third-party partners such as courier partners like The Courier Guy as they will need your delivery details for delivery or payment partners like Paystack or PayPal so that they can process the payments which you have agreed to.

The CBO CONNECT website is built on the WordPress website development framework.  The data that is collected is stored on secure servers that are hosted in Xneelo’s secure data centres.  Click here to view more information about Xneelo’s security and reliability measures.

We are entitled to use or disclose your personal information if such use or disclosure is required in order to comply with any applicable law, subpoena, order of court or legal process served on us, or to protect and defend our rights or property.  In the event of a fraudulent online payment, CBO CONNECT is entitled to disclose relevant personal information for criminal investigation purposes or in line with any other legal obligation for disclosure of the personal information which may be required of it.

CBO CONNECT undertakes never to sell or make your personal information available to any third party other than as provided for in this policy.

16. Who on our team has access

Members of our team have access to the information you provide us. For example, both Administrators and Shop Managers can access:

• Order information like what was purchased, when it was purchased and where it should be sent, and
• Customer information like your name, email address, and billing and shipping information.
• Our team members have access to this information to help fulfil orders, process refunds and support you.

17. What we share with others

In this section you should list who you’re sharing data with, and for what purpose.  This could include, but may not be limited to, analytics, marketing, payment gateways, shipping providers, and third party embeds.

We share information with third parties who help us provide our orders and store services to you.

18. Marketing and your subscription to our emails

You may, from time to time, receive emails relating to content on:

• eCommerce
• online businesses
• business in general
• marketing
• opportunities, deals, and discounts

Any and all marketing emails sent from CBO CONNECT or SMART BUSINESS SOLUTIONS or WAINWRIGHT CORPORATION includes the option to unsubscribe at the bottom of the email in one click.  So, if you would like to be unsubscribed from our emails then simply click that link and we will honour that request.

Occasionally we will send targeted campaigns and there may be an option to opt-out of that campaign plus the option to unsubscribe from all our marketing emails.  Please check that you select the right option for what you would like to achieve.

If at any time you would like to be unsubscribed, then another option is to simply send an email support@cboconnect.co.za requesting this and it will be updated on our system.

19. Ratings and Reviews

When you provide a rating or review on any of our platforms, you consent to us using that rating or review as we deem fit, including without limitation on the website, in newsletters, or other marketing material.  If you do not agree to this, please do not put any ratings or reviews on the website.

20. Data shelf life

All the information that we process has a shelf life that is available upon request.

This means that we “clean” our database on a regular basis by removing users who have not interacted with us over a certain period.

In this instance, the user will be unsubscribed however their info may still be stored securely on our system for historical purposes.

21. What are the rights of a data subject?

At any time,

• You can request to access whatever data we have on you;
• You can request it to be edited or deleted entirely, or;
• You may withdraw your consent.

All your rights are protected in line with the requirements of the POPI Act.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at info@cboconnect.co.za