Cookie Policy

Understanding the technologies we use to enhance your experience on the Bizora platform:

Cookies Defined:

Cookies are small text files stored on your device (computer, smartphone, or tablet) when you visit websites. They contain information that helps websites remember your preferences, track your activity, and provide personalized experiences. Cookies are widely used to make websites work more efficiently and provide valuable information to website owners.

Types of Cookies by Duration:

Session cookies are temporary and are deleted when you close your browser. They help our platform function properly during your visit, such as maintaining your login state as you navigate between pages. Persistent cookies remain on your device for a set period or until you delete them. They remember your preferences and settings for future visits, like your language preference or whether you want to stay logged in.

First-Party vs Third-Party Cookies:

First-party cookies are set directly by Bizora and are used to provide core functionality and improve your experience on our platform. Third-party cookies are placed by external services we use, such as analytics providers, advertising networks, or social media platforms, to help us understand user behavior and deliver relevant content.

Similar Technologies:

In addition to cookies, we use web beacons (tiny graphics embedded in emails or web pages), local storage (HTML5), and mobile device identifiers to collect information about how you use our services. These technologies serve similar purposes to cookies and are covered by this policy.

Bizora uses cookies for various purposes to provide and improve our services for small business owners and entrepreneurs:

Essential Cookies (Strictly Necessary):

These cookies are critical for the platform to function and cannot be disabled without severely affecting your ability to use our services. They enable core functionality such as user authentication, keeping you logged in during your session, security features to prevent fraud and protect your account, load balancing to distribute traffic across our servers, and remembering items in your consultation booking cart. Without these cookies, basic features of Bizora would not work.

Performance and Analytics Cookies:

We use cookies to collect information about how users interact with our platform. This includes which pages are visited most frequently, which training modules are completed, how long users spend on different sections, where users encounter errors or difficulties, and which features are most valuable to entrepreneurs. This data is aggregated and anonymized, helping us identify areas for improvement and optimize the user experience.

Functionality and Personalization Cookies:

These cookies allow our platform to remember your choices and provide enhanced, personalized features. They store your language preference, remember your business sector and interests to show relevant content, save your mentorship matching preferences, maintain your dashboard layout customization, and remember whether you've participated in surveys or viewed certain content. This makes your experience more tailored and efficient.

Marketing and Advertising Cookies:

With your consent, we use cookies to deliver relevant advertising and marketing messages. These cookies track whether you came to Bizora through an advertisement, measure the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns, prevent you from seeing the same ads repeatedly, show you relevant business opportunities and training recommendations, and enable social media features. You can opt out of marketing cookies while still using our platform.

Below is a detailed overview of the specific cookies and third-party services used on the Bizora platform:

Essential Cookies:

Analytics Cookies (Third-Party):

Functionality Cookies:

Marketing Cookies (Third-Party):

Social Media Cookies:

When you interact with social sharing buttons or embedded content from platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, these services may set their own cookies. We do not control these third-party cookies. Please refer to their respective privacy policies for more information.

You have control over how cookies are used on your device. Here are several ways to manage your cookie preferences:

Bizora Cookie Settings:

When you first visit our platform, we present a cookie consent banner allowing you to accept or reject non-essential cookies. You can change your preferences at any time by clicking the "Cookie Settings" link in the footer of any page. This opens a preference center where you can enable or disable different categories of cookies. Note that disabling certain cookies may affect your ability to use some features of our platform.

Browser Controls:

Most web browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings. You can typically set your browser to refuse all cookies, accept only first-party cookies, or notify you when a cookie is set. To manage cookies in popular browsers: In Chrome, go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Cookies; in Firefox, go to Options > Privacy and Security; in Safari, go to Preferences > Privacy; in Edge, go to Settings > Cookies and Site Permissions. Refer to your browser's help documentation for specific instructions.

Mobile Device Settings:

On mobile devices, you can control tracking through your device settings. iOS users can limit ad tracking in Settings > Privacy > Apple Advertising. Android users can opt out of personalized ads in Settings > Google > Ads. Additionally, you can reset your advertising identifier to clear existing tracking data.

Third-Party Opt-Out Tools:

For analytics cookies, you can install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on available at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. For advertising cookies, visit industry opt-out pages like the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) at optout.aboutads.info or the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) at optout.networkadvertising.org. These tools allow you to opt out of participating advertising networks.

Impact of Disabling Cookies:

While you can disable most cookies, please note that some essential cookies are necessary for the platform to function. If you block or delete essential cookies, you may not be able to log in, access certain features, or experience the full functionality of Bizora. Performance and functionality cookies enhance your experience but are not strictly required. Disabling them may result in a less personalized experience.

Your privacy is important to us. Here's how we protect information collected through cookies:

Compliance with Data Protection Laws:

Our use of cookies complies with South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and other applicable data protection regulations. We obtain your consent before placing non-essential cookies on your device and provide clear information about how we use cookies. You have the right to withdraw consent at any time through our cookie settings.

Data Security:

Data collected through cookies is stored securely using industry-standard encryption and security measures. We limit access to cookie data to authorized personnel who need it to perform their job functions. We regularly review our security practices to ensure the protection of your information.

Data Retention:

Cookie data is retained only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy. Session cookies are deleted when you close your browser. Persistent cookies remain for their specified duration or until you delete them. Analytics data is typically retained for 26 months, after which it is automatically deleted or anonymized.

Third-Party Data Sharing:

When we use third-party cookies, data may be shared with those service providers. We carefully select partners who commit to protecting your privacy and use data only for specified purposes. We require third parties to comply with applicable data protection laws and maintain appropriate security measures. For details on how third parties process your data, please review their privacy policies.

Your Rights:

Under POPIA, you have rights regarding data collected through cookies, including the right to access information about what data we collect, request deletion of your data, object to processing for marketing purposes, and withdraw consent. To exercise these rights, contact us at [email protected] or adjust your cookie preferences in your account settings.

This Cookie Policy may be updated periodically to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements:

Policy Updates:

We may modify this Cookie Policy from time to time as our use of cookies evolves or in response to changes in technology, laws, or business practices. When we make significant changes, we will notify you through a prominent notice on our platform or via email at least 30 days before the changes take effect. The effective date at the top of this policy indicates when it was last updated. We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we use cookies.

Changes to Cookie Usage:

If we introduce new categories of cookies or expand our use of cookies in ways not covered by your previous consent, we will seek your consent again through our cookie banner or preference center. You always have the option to decline non-essential cookies without affecting your ability to use core features of the Bizora platform.

Questions and Concerns:

If you have questions about our use of cookies, want to request more information about specific cookies, or need assistance managing your preferences, please contact us:

Additional Resources:

For more information about cookies and online privacy, you may find these resources helpful: the Information Regulator of South Africa's website at www.justice.gov.za/inforeg, the All About Cookies guide at www.allaboutcookies.org, and your browser's help documentation on managing cookies and privacy settings.

By continuing to use the Bizora platform, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Cookie Policy and consent to our use of cookies as described. Thank you for trusting Bizora as your partner in entrepreneurship and small business success.