Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Be in the Know with 🇿🇦 Startup, Tech & Business

News

SA Small Business Reform: 5+ Wins the 2026 Budget Delivers for SMEs

Feb 26, 2026

•

6 min read

SA Small Business Reform: 5+ Wins the 2026 Budget Delivers for SMEs

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana raised the VAT registration threshold from R1 million to R2.3 million, a change that hasn't happened in 17 years. It's one of several South African business reform moves in the 2026 budget that directly address what we called for in our recent letter to the president. Here's what landed, what didn't, and whether it's enough.

Elvorne Palmer, +1

Podcast

Aug 6, 2025

•

3 min read

Louis de Kock | Nile.ag

Getting AgriTech Right Through Timing, Trust & Disrupting Legacy Markets

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Podcast

Jul 30, 2025

•

3 min read

Katie Dodge | Koola Capital

Providing business funding to township entrepreneurs.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

Aug 18, 2023

•

12 min read

🤙 Giving the Little Guy a Shot...

Plus: Moon water, brainwaves, SA’s harsh startup truths & how Amazon’s training 100k young South Africans.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

Aug 15, 2023

•

13 min read

🎬 Script, Shoot & Ship in 24 Hours...

Plus: Sky wine, DropGPT, co-founders getting along & why the fight’s off.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

💁‍♀️ Guess Who's to Thank for Cooler Workspaces...

Aug 11, 2023

•

14 min read

💁‍♀️ Guess Who's to Thank for Cooler Workspaces...

Plus: World’s slowest 100m, SA’s $50M Series B injection & why woman engineers make great founders + (a special gift inside).

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

Aug 8, 2023

•

12 min read

🤑 How 75% of SA Choose to Pay...

Plus: Space funerals, poor CEOs, Worldcoin chaos & cost-effective bootstrapping.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

Aug 4, 2023

•

13 min read

⚽ The GOAT of Sporting Opportunities...

Plus: Launching a new VC, Mr Beast gets spicy SA’s big tech crackdown & building nice local streaming products.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

Aug 1, 2023

•

12 min read

🐷 The Farm-Boy iPad Revolution...

Plus: Elon’s bat signal, no people in bear suits & the truth about startup marketing.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

Jul 27, 2023

•

14 min read

🛒 How 12M of Us Buy Groceries...

Plus: Secret millionaires, no more Blouberg, user feedback tools & another Twitter devaluation.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

Jul 25, 2023

•

13 min read

🎓 When it Pays to Skip School...

Plus: Twitter is no more, robots and retirees, MVP tools & all that diesel for your takeaways.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

🎫 Hyper-Local Boys Klapping Big Players...

Jul 20, 2023

•

12 min read

🎫 Hyper-Local Boys Klapping Big Players...

Plus: Here come the retirees, James Cameron’s last warning & finding your niche audience.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

Jul 18, 2023

•

11 min read

⚡ When There’s Too Much Power...

Plus: 500 best ChatGPT plugins, SA flocking to the movies, Mr “gangsta-boy” Sinatra & the world’s first phone-free island.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

Jul 13, 2023

•

13 min read

🥊 The Gloves Come Off in Zuck v Musk...

Plus: Disabling robotaxis, BRICS money, better user feedback & the US wants to help Eskom out of its misery.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

Jul 11, 2023

•

10 min read

🏎️ The $50 Million Camera Angle

Plus: Cassette-tape kimonos, a chocolate “klap” & 6 metrics to sanity check for your startup.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

🚐 15M People to Lose Their Only Transport...

Jul 6, 2023

•

15 min read

🚐 15M People to Lose Their Only Transport...

Plus: Meta’s Twitter competitor, how you trained AI & building things that don’t scale (on purpose).

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

Jul 4, 2023

•

14 min read

🤑 The Future of SA E-Commerce?

Plus: SA’s secret airship, the first 5 days of your startup & how Elon plans to limit your Twitter time.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

Jun 29, 2023

•

11 min read

🚜 Container Farms & Food Security

Plus: Who ate all the zebras? Drone cops & 8 more costly startup mistakes to avoid.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

Jun 27, 2023

•

11 min read

😎 The New Gold Rush (we almost missed)

Plus: Don’t drink NASA’s water, where the big money is & the perfect co-founder match.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

🥽 Grab Your Headset, This 'bout to Take Off...

Jun 22, 2023

•

14 min read

🥽 Grab Your Headset, This 'bout to Take Off...

Plus: Fake gear levers, confusing AIs with cheese, validating like a venture builder & levelling up your dev’s soft skills.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

Jun 20, 2023

•

13 min read

💉 Ready for a R500bn Injection?

Plus: Beyonce’s Swedish inflation hike, hyperlocal entrepreneurs & why Google wants staff to stop using Bard.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

Jun 15, 2023

•

13 min read

📺 From 3M to 85M in 24 hours...

Plus: A new Beatles song, SARS vs Adidas & the 8 biggest startup mistakes.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

🥸 Big Tech Knows Something We Don't... About AI and Jobs in SA

Jun 13, 2023

•

13 min read

🥸 Big Tech Knows Something We Don't... About AI and Jobs in SA

The truth About AI and Jobs in SA. Plus: Your Zuma-era package has arrived, building ugly & have a cappuccino on us.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

Jun 8, 2023

•

14 min read

🚗 EVs Could Free Up Billions – You In?

Plus: R1.3M in free marketing, 7 things for go-big disruptors & taking pics without a camera or phone.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Originals

Jun 6, 2023

•

13 min read

🧬 A Billion Secrets in Our DNA...

Plus: Honest user feedback, a broken website & how many people lost their jobs to AI last month.

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

Renier 📨 The Open Letter

SA Small Business Reform: 5+ Wins the 2026 Budget Delivers for SMEs

Louis de Kock | Nile.ag

Katie Dodge | Koola Capital

🤙 Giving the Little Guy a Shot...

🎬 Script, Shoot & Ship in 24 Hours...

💁‍♀️ Guess Who's to Thank for Cooler Workspaces...

🤑 How 75% of SA Choose to Pay...

⚽ The GOAT of Sporting Opportunities...

🐷 The Farm-Boy iPad Revolution...

🛒 How 12M of Us Buy Groceries...

🎓 When it Pays to Skip School...

🎫 Hyper-Local Boys Klapping Big Players...

⚡ When There’s Too Much Power...

🥊 The Gloves Come Off in Zuck v Musk...

🏎️ The $50 Million Camera Angle

🚐 15M People to Lose Their Only Transport...

🤑 The Future of SA E-Commerce?

🚜 Container Farms & Food Security

😎 The New Gold Rush (we almost missed)

🥽 Grab Your Headset, This 'bout to Take Off...

💉 Ready for a R500bn Injection?

📺 From 3M to 85M in 24 hours...

🥸 Big Tech Knows Something We Don't... About AI and Jobs in SA

🚗 EVs Could Free Up Billions – You In?

🧬 A Billion Secrets in Our DNA...

JOIN IN