Open Letter twice a day {{ FIRSTNAME }}? If you missed yesterday’s edition, it’s because we sent it 12 hours early — here’s the link to check it out now.

In Today’s Open Letter

SA buys and sells around R12bn’s worth of staple food per month, but the poor pay more per unit – this startup wants to change the game with in-store taps…

The average cost of SA’s household food basket of staples like maize meal, rice, sugar, onions, potatoes, milk, bread and cooking oil is now R 5’413.53. That’s up 56% from R3’056.05 in 2018, when the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity group first started putting out their household affordability index.

But SA’s minimum wage is only R 4’989.88 per month, which doesn’t compute. Clearly, your poorer households, the unemployed and semi-employed will struggle the most in this setup.

The big catch-22

One way retailers and suppliers offset this is by offering those staples in smaller quantities at a seemingly more affordable price. You know, 500ml of cooking oil instead of a whole 1 litre. But this often means a punishing price-per-unit premium.

See, because the embedded costs of distribution, handling and storage, etc. (it costs almost the same to transport a 500ml bottle as it does a litre bottle) remain, the totals of multiple units of the smaller quantity actually cost more.

For example, where 4 litres of Crown cooking oil sells for R149.99 at R37.50 per litre, 2 litres cost R78.99 (R39.50 per litre) and the 500ml costs R26.99 (R53.98 per litre). So your “budget” 500ml is actually 43% more expensive per unit than the bulk option.

Jip. That’s why many opt for bulk purchasing. But not everyone can afford to bulk buy…

The local startup tapping the bulk dilemma

Sonke Retail is a local startup building automated refill stations for everyday FMCG goods. 

Their machines let shoppers bring their own containers and refill essentials like cooking oil, detergent, maize meal and sugar at a fixed price per litre or kilo – no matter the size of the container. Mega.

They already have nearly 60 operational cooking oil refill stations inside retail stores across SA, and the first automated refill store, SKUBU, in Diepsloot, Johannesburg, dispensing Unilever brands like Sunlight, Handy Andy, Omo and more.

It’s a power move for SA families, but it requires retailers to get on board with an in-store dispensing option rather than the product on the shelf. This can make sense from a reducing ops costs perspective, though, or even as a measure to offset plastic footprint for retailers.

We’re watching this space…

Who still downloads a courier app just to send a package?

WhatShip is flipping that idea completely by letting anyone ship to or from anywhere in South Africa entirely on WhatsApp — built as a side project by SA founder Nick Rout.

But here’s what’s really clever:

✅ No accounts, no apps — just say “Hello” to start
✅ Pay securely with card, Apple/Google Pay or Capitec Pay from R59
✅ Supports The Courier Guy for PUDO lockers, kiosks and door pickups

It’s shipping without the setup: a lightweight, WhatsApp-native tool that gets parcels moving in minutes.

What would you build on WhatsApp today?

Most companies spend years building a strong brand…

But if your leaders aren’t visible, trusted or heard online, your growth eventually hits a wall. Personal posts perform 5x what company posts do.

That’s why FDC helps you build what matters:

✅ We turn founders and executives into industry voices.
✅ We manage the full strategy, content and engagement.
✅ You focus on running the business while your influence grows.

From PaySpace to Taylor Brunswick Group, FDC has helped over 300 leaders in 22 countries transform LinkedIn into a channel for real business growth.

If you’re ready to turn your profile into a growth engine, see if you’re the right fit.

🧫 Growth For Growth. Local BioTech startup Immobazyme has landed an additional R25 million in growth capital, bringing its total funding raised to date to R50 million. Immobazyme will use the funding to complete its new 1,800m² Cape Town facility and advance its proprietary therapeutics program. Nice one.

🪴 Give ‘Em What They Want. Inspired by the poll results attached to their recent feature in The Open Letter, our friends at Viro Solutions have joined forces with Sentinel Ocean Alliance (SOA), Plant the Seed & Growing Paper. The Seed People, to turn used Sentinel coffee cups into fully up-cycled pot plants. Lekker man, Murray.

📱 Cause One Screen Is So 2017. Samsung just dropped its first multi-folding smartphone with not 1, not 2, but 3 panels. The Galaxy Z TriFold unfolds into a 253mm display, using three panels, and is nearly 25% larger than Samsung’s latest foldable Galaxy Z Fold7 model. Whoa.

🧛 TV Tourniquet. DStv’s new owner, Canal+, has its work cut out for it to stop the bleed of subscribers. The 1.2 million YOY subscriber loss up to 31 March had accelerated to 1.4 million YOY subscriber loss by end-June. It also seems like a host of Warner Bros channels could be removed from DStv in January. Sjoe.

✅ The Stack. Founders need reliable tools, so our Founder’s Stack newsletters as a service (NaaS) by Stream, LinkedIn growth and acceleration by FDC + loads more.

When you share, we give you cool free stuff.

Yesterday, we showed you Pro’Tech’s concussion-preventing scrum cap, asking about the best way of preventing a rugby concussion. Most say don’t play, watch…

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🏃 Run faster (17%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 📺 Watch the game at home (46%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🪖 Wear some fancy headgear (25%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ✋ No more tackling (0)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🃏 Life bans for dangerous tacklers (12%)

Your 2 cents…

Ha ha, ja Ruan, as if we’ve been holding back all along LOL. 🏃💨

Biotech innovators: SA–Cuba Biotechnology Collaboration Call invites R&D partnerships on therapies for chronic and neurodegenerative diseases. Apply by 5 Dec. Details here.

Building for the ocean? OceanHub Africa’s 12-month accelerator backs high-potential ocean-impact startups with growth support, global networks, and access to catalytic capital. Apply by 30 Dec. Apply here.

Scaling in Africa? develoPPP Ventures offers €100k (about R2 million) non-dilutive funding, plus up to €200k (about R4 million) top-up, for tech-enabled, revenue-generating SA startups with matching funds. Apply by 31 Dec.

Eco-entrepreneurs (16–28): Mercedes-Benz Fellowship funds 1'000 young innovators tackling environmental challenges. Apply by 12 Jan. Apply here.

Want to promote your event/programme here? Let us know.

💡 Tool to Try: Spark lets you build immersive 3D websites with VR support and spatial audio.

🏬 That’s Interesting: The first shopping mall designers imagined malls as full mixed-use micro-cities with libraries, housing, parks, clinics and stores all in one space.

🚚 Next Level: Watch a Red Bull stunt rider jump clean through two moving trucks.

💼 Hack: See the 10 most-used investment funds SA financial advisors use.

🌌 Wow Site: Mystic Aura lets you create and share particle-art simulations.

Vote in the poll, leave a quick comment, or hit reply — we read every single one.