Nothing but the best {{ FIRSTNAME }}? Murder and fraud-accused Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala told parliament he only used Woolworths shopping bags to deliver bribe money to Bheki Cele, ‘cos it’s his fave bag, his “money bag”. 🕵🏼

In This Open Letter

SA could still be spending up to R2.9bn on paper business cards a year – but this startup’s got a plan for faster, cheaper B2B…

Back in 2007, the world was already going paperless. Or as Michael Scott puts it: “Limitless paper, in a paperless world.”

We’ve gone full tilt, moving away from paper as contactless payments rose to 53% (up 11% in just 2 years) and even parking with entry and exit at your local mall managed using your license plate…

So why are we still using printed business cards?

It’s actually quite a big deal

Suppose you take a fairly conservative estimate of 80% of SA’s 2 million managerial-level employees using business cards, 60% of SA’s 3 million salespeople and 50% of our 1.5 million owners and managers of SMEs. Then you still end up with a potential TAM of maybe 3.5 million SA executives.

Now, at an average cost of around R899 per 1’000 business cards (the normal print run volume), that’s a sizeable R2.9 billion price tag.

Even if you just help most businesses cut their niche printing costs by 26% by, for example, eliminating the paper and printing in exec cards, you’d still have a R900 million to R2 billion market opportunity in SA alone.

The local startup with the last business card you’ll ever need…

SB Card is a local startup offering smart, NFC-enabled cards that replace paper business cards with a tap or scan and live, updateable contact profiles storing names, contact info, social links, websites, portfolios, etc., delivering it directly to someone’s phone via NFC or a QR code.

So, naturally, if any details change, you don’t need to reprint cards; you just update your digital profile, and it’s instantly updated on the devices of everyone you ever shared yours with. Noice.

The idea came during COVID, when handing out paper cards suddenly felt outdated and risky. And today, their product works across both Android and iOS without requiring an app, currently used across SA, Africa and even New Zealand.

The team’s said to be working on corporate team solutions, with things like unified branding, advanced lead capture analytics and instant detail syncing and CRM updates for entire departments.

Looks like a lekker way to convert fleeting handshakes into trackable, reliable digital leads.

We’re watching this space.

Why should only big brands have real WhatsApp tech?

Most new and small businesses don’t have time to sit through demos or figure out clunky enterprise software. You’ve got products to ship, customers to talk to, and zero patience for red tape.

But what if you could just… start?

That’s why flEX by Chat Inc is such a game-changer — the first pure SaaS WhatsApp marketing platform in South Africa. No subscriptions. No platform fees. No gatekeeping.

You sign up. You connect your WhatsApp channel. You buy credits. You start sending.

Whether you’re a boutique store, local brand, or solo founder, flEX gives you the same broadcast and automation tools the big brands use — without needing a whole IT team to run it.

🙅 Perfect Storm. FNB customers were left in the lurch as Black Friday and Pay Day converged last Friday, seeing “many” users unable to access the bank’s website and app from as early as 10 AM due to a surge in online activity. Eina.

⚡ Profit Power-up. Eskom’s mega(watt) turnaround is reflected on the SOE’s balance sheet with a tidy after-tax profit of R24.3 billion for the first half of the 2026 financial year. The profits will be pushed back into infrastructure to continue our 200-day loadsheddingless streak. Fingers crossed.

🍑 Hey Big Spender. Someone dropped a cool R1.09-million on a Black Friday transaction late on Friday, according to payment service provider Peach Payments. Early transaction data also showed an 80% growth in 2025’s Black Friday spend only, compared to the entire 2024 Black Friday weekend. Goodness.

🔋 Stupefying Reserves. Scientists have found the biggest lithium (the stuff we use in batteries, alloys and medical devices) in the world. There’s about $1.3 trillion (R22 trillion) worth of the stuff lying underneath a supervolcano. Who’s gonna go get it?

🚙 Planning Your Trip. If you’re heading from Jozi to either Durbs or The Mother City this festive season, your best bet might be to travel by car. Round-trip flight tix will set you back between R3’476 and R6’714 per traveller, while the car ride will set you back between R2’185 and R4’217. Or just stay there. Cape Town is truly terrible in December.

✅ The Stack. Founders need reliable tools, so our Founder’s Stack gives you tech content marketing by Stream, tech, acceleration and funding with Octoco and loads more.

Every time you share The Open Letter with friends, we give you cool stuff.

Financial discipline doesn’t mean cutting out joy.

Create a line in your budget for guilt-free spending, namely, the things that make life enjoyable.

This could be a daily coffee, padel sessions or a good steak dinner.

Plan for it. Don’t leave it to “whatever’s left over.”

As long as it fits into your broader plan, there’s nothing irresponsible about enjoying your money.

Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and should not be considered personalised financial, investment, tax or legal advice.

In The Founder Collab, 120+ South African founders support each other to succeed. Here’s a taste of how creative we got this week…

We learnt The Founder Collab always has the exact person you need: When Candice needed info on liability insurance, she instantly got expert advice — which almost everyone found super useful.

We learnt that AI struggles aren’t solo missions: One founder with a stuck prompt turned into a flood of fixes, tools and ideas from the Collab.

We learnt that awards aren’t won alone: The community backs each other; all the members who are up for startup awards could just drop their nomination in the chat and instantly get an entire community’s votes and support.

Find your founder community. Join The Founder Collab, it’s where 120+ real SA founders help each other to build better, faster every day.

Last Friday, we showed you eFama’s small farm app for trading fresh produce, asking where you get yours. And for most, it’s retail…

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🛒 Checkers / Woolies: I’m loyal to the cold aisle (59%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🍏 Local market: fresher than your morning attitude (12%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🌱 I grow my own: farm-to-mouth, baby (3%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🚜 Direct from farmers: straight from the soil to my soul (3%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 😅 Wherever it’s cheapest: Not about pride, about surviving (23%)

Your 2 cents…

Lekke tip, thanks, Terry. Now we gotta go check it out. 🍏

Africa Games Week — Dec 1–4, Cape Town: Join devs, publishers, and funders shaping Africa’s gaming future with panels, awards, and matchmaking. Book here.

AfricArena Grand Summit — 2–3 Dec, CTICC: Watch 50+ top African startups pitch at the continent’s premier venture summit. Seed to growth stage. Get tickets.

Yoco Meets: Festive Wins — Dec 2, 18:00: Learn how top Cape Town merchants turned chaos into sales with Yoco Counter. Network, share tips, and prep for the season. Book here.

BSS Meetup with Margaret Hirsch — Dec 3, 10:00: Hear Hirsch’s story of reinvention and growth, and connect with Cape Town’s business community over brunch. Book here.

Hosting a demo day, panel, founder meetup or tech event? Let us know, and we’ll feature it for FREE.

💡 Tool to Try: MemeGen turns any photo into a shareable animated meme.

🎬 That’s Interesting: Movie trailers are called trailers because they originally played after the film.

🌫️ Next Level: A hiker captured his own shadow floating in mountain mist.

🥶 Hack: This visual guide shows where each food type belongs in your fridge.

🧑‍🦲 Wow Site: Upload your photo to ShouldIShaveBald, and it’ll tell you straight whether to shave it or save it.

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