Almost there {{ FIRSTNAME }}? New reports say AI is helping big companies boost productivity, but it’s not creating more revenue. Hmm, sounds like a strategy/business model problem, then, right? 🤷🏻

In This Open Letter

SAPS gets about 17.7 million emergency calls per year (48k per day) but can only respond to 37% of them – this startup’s helping SA get help faster…

SA’s emergency response capabilities are struggling.

Just last week, acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia admitted: “I do not believe that we are currently in a position to defeat these gangs”, in reference to the spate of recent gang-related killing sprees in the Western and Eastern Cape.

Unsurprising considering we only have 240 police officers for every 100’000 citizens. 

The state of SA’s emergency response

Medically, we’re not doing much better, with over 27’000 Department of Health (DOH) vacancies, of which 2’147 are doctors and 16‘870 nurses.

On the ground, when every second counts, the DOH targets a response time of under 15 minutes in urban areas and under 40 minutes in rural areas. 

But in reality, only 48.5% of Priority 1 calls were managed within 30 minutes in urban settings, and 58.2% within 60 minutes in rural settings.

Crazy. But not as crazy when you consider that the state spends more on debt service costs (R426.3B) than on health (R296.1B) and policing (R113.1B) combined. 

So, good thing more private entities are stepping up with innovative solutions…

The local startup getting you help faster

iER (Integrated Emergency Response) is an app connecting South Africans to a network of over 18’000 medical, non-medical and security response units around the country.  

When you trigger an alert via the iER app, it uses GPS to pinpoint your exact coordinates, and the 24/7 National Emergency Command Centre assesses the severity of the situation within seconds.

iER then identifies the closest vetted responder in their network and routes them to you instantly, whether it’s for a medical situation, safety issue, fire, or even breakdown.

While the app is free to use, iER offers Premium and Premium Plus plans with hospital and emergency stabilisation cover, as well as 24/7 access to telephonic medical professionals via phone for non-emergency guidance.

A wider circle

The app also has a nifty feature that lets users report infrastructure issues like potholes, burst pipes or broken streetlights by providing the precise GPS data points municipal teams need to prioritise repairs. Nice one.

No wonder they took the Best South African Solution AND Most Innovative Solution awards at FNB’s App of the Year 2025.

We’re watching this space…

SA retailer Cape Union Mart’s system was battling ongoing payroll and leave issues, requiring constant fixes, repeated updates and regular consultant support just to keep things running. The payroll team spent most of their time putting out fires instead of improving processes.

That’s why they moved to Deel Local Payroll, powered by Payspace, a fully cloud-based solution that the team could easily manage internally. 

The result? Payroll processing that used to take four days now only takes half a day. Downtime disappeared, audits became easier, and store staff gained mobile access. Most importantly, the payroll team finally had time to focus on improving how the business runs.

Less admin. More impact.

🪪 Going Digital. Home Affairs says we’ll be getting digital IDs by the end of the year. Well, the start of a rollout anyway. The digital IDs will extend beyond Home Affairs uses into other areas of government, like transport. Lekker, man.

👀 Well, Looky Here. A group of plaintiffs, including some from SA, is suing Meta, alleging that the tech giant made false claims about WhatsApp’s “end-to-end” encryption, alleging that both Meta and WhatsApp “store, analyse and can access virtually all of WhatsApp users’ purportedly ‘private’ communications”. Goodness.

🏝️ SA’s Holiday Spending Splash. During the 2025/2026 holidays, SA consumers spent nearly 50% more online than during the previous 2024/2025 holiday period. Ke Dezemba indeed…

🤖 Chatbot (Up)Rising. 2025 was the year of the chatbot app, with both ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini apps climbing positions in the world’s top 10 most downloaded apps. ChatGPT took top spot, with Gemini coming in 8th. Very interesting.

📊 Smarter Decisions in 2026. Finance is the biggest reason SA SMEs fail. Finvoke gives startups and small businesses CFO-level insight — without paying a full-time salary — so you can grow with clarity, not guesswork.*

* From our partners. Find all the best service providers for your business in our Founder Stack.

The real power behind crypto is emerging. Behind the prices on tokens, the real game is countries and institutions adopting blockchain to tokenise treasuries, commodities and funds. Investment firm ARK’s latest report shows $55.8T in stablecoins were transferred in 2025 (3x times more than Visa), and Real World Assets (RWA)s are expected to grow by 53’000% from $20.6B to $11T by 2030. Signs that crypto is becoming the new financial infrastructure.

Emerging markets are shaping blockchain’s integration. Thailand announced last week that it has a 3-year plan for tokenised assets and regulated crypto investment products at a federal level, showing that crypto adoption isn’t waiting on the US alone; the world is pushing it forward.

What exactly is a stablecoin? Since they’re the rails all of this is happening on, Binance Academy’s guide to stablecoins is a must-read: It explains why tokenised finance works in practice to enable faster settlement, lower costs and global access in a way everyone can understand. Get the guide for free here.

Disclaimer: Digital asset prices can be volatile. The value of your investment may go down or up and you may not get back the amount invested. You are solely responsible for your investment decisions, and Binance is not liable for any losses you may incur. Not financial advice. For more information, see our Terms of Use and Risk Warning.

Last Friday, we showed how Click2Cook’s bringing meal-planning tech to SA, asking what’s for dinner at your house. And it’s a tie between existing plans and roll of the dice…

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 📅 Whatever is already on my meal plan for today. (24%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ 🤔 Dunno. Got about a thousand other things to decide before the. (22%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🧑‍🍳 Whatever my private chef is cooking up. (10%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🛵 Rolling the dice with what I feel like later. (24%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ 🤖 Sending this game-changer to my partner right now. (20%)

Your 2 cents…

No probs, Esmare, just head to their site, sure they’d welcome another tester! 🍔

Weekly Stand-Up – 27 Jan, Online: This Tuesday’s topic is Product – bring your roadmap, feedback or design challenge. Join The Founder Collab to access.

Office Hours – 28 Jan, Online: Drop into the chat, share what you're working on and connect with 150+ SA business builders. Join The Founder Collab to access.

Gamification in Fintech – 28 Jan, Online: Learn how top fintechs use gamification to drive retention, loyalty & literacy. Free 1-hr Zoom session. Register free.

Stellenbosch Speed Networking – 29 Jan, Workshack: Founders, investors & tech professionals connect over drinks in the heart of Techno Park. Reserve a seat.

SA Funding Landscape – 30 Jan, Online: VC Knife Capital’s Keet van Zyl breaks down where startup funding is heading in 2026. Join The Founder Collab to access.

Open Letter Stellenbosch – 5 Mar, Stellenbosch: Our first Open Letter event of the year! WooCommerce founder Adii Pienaar tells us about building global tech from SA, with panels, pre-events & drinks. Get tickets.

💡 Tool to Try: Bario uses AI to remix any song into different genres.

🐟 That’s Interesting: When ABBA blew up, they realised there was a Swedish fish-canning company founded in 1838 called ABBA. The company allowed the group to use the name, adding a clause that they at least “shouldn’t embarrass them”.

🚐 Next Level: Watch two tons of water completely crush a minivan in seconds.

🎸 Hack: A visual history of rock music told through 400+ influential albums, updated.

🌌 Wow Site: Cosmic Odometer shows how far you’ve travelled through the universe since birth (using real physics).