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In Today’s Open Letter

SA employee benefit penetration is pretty low and missing the mark – this startup says they got the cure…

Globally, employee benefits are a barometer for “work quality” in a country, reflected in the ILO’s Decent Work agenda, the OECD’s job quality framework and even the World Bank’s approach to measuring work quality.

But in SA, mostly larger companies tend to offer benefits – only 29% of SMEs offer basic retirement benefits, and while 22% of employees want medical aid, only 7% of employers plan to offer it.

Clearly, SA’s getting the benefits game wrong. Maybe it’s because we fall back on the same usual benefits suspects for everyone – 4 out of 10 employees say their employer’s benefits don’t meet their needs. 

The complexity of good benefits

Benefits are not a simple game. To get it right, you need to solve at least 3 different problems:

And never shall those 3 ☝ meet. 

Unless you have a smart startup that can turn the whole thing on its head…

The local startup bringing flexibility to benefits

MyBento is a payroll-integrated benefits engine that gives employers the ability to let their employees pick the benefits they actually want from a large menu of products (including niche ones). They don’t even need to talk to independent advisers; it’s all digital, and they just pick what they want — but the support option is there if they need it, where a pro can consult and help make 100% sure they’re locking in the right choice.

The providers and products are all sourced and managed by MyBento, so employers don’t have to worry about sourcing or cutting deals. It helps keep products voluntary, flexible and portable: the employee chooses, and the employer just enables access.

It solves all 3 benefit problems in one fell swoop – providers now also get access to a large market (all those small companies’ employees added together make a good addition to the book). Mooi.

We caught up with Claudia Snyman, Founder of MyBento, and she says the platform has cut benefits admin by over 80% by digitising product origination and provider reporting, automating payroll adjustments and removing manual HR workflows. 

MyBento bets that benefits will become not just a “perk” but a core pillar of employer positioning.

We’re watching this space…

Did AI just change e-commerce forever? ChatGPT quietly launched in-chat sales with direct Etsy and Shopify purchases, powered by Stripe. It’s US only for now, but likely coming soon everywhere. The big deal? GPT has over 700M users per week, double the reach of Amazon. Keep your eyes on this one.

Need leverage without more headcount? Ambient turns your calendar, meetings and to-dos into a daily executive briefing — like a Chief of Staff in your inbox.

Creating product videos just got scalable. OpenAI has launched Sora 2. Combining consistent world logic, synced dialogue and real-person uploads to generate high-end, physics-aware video content, it could be perfect for using with Google’s Nano-Banana (consistent characters).

Most businesses sit on goldmines of data, but can't access or monetise it. The problem? Unstructured, siloed data remains invisible, and invisible data has no value.

It all begins with discovery. Until you can see what your data holds, you can't monetise it… Sidekick's data dictionary and use-case register pinpoint exactly how your data can generate value. Sometimes, this means providing clearer reports or better forecasting.

But often, it reveals:

✅ Revenue opportunities hiding in plain sight.
✅ When that happens, your ROI increases dramatically.
✅ Suddenly, deploying an AI system begins to pay for itself.

For example, while conducting discovery on a large dataset, we discovered data applicable to KYC reporting that could then be offered to other companies for a fee.

Simply put, Sidekick removes the blinkers and reveals options, enabling you to use your data in a way that suits you. When data shifts from a cost centre to a revenue stream, ROI transforms.

So, before chasing AI hype and dashboards, ask: "What if your data could pay for the platform that unlocks it?"

Learn how to release the value of your data goldmine.

🚀 Local Entrepreneur Boost. SANParks and NYDA joined forces to support entrepreneurs with disabilities by providing R880k to help 32 individuals kickstart or expand their businesses, and aim to foster a more inclusive economy in South Africa. Very cool.

🐶 Ding Dong. Amazon's latest Ring cameras not only recognise familiar faces but also help find lost pets, thanks to AI. Camera specs go 4K, and "Retinal Vision" tech brings clarity like never before. Cool. But also scary.

🎮 It’s in The Game. Gaming giant Electronic Arts scores a colossal $55bn buyout, marking history's largest leveraged acquisition. This move pushes EA off the stock market and into the arms of a Saudi-led consortium, setting a 25% premium at $210 per share. Goodness.

📺 YouTube's $22M Trump Tango. YouTube is shelling out $22 million to US President Donald Trump after his account was suspended post-Capitol chaos. Chump change for a guy reportedly worth over $7 billion...

✅ The Stack. Founders need reliable tools and suppliers. That’s why our Founder’s Stack gives you cloud services and solutions by Cloud on Demand, Africa-ready payroll & HR via Deel Local Payroll powered by PaySpace, plus loads more vital startup tools & services.

Yesterday, we looked at Uber Safaris in Africa and whether it’s an idea that can scale, asking what your rating would depend on. Most go for biltong and drinks…

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🦁 Showed me lions = 5⭐ (13%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🔭 Handed out binoculars like Oprah (20%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🥤 Had biltong & cold drinks on board (27%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🧭 Found the clean loos, twice (20%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🧯 Handled baboon hijacking quite calmly (20%)

Your 2 cents…

Ha ha, ja, Chris, lemme just leave the vehicle to get a better shot of this lion. 🦁

Forget groceries — banking apps in South Africa are mostly used to buy airtime and send money home.

According to the Reserve Bank’s 2023 Payments Study:

💡 Most banking app purchases were data and airtime, averaging just R136.

💡 25% of payments were for family support or charity, averaging R830.

💡 Only 11% of payments went toward rent and levies at R2'080 average.

What people aren’t doing with banking apps? Buying groceries, paying at restaurants or running business ops — all low-frequency, high-value categories.

🛠 Tool to Try: Write A Book AI helps you turn your expertise into a book by helping you outline, draft and format it.

👯 That’s Interesting: Mothers in the Indian village of Kodinhi are 7 times more likely to have twins than anywhere else in the world, and no one knows why.

🦎 Next Level: This Red Bull rider makes the most insane canyon gap.

🧭 Hack: How to use a watch as a compass.

♠️ Wow Site: Play Chipless helps you play poker without chips.

Hey, Renier here 👋, co-founder of The Open Letter.

I’ve spent 17 years in SA tech and seen hundreds of startups rise and fall. The ones that made it all had one thing in common: a strong community.

That’s why I started The Founder Collab — a space where 100+ SA founders connect for:

☕ Meetups & events

🎓 Weekly masterclasses

📚 35+ expert sessions on-demand

🤝 A network unlike anything else

Come build your startup alongside me and 100+ other SA founders in The Founder Collab.

Spaces are limited — new founders join weekly.

Help us make The Open Letter more useful to you.

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