Doom scrolling {{ FIRSTNAME }}? An LA court found Meta and YouTube guilty of building addictive platforms and ordered them to pay one young woman $6M (R102M) in damages for her social media addiction. π³
In This Open Letter
Save More: This helps SA find the best grocery prices.
Work Smart: 1.4M users in 12 months & R4k per day.
Local: Stay-at-home SA & making R800M in just 4 days.
Global: Bezosβ orbital defence & Zuckβs βlil CEO helper.
Tech Jobs:Β Team leads, AI engineers & much more.
Better Business: The No. 1 tip for first-time founders.
Also, see how to answer whatβs the price questions in sales without losing the deal.
Two tech giants in SA!
When Shola Akinlade built Paystack, one of Africa's biggest tech success stories, he got seriously connected with Stripe, eventually selling Paystack to them for R3bn+.
Now, weβre bringing Shola and OpenAI to Joburg to discuss where FinTech is going as AI accelerates over the next few years. Donβt miss it π
TRENDING NOW
This App Is SA's Shrinkflation Detector
SA's grocery basket is up 34% in five years β but the sticker price isn't even the real problem anymoreβ¦
The average SA household food basket hit R5'383.81 in February 2026, up 34% from R4'001.17 five years ago. But there's a sneakier force at play.
Shrinkflation: Itβs where pack sizes shrink while shelf price stays the same, and it means the number on the tag doesn't tell you what you're actually paying. Globally, studies show consumers react far less to size reductions than to price hikes, which is exactly why manufacturers do it.Β
And in SA, it's been all over the socials: A box of 36 Beacon marshmallow Easter eggs went from R59.99 in 2020 to as high as R115 in 2026, while the eggs themselves got smaller.
We showed you how fixed logistics costs make smaller packaging more expensive per unit in our Sonke Retail piece. The missing piece was a consumer tool that catches it in real time.
The local app calling it out
Grocify is a free grocery app built by Ethan Stander that compares prices across Checkers, Pick n Pay, Woolworths, Spar, Shoprite and even Dis-Chem and Clicks. Now, we've recently seen other grocery aggregation apps, but Grocify's sharpest feature sits underneath the comparison layer.
It shows you the price-per-100g and per-100ml, which helps strip away the packaging illusion. Think: 500g bananas at R4.40 per 100g vs 1.2kg at R2.75 per 100g. Same product, same shelf, 60% more expensive per unit. That's the kind of thing the label alone won't tell you.
On top of that, Grocify factors in the cost of driving to the store (you set your vehicle type and fuel), so "cheapest store" actually means cheapest after petrol β not a small thing with a potential R5βR10/litre diesel hike coming in April.
No ads, no login, no tracking, and your data stays on your phone.
Built by Ethan Stander in his spare time, the app got 20β000 users on Android, and everyoneβs been waiting for an iOS version. Well, that wait's now over as Grocify just hit the App Store.
As pack sizes shrink and sticker prices lie, tools that show the real price per unit aren't just nice to have β they're becoming essential.
We're watching this spaceβ¦
Have your sayβ¦
WORK SMARTER
3 ways to win in business
π§ Β See how to build a business with AI: Sabrina Romanov built an audience of 1.4 million in 12 months with vibe-coded tools and automation β see her entire playbook here.
π°Β A small, simple, passive-income business? Greg Isenberg sat down with Frey Chu and built a no-touch R4k per day-generating startup β see it done step by step.
π¬ Tiny Fix, Big Win: Look out for Google Chatβs dedicated new Meetings section. Apparently, itβs going to store transcripts of all your Google Meets by default (and we canβt wait).
CHECK THIS OUT
Go from AI overwhelmed to AI savvy professional
AI will eliminate 300 million jobs in the next 5 years.
Yours doesn't have to be one of them.
Here's how to future-proof your career:
Join the Superhuman AI newsletter - read by 1M+ professionals
Learn AI skills in 3 mins a day
Become the AI expert on your team
IN SHORT
Easing you into the weekendβ¦
π ICYMI: Did you hear that Cape Town is getting electric minibus taxis in 2026?
π‘ Stay At Home. SAβs Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) have suggested that South Africans stay at home to curb fuel demand as supply constraints and rising fuel costs loom. Take the day, folks.
ποΈLIV a Little. The LIV golf tournament showcased SAβs ability to host world-class events and start fights at the after-party. But it generated R800 million+ in just 4 days, prompting ticket sales for next year. See what LIV Golf SA means for our sports tourism.
π§βπ Amazonβs Space Force? Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is going full Bruce Willis and taking on those pesky asteroids with a last line of defence for earth using multiple technologies to save us from asteroids. We donβt wanna close our eyes, indeed.
π€ Zuckβs Getting An AI Agent. As he pivots away from the metaverse, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg is busy building himself a personal artificial intelligence agent to take care of some of his CEO duties autonomously. Heβs just like us: not wanting to do boring stuff.
π Global Reach Built. World-class futurist John Sanei has the insight but needs consistent global visibility. So FDC turned LinkedIn into a positioning engine thatβs driven 6.7 million impressions, 31k+ profile views and steady inbound demand from global audiences.*
* From our partners. Find all the best service providers for your business in our Founder Stack.
Get the best in SA tech and business news β
WHAT YOU SAID
Form and functionβ¦
Yesterday, we showed you insdi structured data capture tech, asking about the worst part of filling in forms. Most say entering the same info again and againβ¦
π©π©π©π©π©π© π€ Entering the same info again and again (55%)
π¨β¬οΈβ¬οΈβ¬οΈβ¬οΈβ¬οΈ π§Ύ Figuring out what actually applies to me (11%)
β¬οΈβ¬οΈβ¬οΈβ¬οΈβ¬οΈβ¬οΈ π§ The emailing back and forth (2%)
π¨β¬οΈβ¬οΈβ¬οΈβ¬οΈβ¬οΈ β³ More admin wasting your precious time (19%)
π¨β¬οΈβ¬οΈβ¬οΈβ¬οΈβ¬οΈ π± Hassling with a clunky PDF on your phone (13%)
READY FOR A MOVE?
Jobs in Tech
π οΈ DevOps Team Lead
ποΈ Backend Systems Engineer
π§βπ» Senior Software Engineer
π§ AI/ML Engineer
OfferZen proudly sponsors Jobs in Tech
The name in SA tech employment for over a decade, OfferZen needs no introduction, and their ability to get you placed is only as legendary as the time, energy and money they save employers in finding top skills.
BEYOND THE NEWSLETTER
The No.1 tip for first-time founders
We asked one of SAβs most seasoned (and successful) founders for one tip theyβd give anyone building for the first time β the answer is pure π₯β¦
Donβt miss all the extra operator interviews and insights content we do on our social channels β come enjoy the vibez.
AROUND THE WEB
Have some funβ¦
𧩠Tool to Try: Chrome Goldmine is a database of 9'600+ expired Chrome extensions with revenue estimates and rebuild instructions.
π Thatβs Interesting: About half of Earthβs internal heat comes from radioactive decay, the rest is leftover energy from the planetβs formation.
βοΈ Next Level: This stunning thunderstorm forming at sunset.
π Wow Site: Internet Roadtrip lets hundreds of people vote together to drive a shared car through Google Street View.
