A little dry {{ FIRSTNAME | there }}? We're not feeling it here, but Europe's experiencing such an intense heatwave right now that the Danube River has dried up. And in one part, it's revealing ancient Roman structures no one knew were still underwater. Go figure. 🏛️

In Today's Open Letter

In food and beverage manufacturing, taste is the brand, and the realities of supply, machinery, regulation and costs can become a risk – some companies need to bet everything to make it work…

Remember the ProNutro taste saga in April this year? Owners PepsiCo had to upgrade their machinery, couldn't do it like-for-like, and so the recipe changed, and now a beloved taste from your childhood is gone, forever.

A lot of stuff from when we were kids just doesn't taste the same anymore (let alone the Nesquicks and things we lost to COVID). And now another SA classic needs saving.

The economics coming after an SA classic

Tiger Brands bought Mrs Ball's from Unilever for R475m in 2012, keeping manufacturing with Dickon Hall Foods, a subsidiary of Libstar, in Gauteng for 13 years. But then Tiger Brands' share price slipped between 2017 and 2023, so now new CEO Tjaart Kruger has had to work with CFO Thushen Govender to untangle the business dynamics of 3'000 stock-keeping units and 40 factories operating at various scales.

They noticed a loss-making canned fruit business some years ago, and the fact that they have an old vinegar plant in the Western Cape (a key chutney ingredient), and decided to pull a mega move.

Sell the deciduous fruit business (reportedly for R1, plus R150m for a community trust plus R31m for an effluent upgrade, a deal they made in 2025), and then contract it for fruit processing instead of owning it, while spending R200m upgrading their Paarl plant into a condiments megasite, all to bring Mrs Ball's in-house (back to the Cape for the first time in 13 years).

Will it work for them? Don't know. They haven't said anything about changing the recipe. But you'll have to ask us in a few months after we've tasted our next bottle of Mrs Ball's.

But there are two big lessons in here for SA operators:

We're watching this space…

You spend real money getting someone to tap: A WhatsApp blast, an Instagram ad, an SMS with the promo code or a QR code on the shopfront. The top of the funnel is working, but then the customer taps and lands on your homepage.

But that's where it falls apart. They hunt for the product they actually saw, get asked to log in, then need to fight with a slow cart, fight the six steps in the mobile checkout… and somewhere between "I want this" and paying, they drop off.

Now, there's a better way to handle that last step.

And the sharpest SA retailers have already found it.

Your product page is now your front door. Shopify's platform data shows more than half of AI-referred sessions land straight on a product detail page, against roughly 20% from organic search, and those visitors convert nearly 50% better with 14% higher order values. Nobody is reading your homepage story first anymore. See the numbers.

Your first provisional tax payment is due on the 31st. For a February year-end, the first IRP6 of the 2027 tax year lands on Monday 31 August, and paying late triggers a 10% penalty plus interest on top. Just under three weeks to build the estimate and file. Check the rules.

Open a business account in a few minutes. Capitec Business opens online with your card delivered to your door, R50 a month, and R150 in the account to keep it active. Free 24/7 online banking and the Capitec app mean you can run the whole thing from your phone. Open yours online.

📢 Everyone’s a Direct Marketer Now. SA's new spam call rules took effect on 15 April with no transition period, and if you cold call, cold email or SMS local consumers, they bind you. That means registering on the NCC's central opt-out registry for R2'574 and committing to cleansing your database monthly. Penalties run to R1 million or 10% of turnover, whichever is higher.

🚗 UberX Is Being Retired. Uber in SA is discontinuing UberX nationally from 1 September, replacing it with Uber Go, Comfort, Black and Reserve. Uber holds 60-65% of the Joburg market, so this changes the default for most local riders. Fares have reportedly fallen 35% since 2016 while commission sits near 25%.

🖊️ Claude Signs Its Work. Anthropic signed the EU AI Act's transparency code, so all new Claude models launched from 2 August will carry an invisible watermark woven into the text itself, worldwide, across every product, and it travels with copy-paste. Does it feel like the lean teams leaning hardest on AI will feel this most?

🔞 Getting Kids Off Socials. Government wants YouTube and TikTok age verification in SA, but the problem is the draft regulation has seen its fourth version in six years, calls for an ombudsman that doesn't exist, and it’s past its own gazetting deadline (March). There are some interesting proposed new rules about who can and can’t buy and own media assets in South Africa, though.

🌍 Built for Africa. Most global payments providers weren't built for African customers. Paystack powers online and offline payments across 10+ countries with the local payment methods, settlement speed and conversion rates your customers expect.*

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

Many SA founders reach for a patent because it sounds like the serious option. But we asked an SA IP lawyer how founders should actually protect their IP.

And it turns out, there’s another option that’s even better at protecting the things that make you money, plus 4 specific steps to choose between a patent and a trade secret.

We featured SA's female founders building great things and asked what the list did for you. Most here admire the ladies, but also feel it urges them to try to do more…

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 📤 Already screenshot it and sent it to my daughter (29%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 😤 Great. Now I feel deeply unproductive. Thanks a lot (71%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ✏️ Hitting reply right now with a name you missed (0%)

SA startup building with AI? Google's 2026 Startups Accelerator: South Africa offers 15 growth-stage ventures up to R1m in equity-free funding, Gemini access, cloud credits and 1-on-1 mentorship. Closes 28 Aug. Apply now.

Need more than just advice? The Founder Collab bundles R40k+ in tools, cloud credits, legal sessions and a curated founder community into one membership for SA tech builders. Join now.

Want free AI skills training? Google Hustle Academy 2026 offers one-day bootcamps and 60-min webinars for SA entrepreneurs and SME owners. Zero cost. Register for free.

SA small business ready for the national stage? NSBC Small Business Awards are open, free entry for NSBC Platinum Members across 4 categories including Startup Champion of the Year. Gala on 12 November. See details.

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

The Lekker Network West Launch, 20 Aug, Mauritius: SA wine, Carrick's founder and a new chapter for the island's business community. Register free.

Public Speaking Workshop with Verity Price, 22 Aug, Cape Town: Africa's first World Champion of Public Speaking on communicating your value. Get tickets.

Building Iconic South African Companies, 17 Sep, Joburg: Discovery's Barry Swartzberg and 3 Capital's Sizwe Nxumalo on what actually lasts. Get tickets.

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🤸 Next Level: Check out these crazy bamboo pole acrobatics. Gravity is apparently optional.

🕹️ Wow Site: An endless online dungeon maze that runs entirely in your browser.