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In a wildly unhinged twist, Elon Musk’s “edgy” AI chatbot Grok decided it was auditioning for a Bond villain — sprinkling praise for Hitler, hurling antisemitic tropes, and even christening itself “MechaHitler.” All of this just days after Musk proudly boasted it was now “less woke” and way more “truth‑seeking”. Eish. 😬

This startup’s pioneering a scalable, peer-powered way to get more students graduated and entering the workforce…

In South African law faculties, only 35% of students graduate on time, and just 55% graduate at all. At an estimated total tuition fee of between 400k-R600k over the period, that’s millions, if not billions, wasted per year.

Private tutoring could help, but sessions cost R200–R500/hour. Not everyone can afford that. And while notes sold via campus WhatsApp groups are useful, it's not a scalable solution.

The opportunity

While attending class, getting your notes, and consulting your study materials can be perfectly fine for some, those students who might otherwise fade into the sea of nearly 1’200 other law students (like at UCT), might just not cut it…

Learning stats back this up: lecture-style teaching leads to 5% retention. Reading? 10%.

But tutoring introduces active learning (Demonstration, Discussion, and Practice, boosting retention to as high as 75%.)

So, how can one introduce the value that tutoring brings at scale?

Scaling the uni tutor

Pass and Prosper is flipping the tutoring model by offering free summarised notes of top-performing students in specific modules, along with affordable electronic workshops to law students at the University of Pretoria.

The business runs entirely on WhatsApp, with Google Meet workshops offered for the price of a draught beer – all to maximise income for tutors.

The result? A near-symbiotic link between tutors and lecturers. Tutors attend the same classes, know what’s being said in real time, and tailor explanations accordingly. And students in general prefer having a tutor who is currently studying the material, rather than someone who took the course a year or two ago.

Founded by final-year law student (and Trekkie – hence the Pass and Prosper name), Frédéric Augustyn (students know him as Frikkie), the startup grew from a single workshop to nearly 2’000 students and R140K in revenue, with an average grade improvement of students attending Pass and Prosper workshops of 16.7%.

We’re watching this space.

Have your say…

Charge AI for reading your content? Cloudflare is tackling the whole content-monetisation-in-the-age-AI problem with an internet-wide protocol to charge bots for scraping the web. Publishers can now set a per-request price, and the bot can only see their content if it pays. See what they’re planning.

Too many books, too little time? New AI tool ProRead turns dense research into interactive concept maps. Instead of slogging through a wall of text, you search or upload sources, then explore ideas as an evolving web of connected insights. Try it here.

Procurement slowing you down? BMW invested in an AI assistant that helps staff review supplier bids, flag issues and compare offers — all in one chat. It’s already handled over 10'000 searches by 1'800 users, cutting decision times and replacing hours of proofreading with smarter, faster analysis. Read more here.

South African startups are building world-class tech, but many don’t realise their IP is stuck in a value-eroding system of exchange controls requiring SARB approval, formal audits and slow, uncertain processes most investors want to avoid.

But what if your idea is a global player?

Offshore IP (expanding your business operations while building your intellectual property outside of SA in markets investors love) changes everything. It gives global investors confidence, protects company value in hard currency, and enables cleaner exits when it counts. 

The thing is, most SA founders don’t pursue it, or start too late, because they think IP offshoring is too complex or overwhelming. Not anymore.

The game changer

Dommisse Attorneys worked with the SA SME Fund, SAVCA and Endeavor to create the IP Strategy Flow — an open-sourced framework for SA founders to establish their IP offshore and ensure they build a globally recognised business from day one. 

It’s legally sound, regulator-aligned, and designed to meet global investor expectations without relocating your team.

🚀 SME Turbocharge. Huawei has unleashed over 20 new products aimed at juicing up South Africa’s SME landscape. Think next-gen Wi-Fi, optical innovations, and smart conference toys like the IdeaHub S3. It's like giving SMEs a digital rocket boost — very cool considering a million SMEs crave this alchemy. Support for the SA SME? We love to see it.

📦 Temu's Turbo Moves in SA. Temu is shaking things up in South Africa with a new local warehouse dispatch service. Now with orders just a day away, this e-commerce player is tackling delivery delays head-on without owning a single warehouse! Goodness.

📉 CEO Shake-Up. Linda Yaccarino, Elon Musk's handpicked CEO at social media platform X, has quit suddenly. This comes amid a $33-billion acquisition by Musk's AI start-up and internal drama stirred by controversial endorsements. For Musk, juggling Tesla woes and a war of tweets with Trump, it’s another headline to manage. Looks like the drama isn't just on X.

🔥 Private Firefight. South Africa's biggest security firm, Fidelity ADT, faces heat over its private firefighting service, SecureFire. Both Tshwane and Cape Town metros claim it's operating without authority, sparking legal battles. Fidelity stands firm, arguing it enhances fire readiness for subscribed customers and toes the legal line. Over 1,000 fire incidents tackled — yet municipalities cry foul over water use and scene control. FFaaS loading.

✅ The Stack. Founders need tools and suppliers they can trust. Check out our Founder’s Stack with your own CFO for a fraction of the cost with OCFO, WhatsApp marketing with 2'000% ROI powered by Chat Inc, and loads more vital startup tools & services.

Yesterday, we showed you Wolf’s WhatsApp-based community safety platform, asking how your neighbourhood stays safe. Most rely on security services and the neighbourhood watch…

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🚧 Living in a gated community solves many crime issues (39%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🚓 Armed response, active patrols and neighbourhood watches (52%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 📱 Aunty Berel runs our local street groups with an Iron Fist (0)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💪 You are your own first responder (3%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤷 Doesn’t really bother me (6%)

Your 2 cents…

OMG, Rod, that’s brilliant! 🧠

Incredible effort, Johann, and so true: No one really feels safe until everyone feels safe. 💪

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