Want to go fast? A startup built the world’s first independently made supersonic aircraft (meaning no governments or agencies were involved), and you can watch it break the sound barrier and then some. Once they roll out commercially, it could cut your current London—New York flight time down from ±8 hours to just ±3.5 hours.

Hey, hey, it’s Fast-Five Friday — 5 startups in 5 minutes, let’s go…

Together with:

1. THE R50 STARTUP

A Micro-Business on Your Smartphone…

Of the ±8 million unemployed South Africans looking for work, starting up their own business seems impossible without products to sell or the capital to acquire them.

But many of these have smartphones, and the people in their neighbourhoods are used to buying various digitally purchasable products such as airtime and data, electricity, bus tickets, insurance products, as well as physical goods like appliances, electronics and even groceries.

Qwili is a local digital marketplace and sales portal that lets informal micro-merchants become agents in the field selling a range of products for a commission.

It’s super lean, allowing them to trade using just their smartphone and R50 activation to get started. They download the Qwili App, sign up, add the money to their Qwili wallet and can start selling by selecting the product and accepting payment from the customer right there and then.

It’s a smart play that can solve big problems and open up markets in the informal sector that’s previously been hard to access at scale.

Qwili was recently named one of Heavy Chef’s Top 5 Most Exciting SA Startups to keep an eye on.

Buy some tickets to the shisa nyama

2. TIPPING THE SCALES 

Cashing in on SA’s Cashless Tippers…

SA is still pretty divided about cash. SARS says 56% of us still use it, but in a May 2024 Open Letter poll, only 7% of you said you still use cash, so usage likely differs between markets. Nonetheless, some sectors believe we’ll be a cashless society by 2030.

This begs the question: What about tipping your car guard, petrol attended or any other person that offers a service in SA’s not-so-formal side of the economy? 

Local startup tipped is tackling this by allowing you to tip without having to download a special app, reducing the friction and saving time.

A person who wants to receive tips signs up with their SA ID, passport or foreign passport number, and gets a personal QR code, linked to a tipped digital account. Then the tippers then just scan the QR code with their phone and BOOM.

The receiver can then draw the cash at an ATM or PnP till point – or just buy goods directly from their tipped wallet.

And it starts with tips, but the business opportunity (for tipped) comes when the money in the system is used for all kinds of services and products at partners. If this manages to scale it would not only be great for the 140k odd petrol attendants and thousands of car guards, but also for businesses that want to engage this market segment.

You get 35 days interest-free tipping on your credit card, surely you can make that a R20 ;-)

3. DRY JANUARY

A Sophisticated Opt-Out Option?

South Africans are a thirsty bunch, ranking 43rd (of 180) in global alcohol consumption at 9.45 litres per capita. This is less than 4 litres shy of Latvia, who lead the global rankings at 13.19 litres. 

The only African nations that drink us under the table are Uganda (7th place at 12.48 litres), Tanzania (17th place at 12.04 litres), and Burkina Faso (24th place at 11.05 litres).

But remember when you couldn’t buy alcohol (legally) back during 2020’s COVID lockdowns? Turns out the whole prohibition exercise boosted SA’s non-alcoholic category to 3% of SA’s beverage market – and it’s set to grow by 31% by 2024.

One local manufacturer is crafting non-alcoholic spirits that offer consumers more than they’d get with a glass of tonic and a slice of lime. By using flavours extracted from botanicals from SA’s Cape Floral Kingdom (the most diverse floral kingdom on earth), Abstinence offers consumers a range of non-alcoholic substitutes for rum (Cape Spice), Whiskey (Cape Malt) and Gin (Cape Floral/Citrus).

Only one way to find out how good it is, though.

Look like the party while being 100% sober. Nice

4. DR. DATA

Getting Better Healthcare from the Numbers

South Africa’s healthcare system ranks 82nd in the world.

Not the worst. But also not that great. With just 8 Drs per 10’000 South Africans, we’re way behind most of our BRICS buddies like Russia (38 per 10k) and Brazil (21 per 10k) Not surprising, then, that we’d want to do better to keep our people healthier.

Solving low numbers of doctors or infrastructure challenges won’t happen overnight, but in the meantime, making smarter decisions could have a massive impact.

This is where Wimmy comes in. Operating at the intersection of health science, data science and business management, Wimmy provides organisations and individuals with data-driven insights to improve the efficiency of healthcare operations. Their platform helps healthcare organisations get vital data and insights to allow better allocate funding, workforce and equipment for optimum healthcare.

What’s more, these insights are crucial to motivate ongoing (or even increase) donor-funded healthcare programs as they can go a long way to prove the money was well spent.

Wimmy recently helped Unjani Clinics, a network of 240 nurse-led clinics and care settings serving low-income and underserved communities in SA, achieve some remarkable results.

Keen to learn more? Wimmy will be hosting a live webinar with Lynda Toussaint, Unjani Clinics’ CEO, to unpack how organisations can use the data gleaned from Wimmy’s fit-for-purpose data platform to thrive. If you’re keen to see Wimmy in action. Join in.

5. THANKS!

See and Be Seen

The best way to keep employees happy and in the game? A recent survey found 46% of respondents left a job because they felt unappreciated. 

And the global engagement authority, Gallup, says there are 5 essential pillars to strategic recognition in the workplace – fulfil even one of those pillars for your employees and they’ll be 29% more engaged. (That number rockets to 90% with 4 or all 5 pillars.)

So recognition leads to engagement.

SA startup Zuzo is a peer-driven recognition platform that integrates with your team's Slack or MS Teams, enabling them to recognise great performance in the team. It’s like a high five, but with a ten-rand note changing hands.

As the business owner (or HR) you set a budget and then empower your employees to pick team members to give recognition to – in the form of Zuzo credits, which pay out instantly into their virtual Zuzo Mastercard to spend anywhere.

If you know, you know…

Do you want to build with folks like Zuzo’s Head of Growth Geoffrey Forbes? Join The Open Collab and let’s get building.

IN SHORT

Be in the know, when you’re back in office…

🚪Open Up Asapp. Some big local (non-banking) payment players have launched The Association of South African Payment Providers (Asapp) to promote fair access to payment infrastructure, reduce the wholesale cost of digital payments and enhance customer mobility within the payments ecosystem. They include: iKhokha, Peach Payments, Yoco and several others. Putting more transaction power into S.Africans’ hands — we love to see it.

💰 A Brand New Path. South African payments-as-a-service provider NjiaPay has closed a $1 million pre-seed funding round led by HAVAÍC and angel investors from Anyfin, Banxware, and Maxidrive. The funding is earmarked to scale NjiaPay’s Cape Town & Amsterdam teams, and further enhance the platform’s capabilities. Here’s to more empowered African businesses.

🇿🇦 Top Ten Tech Towns. The top tech towns in SA have just been announced. It includes Stellies at number 1 (beating major cities Jozi at no. 3, and the Mother City at no. 5) with an average of 36 tech-related jobs per 100k people, and Midrand with 30 tech jobs per 100k. Pssst — also check out our “Jobs in Tech” below…

👘 Office Pyjama Party Loading. Well, it looks like the international trend of working from home coming to an end has reached our shores. That’s according to CareerJunction’s Employment Insights Report for Q4 2024. 4.3% of all jobs listed in 2023 were remote/hybrid, with this number decreasing to 3.7% in 2024. Good news for those in tech though, remote work jobs sit at 11.5%, so it’s a good industry to be in if you enjoy those WFH perks.

😎 The Stack. Founders need tools and suppliers they can trust. Check out our Founder’s Stack with easy no-code websites with Webflow, all your VC and startup legal sorted by Dommisse Attorneys and 12 more vital startup tools & services.

CHECK THIS OUT

Why Self-Made Businesses Are Choosing Xero for Smarter Accounting

Running a business is no easy feat, and for self-made entrepreneurs, every decision counts. Managing finances effectively can be the difference between thriving and just getting by. That’s where Xero steps in — offering cloud-based accounting software that provides business owners with the tools they need to manage their finances smarter.

From gaining sharper insights into financial business health to fostering growth through better knowledge, and building a connected ecosystem of apps, Xero is designed to help self-made businesses succeed. Here’s how Xero is empowering business owners to take control of their numbers and set their businesses on a path to success.

Sharper Insights, Brighter Business

For any business owner, making informed decisions is crucial. Xero provides sharper insights into financial business data, providing a real-time cash flow overview, profits, and expenses. 

By offering automated reports and intelligent dashboards, Xero helps highlight trends and potential issues before they become problems. These insights enable business owners to act quickly and strategically, ensuring that their business runs smoothly and efficiently.

The ability to access finances on the go allows business owners to make data-driven decisions from anywhere—whether in the office or meeting clients. With Xero, brighter business outcomes aren’t just a goal—they’re achievable, powered by accurate, up-to-the-minute insights.

The More You Know, The More You Grow

Knowledge is power, and for businesses, understanding their numbers is key to growth. Xero’s platform is designed to simplify accounting processes while providing a complete, holistic view of financial business performance.

Xero helps entrepreneurs see beyond the day-to-day by offering clear, actionable insights into their performance. Whether it’s forecasting cash flow, identifying opportunities to cut costs, or understanding their profitability across different products or services, Xero equips business owners with the knowledge to grow their business with confidence.

Building a Connected Ecosystem for Self-Made Businesses

As well as accounting software, Xero provides access to a large ecosystem to enable tailored tech stacks to suit the needs of any self-made business. Integrating with over 1’000 apps, from inventory management to customer relationship tools, Xero ensures seamless integration across the business.

Through Xero’s live bank feeds and automating manual tasks, Xero saves business owners valuable time and reduces the chance of human error. This connected platform allows entrepreneurs to focus less on admin, and more on what they do best—running their business. It’s about making technology work for you, so you can focus on growing your self-made business.

JOBS IN TECH

Fresh-Start February?

🤓 Product Manager (Fulfilment Mobile Team) @ Takealot.

👩‍💻 Backend Engineer @ VALR.

🖌️ UI/UX Designer @ Codekeeper.

🤖 Head of Digital at OneDayOnly.

Hiring? Get in touch, and we will feature it here.

GAME TIME

Did you know?

This South African-built fire protection device helps protect shacks, RDP houses, containers, and backyard rooms from township fires by alerting the device owner and other nearby devices of a potential fire threat to create a real-time fire response network via cellphone technology…

WHAT YOU SAID

Talk to me, Baby…

On Tuesday we asked how you prefer your service, and live chat wins the popular vote…

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨 📞 Over the phone (33%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 👨‍💻 Video call (0)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤓 Face-to-face (in-store) (13%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 📱 Live chat (34%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ✉️ Email (14%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 👔 Concierge service/PA to solve it for me (6%)

Your 2 cents…

Awesome result, Cherryl! If all of them could be like that, sure you’d win even William over. 👇😊

True, Joanne. In a perfect world perhaps it could be … 🔮

Think most people feel you there, Allistair. ✌︎︎

Oh ja, William, live chat doesn’t work when it’s not manned 24/7 — and there are, unfortunately, quite a few companies that make that mistake. 🪦