Need to focus {{ FIRSTNAME }}? The largest study of its kind (98’299 humans) proved what we suspected all along: Feeds of short-form video literally “rots” your brain by impeding attention and inhibition control. 🧠

In This Open Letter

New legislation forces SA businesses to fund waste management campaigns, mostly after the damage is done — this startup has a plan to intervene BEFORE…

Two years ago, Marcus Ramden was building a recycling service… But it struggled to gain traction. After multiple approaches, from reverse vending machines and smart solar bins, the road to unlocking capital was too tough, so he had to scrap the services model.

But Marcus saw two important things:

The future of SA’s waste

South Africans generate around 122 million tonnes of waste every year. But only about 10% of that gets recycled, with the rest ending up in landfills or illegal dumpsites. 

Legislation is finally catching up, though. SA’s previously voluntary Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) rules, which require our R53bn packaging industry to take responsibility for the full life-cycle of their products (i.e. after it’s been thrown away), became mandatory in May 2021.

But most initiatives only start AFTER the damage is done.

Now, if you go and analyse past years’ ERP data, you’ll see that around 11% (about R317 million) of the budget usually goes to national awareness campaigns. Which brought Marcus back to the idea of preventing rubbish reaching bins, rivers or landfills in the first place, with an idea to empower SA’s future recyclers…

The startup raising next-gen recyclers

GreenCrate Solutions is a social enterprise focused on reducing waste and building environmental awareness in South African schools.

Their flagship recycling app Trash2Treasure (T2T), is aimed at learners aged 8–15, and turns recycling into missions at school. Learners pick challenges, log their actions, earn points, unlock badges and open treasure chests with rewards. 

An in-app chatbot called Buddy answers recycling questions and runs quizzes.

Teachers get a dashboard to approve submissions and track how much plastic, glass, paper, metal or compost is collected.

Paying for the future

Instead of billing schools, GreenCrate is testing a sponsor-led rewards model where partners (you know, those packaging companies from earlier ☝) fund the treasure chests with actual rewards like small vouchers, data or brand-specific perks, with Green, Silver and Gold tiers tied to the learner’s recycling activity. 

While it’s still early days, GreenCrate already has a pilot program in place with a small group of SA schools. This structured recycling inside schools gives EPR-driven brands a way to support behaviour change, helping GreenCrate shift mindsets to unlock better outcomes.

We’re watching this space…

There’s still time to find out…

This Black November, Lula is helping you get set for a season of success with funding that lets you grow now and only pay later. 🔑

That’s right, apply for funding before 30 November 2025, and enjoy a payment holiday until 23 January 2026.*

It’s the gift every business loves: breathing room for cash flow, with fast, easy access to up to R5 million in capital for the busiest time of year. 

Ready to take up the deal of the year?

*T&Cs apply. Offer applies to new funding applications only.

🌍 Hacking The Continent. Surprisingly, Africa suffers more than 40% of the world’s major ransomware attacks, with information disclosure attacks being the primary exploit class. Eina.

🤨 In Case You Were Wondering. WhatsApp’s latest update lets users set their About status, so that the people you’re chatting with know exactly how it’s going with you, in the chat. Cool, just in case it doesn’t come up naturally in the chat, you know…

🇿🇦 Investor Goldmine. Turns out SA has been one of the best-performing emerging markets globally, with investors keen on our financial and diversified mining companies, with a year-to-date return of over 55%. Now that’s lekker, man…

🤔 The Ol’ Chinese Side Step. Standard Bank just became the first African bank to directly integrate with China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, offering African companies a more efficient way to pay Chinese suppliers in Renminbi, bypassing the US dollar. Interesting.

✅ The Stack. Founders need reliable tools, so our Founder’s Stack newsletters as a service (Naas) by Stream, LinkedIn growth and acceleration by FDC + loads more.

Every time you share, you get something cool in return.

Most financial advisors in SA earn commission, either as an upfront fee or a percentage of Assets Under Management (AUM).

There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but you can imagine that if a specific company pays them more, they’d obviously benefit from pushing that product a bit more, muddying the waters…

We’re not saying that happens ☝, just reminding you that you have every right to ask exactly how your advisor gets paid.

Time for clarity

💡 Be cautious of fees expressed as percentages

💡 Translate them into actual Rands per month for clarity

💡 Then evaluate whether that cost feels like fair value for the service you’re receiving.

Percentage-based fees often start small, but they compound over time and can become very costly, eating into your investment returns.

Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and should not be considered personalised financial, investment, tax or legal advice.

In The Founder Collab, 120+ South African founders support each other to succeed. Here’s a taste of how creative we got this week…

We learnt that one ask can move fast: When one founder needed critical skills: a dev for C# and Azure, they got it in less than five minutes flat through Collab intros.

We learnt that in-person hours beat DMs: Founders like Hex and Elijah used office hours to meet IRL to swap traction strategies and sharpen B2B sales.

We learnt that humour helps retention: When a founder had customers skipping onboarding, we weighed in on an engagement strategy. Sometimes the best UX fix is a puppy meme quietly judging your skipped trial steps.

Find your founder community. Join The Founder Collab, it’s where 120+ real SA founders help each other to build better, faster every day.

Last Friday, we showed you how Rafiki’s bringing automated invoicing to Africa and gave you a chance to become one of their final freelance cohort in a R50bn market, asking about your worst payment pain. Most despise the invoice chase…

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🥲 Multi-party invoicing chaos (13%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💵 Three currencies, one stressed-out finance team (13%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🕒 Endless follow-ups and “just checking in” emails (33%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🔧 Admin so heavy you forget the actual work (27%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ⚰️ Watching cash flow die a slow, unnecessary death (13%)

Code& Networking 101 — 25 Nov, CPT: A real-world guide to neurodivergent-friendly networking, followed by practice time with peers. RSVP here.

SA FinTech Awards — 25 Nov, JHB: Celebrate South Africa’s top FinTech innovators and connect with leaders shaping the future of finance. Get tickets.

HealthTech Connect — 26 Nov, JHB: Discover how AI, mobile health and smart tech are reshaping SA’s healthcare future. Register here.

UCA Golf Day — 26 Nov, JHB: Make deals where they happen, on the green. Showcase your brand at this high-impact event. Book a stand.

The Gwen Event — 29 Nov, Knysna: Connect with 100+ women in business over jazz, cheese boards, and keynote inspiration. Book now.

AfricArena Grand Summit — 2–3 Dec, CTICC: Watch 50+ top African startups pitch at the continent’s premier venture summit. Seed to growth stage. Get tickets.

Hosting a demo day, panel, founder meetup or tech event? Let us know, and we’ll feature it for FREE.

✈️ Tool to Try: Travira alerts you when international flights drop 50–90% in prices.

🪙 That’s Interesting: In 1992, a guy searching for his friend’s lost hammer with a metal detector discovered buried Roman treasure worth about $6 million.

🐦 Next Level: This bird somehow swallows a fish bigger than itself.

🎧 Hack: You can block artists on Spotify (tap the three dots and choose Don’t play this artist), but does it actually work?

🎹 Wow Site: ChordAlchemy lets you combine notes to instantly build chords.

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