Wise move? Someone gave a startup R1bn to test spraying aerosols into the atmosphere to try cool the planet. Risky: Governments have blocked similar projects.

In This Open Letter

Boosting manufacturing is the surest economic booster (case in point: China), but SA’s SMEs are battling to modernise – till this startup came along, that is…

It’s no secret that global Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions don't always work for all SA businesses.

Aside from the hefty (Euro and Dollar) price tags, they don't always account for how we work or the people who need to use them (as designed).

ERPs are positioned as efficiency engines, but often become cost centres: Globally, 50% or more of ERP implementations fail out of the gates, exceed budgets by three to four times and run over timelines by 30%. Like Spar’s failed SAP implementation that cost the retail group a hefty R1.6 billion.

The opportunity

For SME manufacturers, this becomes a paradox: You need the system to compete, but it’s unfeasible to adopt it. So smaller manufacturers stay stuck on older tech or piecemeal solutions, while the software crunch remains privatised in the boardrooms of big firms.

The startup levelling the ERP playing field

ArcFlow is an AI-enabled cloud-based ERP solution built specifically for the SME manufacturing and distribution industry.

They’re building an integrated operating system that spans the length and breadth of a manufacturing and distribution firm, including sales, manufacturing execution, warehousing, HR, procurement and project workflows: all under one roof (as opposed to bolt-on platforms for each).

We caught up with ArcFlow Co-Founder Sam Burditt, who explains they’ve stripped away the complexity of legacy ERPs (so you don’t need 50 people to run it) and baked in AI-driven modules like supplier ratings & KPIs, demand and lead time forecasting, reorder timing and crucial decisioning where work happens (not some back office on a spreadsheet).

Making it affordable and accessible

And by offering all-in pricing, they’re avoiding the “number of seats/module” booby traps that make using a behemoth ERP simply untenable for an SME.

And after cutting their teeth in the UK, they launched into the US, pivoting back to South Africa (their home turf), where feedback loops are quicker and the value prop arguably stronger. 

Put simply: ArcFlow is giving SME manufacturers the super-powers of big industry without the enterprise-scale budget.

We’re watching this space…

Small beats big. Lula’s CEO, Trevor Gosling, explains why SMEs have a strategic edge over corporates and how to use it. Listen here.

Your company’s brain, unified. OpenAI’s Company Knowledge searches across Slack, Drive, Gmail & more to answer real business questions fast. Explore here.

Know what your users talk about. Buzzabout uses AI to analyse billions of social conversations for insights on trends and brand perception. See it.

Most successful founders agree that to make it big, you need some luck…

But you can’t buy or build luck, so how do you increase your chances of success?

You need to increase your surface area of luck:

✅ Meet more people
✅ Get faster feedback on your product builds
✅ Make faster progress when you are stuck with expert help.

That’s what The Founder Collab, SA’s premium community for startup founders, does: Gives you weekly opportunities to meet other founders, get feedback, get unstuck and a network unlike any in SA.

It’s a surefire way to increase your surface area of luck.

🏋️‍♂️ SA’s Not Skipping Leg Day. Fitness-related Google searches in South Africa are on the rise, hinting at a national obsession with getting in shape, with an explosive 4’000% surge in home leg workouts and creatine queries hitting an all-time high. Not us getting jacked for Dezemba.

🛵 Pick n Pay Brings The Heat. Pick n Pay's e-commerce segment is rising fast with a dazzling 44% increase driven by asap! and Takealot Group-owned Mr D app. Meep, meep.

📍 Apple Maps’ Ad-venture. Apple Maps is set to start letting restaurants and shops pay for AI-driven, tailored ads to appear in Apple Maps. All fun and games until you need to watch a 15-second ad before you know where to turn…

📎 Clippy’s AI Baby. Microsoft has unveiled new features for its AI sidekick, Copilot, including the vibrant companion Mico. The animated orb shifts colours based on tone and can listen and react to interactions. Cute man.

✅ The Stack. Founders need reliable tools, so our Founder’s Stack gives you IP offshoring and global market access with Finance Isle of Man, VC and startup legal sorted by Dommisse Attorneys, and more.

From 15 October 2025 to 15 November 2025, each friend you get to sign up to The Open Letter gets you one entry into a draw to win a brand new iPad Air!

Yesterday, we showed you how Re-Solve is working to solve SA’s water crisis, asking what you’d fix about SA’s water. Most wanna plug the leaks…

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🚿 The leaks: literally money (and water) down the drain (42%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 📉 The pressure: burst pipes love a quiet night (2%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🧾 The billing: pay for what you actually use (10%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ 🏗️ The maintenance: because “we’ll fix it next week” never comes (39%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🪣 Underground water sources for err’body (7%)

Your 2 cents…

Likely, Willie. Actually, that’s usually the secret to upping any kind of performance. 💪

On 28 October 1955, William Henry Gates the 3rd, aka Bill Gates, was born in Seattle, Washington, to a lawyer and a schoolteacher. He and his school bestie went on to found Microsoft, still probs the biggest software company in the world, in April 1975.

PS: He shares his birthday with Joaquin Phoenix and Julia Roberts. Cute.

📚 Tool to Try: ExamWhisper gives you real-time exam help as you learn.

🎬 That’s Interesting: Bruce Willis turned down $3M for The Expendables 3 because he wanted $4M — so Stallone replaced him with Harrison Ford.

🌋 Next Level: Watch minor volcanic eruptions in the Philippines this weekend.

🧩 Hack: To solve arguments faster, try turning “you vs me” into “us vs the problem”.

🎧 Wow Site: World’s Top Artists tracks the top 500 musicians with daily stats and discovery maps.

We are always keen to get reader feedback to help make The Open Letter the most useful of its kind for you. So please select