Power play {{ FIRSTNAME | there }}? Apparently, Elon Musk says that any bank that wants to work on the SpaceX IPO (expected to be the biggest ever) has to subscribe to Grok. An absolute masterclass in business building. 🚀

In This Open Letter:

Africa holds nearly 80% of global platinum reserves, over half the world's cobalt, and a third of its diamonds, contributing R432.7 billion to SA’s GDP in the first three quarters of last year – but only 36% of Sub-Saharan Africa is online…

Most media monitoring tools are built as if everyone's on the internet. That’s just not true in Africa: In Malawi, internet penetration is 18% (perhaps because electricity access is only 15%). 

When the power goes out at 6PM and a crisis breaks out, your digital monitoring goes dark, even though the conversations don't stop.

The signal that shuts a mine before a headline does

And for functioning societies, media monitoring is absolutely vital.

Picture this: A mining company announces an expansion. LinkedIn lights up, investors are happy. But 400km away, on a community radio station in Limpopo, residents are raising concerns about water contamination. 

That conversation never touches the digital space and, by the time it does, it's a protest, then a shutdown, then a headline. The warning signs were there — just not in the channels anyone was watching.

For big organisations and SOEs, breaking through that analogue-digital barrier can completely change strategy and public relations.

The local platform monitoring the Africa that actually exists

Social Light is an AI-powered media monitoring platform built for Southern Africa's real media landscape — it can combine analogue inputs with digital for a true picture.

The platform monitors 1’353 print publications, 309 radio stations and 206 TV channels across Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Lesotho, alongside social platforms. 

Its AI layer tracks sentiment shifts, connects what's being said on community radio with what's surfacing in regional newspapers, and flags early warning patterns before a narrative spirals.

Founder Tony Mautsu started by observing how people consume media at bus ranks in Botswana — and realised that a story about a mine hits investors, workers, and surrounding communities with equal force, but at completely different emotional frequencies. If there's no alignment across those three, everybody loses.

For an industry worth hundreds of billions to SA's economy, the gap between what companies think people are saying and what people are actually saying is where reputations collapse.

We're watching this space…

Who still queues for a beauty consultation at a counter?

Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty brand just launched an AI-powered beauty advisor that lives entirely on WhatsApp, giving customers personalised product recommendations, tutorials and reviews through a simple chat.

But here's what's really clever:

✅ Personalised shade matching and product recs
✅ Creator videos and real customer reviews, in-chat
✅ Works across Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin and Fenty Hair

Instead of browsing a website, scrolling Reddit or walking into a store, customers get a one-on-one consultation in the app they already use every day.

What could you build on WhatsApp today?

🤖 Local Founders Bit By AI Bug. While the ongoing AI conversation is dominated by massive global players, SA is home to (obvs) creative and innovative builders. Check out these 5 SA founders using AI in creative and unexpected ways.

🐳 The Missing 96%. Did you know 96% of Africa's mobile money fraud is still only being uncovered by customer complaints? Orca Fraud wants to change that by building a shared SA fraud intelligence layer to pool signals across FinTechs.

🤯 Life According to OpenAI. OpenAI released a policy proposal calling for public wealth funds, robot taxes and a 4-day workweek to “redistribute the benefits” of the AI revolution, including expanded social safety nets and policies to ensure humans don't get left behind.

🇿🇦 Another Win For Team SA. The Bank of America’s latest EEMEA Equity Strategist report seems to rank South Africa’s equity market ahead of our Eastern Europe, Middle Eastern and African counterparts, despite the worst month for markets in nearly 20 years.

📊 Smarter Decisions in 2026. Finance is the biggest reason SA SMEs fail. Finvoke gives startups and small businesses CFO-level insight (without paying a full-time salary) so you can grow with clarity, not guesswork.*

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

Last week, we showed you ReavPages’ SaaS consolidation tech, asking how many SaaS tools your team uses. Most here stay pretty lean…

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 📊 We run our entire business on a bunch of Sheets (14%) 

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🤏 Lean and mean, less than 25 (63%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 😎 Around 50: nothing crazy, but still gets the job done (9%) 

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤖 Over 100 in the age of cool AI tools (0%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🫣 Waiting for credit cards to expire to find out (14%)

3+ years revenue? Africa's Business Heroes Prize offers up to $300k from a $1.5m grant pool plus global exposure. Applications open.

Want to win $1m? The Pitch by Deel is a global startup competition with a $1 million investment prize — apply from SA now.

Early-stage SA tech founders? Get R40k+ in business-building tools, strategy sessions, cloud support, legal vetting and more when you join The Founder Collab.

African startup or MSME with an MVP? GEC+Africa 2026's Regional Pitch Competition selects 10 finalists to pitch live in Cape Town — could be your moment. Register now.

SA startup with MRR and market fit? Innovation City's Startup of the Year puts 10 finalists in front of investors and industry leaders. Entries close 27 Apr. Enter here.

TVET student with a business idea? The Inspire Inter-College Competition is open across all 50 SA public TVET colleges — win your share of R320'000 in prizes plus a year of mentorship. Entries close 17 Apr. Enter now.

🧩 Tool to Try: Esseeoh turns long YouTube videos into SEO-optimised Shorts.

🧠 That's Interesting: Anton-Babinski syndrome is a rare brain condition where a person goes blind but insists they can still see, like Mr Magoo, even making up excuses for bumping into furniture.

🌿 Next Level: Check out this strip of town in São Paulo that’s completely nestled inside a rainforest jungle.

📖 Wow Site: Verba Prima shows you a new opening line from a famous book with every click.

🧠 Work Smarter: How important is a name? Watch this branding genius break down the difference between billion-dollar names and the ones you'll forget.