Better than solar {{ FIRSTNAME }}? Heard the one about the guy who powers his house with 500 rechargeable vape batteries? It’s no joke, watch him build the whole setup here. 🔋

In This Open Letter

The est. R30 billion fitness influencer industry is set to quadruple by 2033, but it’s choked by tech companies – you gotta see how this startup helps fit creators make more money faster…

Many fitness content creators (fitfluencers) can grow a pretty impressive audience on major social media platforms – about 3% of influencers on Insta are in fitness and 510 million peeps follow #fitness.

It makes sense: When COVID lockdowns shut down gyms worldwide, everyone defaulted to fitness influencers, resulting in a surge in their follower numbers on the gram, TikTok and YouTube for routines they could do at home.

But unfortunately, audience growth doesn't always translate into a steady income.

Big tech eating your lunch

Those social networks own the customer relationship, though, and they exert that mighty force by choke-holding fitfluencers’ own follower reach (in hopes of tricking them into advertising, we presume). And it’s eating into earnings…

Fitness creators with:

Those earnings come from a combo of sponsored posts, ad revenue, digital fitness guides and affiliate deals, etc. But the business model and potential depend almost entirely on platform algorithms: When the feed is generous, creators earn. But when it pulls back, revenue disappears.

Creators need a way to build a business on their audience without relying on big tech to grant them visibility.

The local startup helping fitfluencers cash in…

Sudor Apps (sudor meaning “sweat” in Spanish) is a platform that lets wellness and fitness creators launch their own branded mobile apps for iOS, Android and web, without needing to build the software from scratch in a handful of steps.

Creators launch from a template, upload content, live-stream workouts or other coaching sessions to their community, and manage their subs all under their very own brand name, ensuring that the creators maintain ownership of their content, while Sudor handles payment processing and publishing.

And the proof is already in the protein-powered pudding: 78% of creators who switched to Sudor saw their earnings double within 3 months. Wow!

It’s a game-changer, shifting creators’ dependency on large platforms to owning their very own business infrastructure.

As the creator economy matures, Sudor empowers fitness professionals to pursue recurring revenue, ownership and stability in a subscription-driven wellness market, with a business they can control (rather than borrow).

We’re watching this space.

Pause payments, not growth. Lula’s November offer lets you secure business funding right now and only start repayments at the end of Jan ’26 — use code GROW2025. Apply here.

Gemini 3 is tech business food. Google product lead Logan Kilpatrick walks through building full apps, games & UIs from a single prompt using Gemini 3.0 Pro in AI Studio. Watch here.

Estimate dev costs instantly. CostGPT turns an idea into a scoped project estimate with features, sprints & timelines (just remember it’s in dollars, so you’ll have to convert). Try it here.

Imagine if tomorrow, your startup could use the services and tech of one of SA’s biggest multi-million-Rand e-commerce operators – because you totally can…

“E-commerce businesses are logistics businesses” is a quote we often hear when speaking to experienced e-commerce operators.

Why do they say this? Because the success of your e-commerce business hinges on being able to get the product in shape, on time, to the right place.

But imagine you could get SA’s most experienced e-commerce fulfilment team, with a large network of drivers, to do that part for you?

Introducing, Takealot Fulfilment Services (TFS).

TFS provides reliable freight forwarding, courier, on-demand and supply chain services that streamline your operations and drive growth. We are talking about:

So whether you are delivering local or abroad, TFS can help you get it there on time, in shape and at the right place.

You have to see how TFS helps e-commerce stores suddenly scale…

🌉 Closing The Gap. The B20 South Africa Digital Inclusion Fund has been launched to support African entrepreneurs building tech-focused startups to close the digital divide in African countries, with a cool R1.7 billion earmarked for the fund. Nice one.

⚡ Charge to Ride. Uber in SA has launched the first 70 of its electric fleet of vehicles in Jozi, with the remaining 280 hitting SA streets by the end of Jan 2026. Very cool.

👔 Back In The Office. South Africa is getting its very own local remake of ”The Office”. Die Kantoor is set to hit Showmax in Jan. The show takes place in a meat processing company called Deluxe Processed Meats, which manufactures Polony. How very South African — can't wait.

📵 Access Denied. Malaysia might become the next country to ban social media for under-16s. The ban could happen as early as next year and comes hot on the heels of a similar ban looming in Australia. Interesting.

✅ The Stack. Founders need reliable tools, so our Founder’s Stack gives you cloud services by Cloud on Demand, Africa-ready payroll & HR via Deel Local Payroll powered by PaySpace and loads more.

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

Yesterday, we showed you how GreenCrate’s bringing SA some awesome new school recycling tech, asking where SA’s recycling actually falls apart. Most can’t trust the system…

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤢 No one wants to sort waste (20%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 😑 My efforts do not make a difference (10%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤷 “Once it’s in the bin, it’s not my problem” (17%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💸 It’s yet another thing I have to pay for (4%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 💔 The system is so broken, no one knows where to start (49%)

Your 2 cents…

Eish, sorry Barb. Hmm, maybe introduce the local Nelspruit schools to GreenCrate as a start? 🌍💚

On 25 November 1975, Robert Ledley received the patent for his design of the first CT scanning (aka CAT Scan) device — a machine he’d built using tools from a nearby auto body repair shop behind a Cadillac dealership.

He sold the patent to Pfizer for $11.5 million (which would be about $66 million today, or R1.1 billion) that same year.

💡 Tool to Try: BigIdeasDB turns millions of real user complaints into validated startup ideas.

🐿️ That’s Interesting: Nasdaq’s trading system has gone down twice because of squirrels (1987 and 2014).

⚽ Next Level: Watch Cristiano Ronaldo (40) score a bicycle-kick goal this past weekend.

🔌 Hack: A cool guide to electrical outlets across 22 different countries.

🗞️ Wow Site: Forty News shows you today’s headlines from 40 years ago.

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