⚡ Supercharging this R230bn Industry…

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Let it grow? Remember when we shared the video of a new Japanese island’s fiery birth? Well, new satellite images show it’s still growing, so there might be some new beach property investment opportunities soon.

In this Open Letter:

• The switch: A new way to build cars in SA.
• Google fakes, Eskom’s new CEO & the chance to build your idea.
• Think big: How to generate more viable ideas.
• The best online shopping: The results are in.
• Free stuff: Share this and get cool tools for business.

TRENDING NOW

Supercharging SA’s R230bn Auto Industry

SA really needs more policies to help create jobs and boost the economy.

Take our motor manufacturing industry, for example. We’re the biggest manufacturer in Africa, producing some 600k cars a year for brands like Mercedes, BMW, VW, Toyota and Isuzu – two-thirds for export.

The impact? The industry contributes 4.9% of our GDP (±R230bn) and 110’000 jobs.

But there is a storm of epic proportions brewing

The EU is set to ban the sale of internal combustion engines from around 2035. 

That means European manufacturers will have far less incentive to keep making fuel-powered cars in SA because they won’t be able to export them to the EU. 

What’s more, as they switch their focus to EVs, if SA isn’t EV compatible, well we ain’t getting those cars and you’ll be driving that Corolla till the cows come home (mind you, it will probably make it there and back, no sweat).

Late adopters

Let’s face it, most South Africans have largely ignored the global move to electric vehicles – despite us showing you how EVs could free up billions in disposable income and giving you ideas on how to build an EV-based business.

For several hours a day, we can’t even power our kettles, let alone a car. 

But it’s not just our lack of electricity that is holding back the move. What makes matters more complicated is that SA is one of the only places in the world that employs over 140’000 petrol attendants – meaning if we drop petrol, we’ll need to find new jobs for these people.

What’s more, the government will need to figure out a new way to collect levies for the Road Accident Fund, which they’re currently collecting from petrol and diesel sales (even if you use it for your generator, LOL).

It’s a tricky situation, but EV adoption is coming whether those things are in place or not. Our guess is government knows this because they’ve just released a 67-page whitepaper on our transition to EVs – mainly focusing on manufacturing, but the adoption will surely follow once the vehicles are produced here. It outlines some ideas on:

• Investment and Funding Boost: Enhancing investment and funding levels, including improved incentive support for EV assembly and component manufacturing.
• Electric Battery Value Chain Development: Establishing a regional value chain for electric batteries, including raw material refining and battery component production.
• Reduced Import Duties on Batteries: Temporarily lowering import duties for batteries in domestically produced and sold vehicles to improve cost competitiveness.
• Export Market Access and R&D Incentives: Securing duty-free export market access and leveraging R&D tax incentives to increase domestic value addition.

So far we’re missing out

Take the Cybertruck, for example. The reviews are incredible – it’s the bakkie of the future. 

It beats a Ford F-150 in a 100m drag (on a dirt track while the Ford is on tar). It even beats a Porsche 911 Turbo in a sprint while towing a Porsche 911 Turbo. 

It sells for $61k (R1.16 million) about the same price as a F-150 and by the looks of things, great value for money. But we can’t buy it in SA. 

Just imagine if Elon Musk sets up a Cybertruck manufacturing plant in the country of his birth – a long shot, but we can dream, can’t we?

With the government getting to work on policy and a looming forced transition by some of the biggest car manufacturers in the world, we think it's finally time to say that EVs are coming.

So, who is early?

A few months ago we covered Zimi – watch our podcast with founder Michael here – who is supplying charging solutions to fleets and end users.

But with last-mile deliveries like Sixty60, ASAP! and Dash taking off, electric delivery vehicles are likely a great place to start. And that’s where 3 local companies are focussing:

• ScootHero – delivery motorbikes with 3 ranges, finance and leasing options. 
• Ev Africa – delivery bikes from R44’900, four-seater cars and even a bakkie priced from R239’900. 
• Everlectric – a sweet-looking delivery van that promises you’ll “never pay for fuel again”.

Is it too late to get in? Nah we only just getting started.

IN SHORT

🪙 Got Crypto? According to an in-depth study by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), more than 5.8 million South Africans own some form of Cryptocurrency, with most using local Crypto trading platforms.

🤖 Staged AI. Google has admitted that the “Hands-on with Gemini” video used in the Gemini launch was staged. Not only was the video not recorded in real-time, but the vocal interactions with Gemini were dubbed later.

⚡️In Power. Eskom (finally) has a new CEO in Dan Marokane. Currently acting CEO of sugar producer Tongaat Hulett, he will join the power utility by the end of March 2024 and is no stranger to electricity, having previously held senior positions in Eskom, including Head of Group Capital.

👜 Emotional Baggage. Some travellers may find themselves getting emotional at the security counter on their upcoming holiday as the Airports Company South Africa tightens up their hand luggage regulations – including size and weight, as well as what is allowed in a slimline laptop bag. Hint: you can’t also carry your boardies and wine bottles in it.

👩‍💻 Unemployment Tech. Got a cool startup idea that can help solve unemployment? Enter the Next176 unhackathon and get mentored by top venture studio partners. You can also win some great prizes, and even end up building your idea with them.

BUILDER’S CORNER

How to Generate More Viable Ideas

Steve Blank once said that he thinks most startups fail because they don’t “find the right product-market fit”. But if ideas start from a bad place, the chances of them never hitting PMF are great. So we thought: Isn’t there a way to generate ideas out of a place where it makes it easier or more likely to get the right fit? 

You know, so you don’t even start working on things there's no market for…

Turns out growth hacker Max Bonpain wrote an article about it on Medium, and we quite liked his idea-gen method (which they take even further into POC and MVP, but we’re only looking at the idea bit now).

Solving the right problems 

1. Start with finding problems in segments

Maybe you read something in The Open Letter, or you have specific domain knowledge – likely the best place to focus. Focus your efforts on the various pains that a market faces. I.e. let’s say you are a doctor (or targetting this segment) you might know that doctors have issues collecting payments promptly.

While this might be a great place to start, engage more roleplayers in the space to start unpacking the nuance of it and the “real problems” (the real reason they are experiencing pain). I.e. timely collections might have nothing to do with the tech they use, but rather a business process to bill later making collections harder. In changing the business process, the role tech plays is different than the former where it simply acts as a collection mechanism.

Either way, chances are those experiencing the pain might not be able to get to the root themselves and you need to discover it through iteration and experiments.

2. Use the “How Might We” method

Use a visual tool for sorting ideas – use Figma or just colourful sticky notes on an old-school whiteboard. Write each problem as a “How might we…” statement. For example: if they battle with tracking their payments, write “How could we make payment tracking effortless?”

Don’t generate solutions yet. First, spread all the problems out and see if you can spot any general themes. It’s important to map all the problems you can find, even if they are not part of your original idea or direction.

Are a lot of them focused on a particular theme (payments, finance, admin or repetitive daily tasks perhaps)? Group these similar ones together.

Now, consider the individual groups and start generating solutions for each group – this helps you generate concepts that impact multiple problems.

You could even just focus on the groups with the most problems in it first.

3. What you are up against

Just like you’d journey map a product, mapping for ideation is creating a hypothetical journey of how customers might currently try and solve each problem they face – they might search for tools, try different methods, use MS Excel, get frustrated with complex software or simply give up.

Again, put each step in the journey on a sticky note or a visual tool and identify where they have pain points. Brainstorm how a product/service could solve each pain point to flesh out your ideas.

Next, you’d do a proof of concept (hopefully you can use no-code/low-code) and get it in a customer’s hands. This is where you can start uncovering the “real problems” and offer something meaningful to solve them.

Got a killer idea-gen hack? Hit reply and let us know…

THE RESULTS

We asked who you think will have the best marketplace experience in 2024, and Amazon’s in the lead – but love seeing all the support for Takealot.

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🛒 Takealot (32%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 📦 Amazon (52%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🏷️ Bobshop (4%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🎁 Gumtree (2%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🏪 Makro (0)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤸 The local flee market (10%)

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