Rishad Omar

I'm going to say something about the web development industry in South Africa that most developers won't say. 👇 We have a serious trust problem. And honestly we deserve it. I speak to SA business owners every week. And the number of horror stories I hear about web developers is genuinely alarming. Developers who took a full payment upfront and disappeared. Developers who delivered a website that looked nothing like what was agreed. Developers who built sites and then held the login details hostage forcing clients to keep paying monthly just to access their own website. Developers who went completely silent mid-project with no explanation and no refund. Developers who quoted R3,000 and invoiced R8,000 at delivery with a list of "extras" nobody discussed. This is why so many SA business owners hesitate when someone like me approaches them. It's not that they don't want a website. It's that they've been burned before. Or they know someone who has. And they're terrified of wasting money they worked hard for on someone who will let them down. That distrust is not irrational. It is completely earned. And as someone building a web development business in this environment I don't get to be frustrated by that skepticism. I have to earn my way past it. Every single client. Every single time. Here is what I believe needs to change in our industry: 🔵 Written quotes before any work begins not verbal promises 🔵 50% deposit model not 100% upfront 🔵 Regular updates during the build not silence 🔵 Full ownership handed over at delivery no hostage situations 🔵 Clear revision policies no surprise extra charges These are not extraordinary standards. They are basic professional ones. But until they become the norm in SA web development the trust problem will remain. I am building Ntech Digital on these principles. Not because it's a marketing strategy. Because it's the only way to build something that actually lasts. 👇 Have you had a bad experience with a web developer in SA? I want to hear it and I think more people need to. #WebDevelopment #NtechDigital #SmallBusinessSA #TrustInBusiness #Entrepreneurship #WebDesignSA #SouthAfrica #RealTalk #BusinessEthics #Johannesburg #BuildingInPublic #ClientFirst

1

What happens when your AI says there's white genocide happening in South Africa? Elon Musk's Grok did that, in case you missed it, and no, there was nothing like that happening. Generative AI is powerful. But it doesn’t just create images or text. It shapes decisions, brand reputation, customer trust, and sometimes, unintended harm. So, before you build or deploy a GenAI solution, ask: Have we thought through the ethics? Here are 5 essential ethical considerations every business should account for when using GenAI. ***** Exploring AI? Let’s do it right. ✅ Book a FREE call to build safe, scalable AI on Google Cloud: https://lnkd.in/evJNjVCg

2

October learnings: 1. Some tasks that used to take quite some time a few years ago are now getting done fast because the tooling evolved. When I have to parse something my usual tool was ANTLR which is great. However the scaffolding for an ANTLR is quite heavy so I found alternatives that made my work quite simpler. Recently I wrote a transpiler and after some iterations on the tooling I landed on peggy.js (https://peggyjs.org/) that is based on PEG formalism. Worked nice with JS, not so nice with TS. 2. One of the things we are missing with agents and AI is the lack of true inferences. When looking at the MCP mess (Why tools are tools and why synthetic tools?) we can see that there is a need to add some kind of ontologies over the marsh of concepts in MCP. Kind of what RDF/OWL was in the early web era. But nowadays people forget about semantics and just jump in the form bandwagon... 3. People started to observe that in fact Svelte's ecosystem is larger than React's, hence the long standing argument against Svelte is not holding anymore. Svelte, that doesn't use VirtualDOM, accommodates any other JS/TS library without any adaptations. It's 'plug&play'.

9

𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗜 𝗥𝗢𝗜 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗗𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝘆𝗽𝗲 Most AI business cases I see rely on vague promises: “30% productivity improvement” “Hours saved per employee per week” “Smarter decisions” The problem? Very few organisations in the South African mid‑market are actually measuring whether any of that happens. If you want credible AI ROI, you need three things: A baseline – What does “normal” look like today? -Average handling time -Proposal turnaround -Month‑end close duration -Ticket resolution time A focused pilot – Not “AI everywhere”. One or two processes A defined cohort of users A clear time window Linked metrics – Not just “user satisfaction”. Fewer handoffs Reduced rework Faster cycle times Improved margins on specific services Without this, AI becomes another story vendors tell you. With it, AI becomes something you can defend to your board, your auditors and your own sense of discipline. AI should not be a leap of faith. It should be a measured step. If AI ROI conversations in your business feel more like marketing than measurement, that’s a red flag. If you’d like a simple framework for turning AI from hype into numbers, I can walk you through one.

10

Capitec has been quietly rolling out a powerful safety feature. Before you send money, the app can warn you if the account you’re paying shows signs of suspicious or fraudulent activity. Fraud has always relied on speed. Money moves fast… and once it’s gone, it’s gone. Now banks are starting to intervene before the transaction happens. This is the shift: from processing payments → to protecting them in real time.

112

10 Comments

Interested in AI-powered platforms & EduTech? Our second speaker at the SEEKR Meetup in Cape Town next Thursday will be Ethan Marrs. Co-founder and CTO at Mindjoy - Stop writing code like it's 2022: building for an agentic future Ethan Marrs is the co-founder and CTO of Mindjoy, an AI-powered platform for STEM learning used by institutions such as North-West University and Stellenbosch University. A full-stack engineer turned engineering leader, he spends his time working with the team to make improvements to the Mindjoy platform, talking to customers, and jumping in wherever needed. In “Stop writing code like it's 2022,” he lays out pragmatic patterns for embracing agentic software engineering - all while you have paying customers, a roadmap, teammates, and production code to maintain. This talk is for anyone interested in adapting their code and workflows in a rapidly changing software environment. Join us next Thursday at Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cape Town! Sign up link in the comments 👇

10

8 Comments

The future of your tech team depends on more than just code. It depends on strategic partnerships. Our new blog reveals how South African tech talent provides a competitive advantage that goes beyond skill—it’s about resilience, adaptability, and an innovation mindset. Get the full story - https://lnkd.in/dVJh-YGQ #TechTalent #StrategicPartnership #InnovationMindset #TechLeadership #NewBlog

9

🇿🇦 ChatGPT just launched rand pricing and it changes the game for South African creators. From today (15 Oct), OpenAI’s new ChatGPT Go plan is live across Africa and for the first time, South Africans can subscribe in rands. Here’s what it costs - Go: R149/month — 10× higher limits than the free plan - Plus: R399/month — full GPT-5 access - Pro: R3,999/month — deeper reasoning with GPT-5 Pro Why this matters: Africa’s AI adoption curve is exploding. Millions already use ChatGPT to study, build, and create, now local pricing makes premium tools accessible to more people. Go is leaner (no Sora video or Codex), but powerful enough for 90% of daily tasks, from content to business strategy. Quick context: This rollout follows launches in India and Asia, and signals OpenAI’s serious push into emerging markets. Your turn: Would you pay R149/month for smarter AI tools or wait for Sora to land in SA?

471

39 Comments

From Code to Enterprise: The Data Doesn't Lie 📈 10 days since launching StrategicShift: • 56 Active Users •337 Engagements • 57 New Users •41 South African Businesses Reached The market is responding to platform thinking - not just features. One year ago: Building features for R35k Today:My transport system attracts R150k-R1.5M enterprise interest Stop selling code. Start building systems worth chasing. #StrategicShift #EnterpriseArchitecture #BusinessTransformation

3

4 Comments

Ever face a development challenge where the toughest part isn't the code, but the strategy? There are times when the real challenge is understanding the technical limitations well and building a balanced system within those technical limitations. I'm currently deep in the build for eyola.com, a new e-commerce experience for The Eyola designer luxury brand. One of the most fascinating problems so far has been on the product collection pages. For a luxury brand, this page isn't just a grid of items; it's the digital showroom. A standard "load all" or "load one" approach wouldn't work. I had to build a hybrid solution, supported by a robust ASP.NET backend. My Approach - Prioritize the First Impression: Products "above the fold" (what the user sees immediately) have their primary image loaded instantly. No delays! The first impression has to be flawless and fast. - Intelligent Lazy Loading: As the user scrolls, a custom Intersection Observer kicks in. It doesn't just load the one primary image for the newly visible products; it pre-fetches the first image for each of them, making the scroll feel smooth and populated. - Interaction-Driven Caching (The Magic): This is the key. The other images for a product (the ones for the hover effect) are only fetched the first time a user actually hovers over that specific product. Once fetched, they are cached in the browser. The Result: The user gets the best of both speed and quality. - A lightning-fast initial page load. - A smooth scroll with no janky pop-ins. - A "magical" and instantaneous multi-angle view on hover, because the work is only done when it's needed. It's a powerful reminder that the best solutions are often not about choosing between speed OR features, but about engineering a system that intelligently delivers both. It’s more than a technical problem; it’s a user experience challenge. #FullStackDev #ASPNET #WebDevelopment #FreelanceDeveloper #Ecommerce #UX #CaseStudy #ProblemSolving

5

Web development is rapidly advancing in South Africa. If company websites aren't up to standard, they will be left behind. To make sure your site is ahead of the curve, follow these 5 tips: ✅Use micro-animations and interactive elements ✅Make use of AI and chatbots ✅Optimise for voice search ✅ Use progressive web apps (PWA) ✅Use a mobile-friendly design These tips will ensure your websites are future-proof and optimised for conversions. #southafricanwebsite #webdevelopmentsouthafrica #startups #webdevelopment #WebDevelopment2026

1

Backing up business data is not just a nice-to-have anymore. Businesses need their data to function efficiently, however, threat actors can cause extreme damage and downtime if no proper backup and recovery procedures are in place. Always remember to backup and test your recovery processes well in advance and at regular intervals. Speak to Sekela IT to find out how we can assist with making sure you are protected and ready for real world threats!

1

Suzuki Auto South Africa partnered with Spitfire Inbound to unify their inbound marketing into a single, scalable HubSpot-powered ecosystem. By aligning data, automation, and insight, they delivered personalised customer journeys at scale, without adding complexity. The impact? A 20.75% year-on-year increase in units sold and measurable market share growth💥 Read the full blog to see how smart journeys delivered real results: https://hubs.la/Q046SQGc0

8