🔑 The End of Rental Deposits…

Making friends? A new study found that people like you better if you’re more facially expressive when talking to them.

In this Open Letter:

• Smart move: Say goodbye to rental deposits.

• Top pick: A PropTech business idea to serve 3M+ users.

• New sea legs app, floating solar panels & Meta to save SA media.

• Big swing: How to manage your brand during a pivot.

• The WhatsApp service you really want: The results are in.

• Plug & play: 100 Startup ideas in Rbn industries.

Together with:

TRENDING NOW

Solving a Few Rbillions in Landlord-Tenant Headaches

For renters, there aren’t many payments quite as begrudged as the damage deposit.

Two months’ worth of rent just sitting there for 12+ months – it’s a cashflow killer. 

And, according to one founder building in the PropTech space we recently interviewed, as much as 70% of renters may never get their deposits back (no officially published stats on that, but we know it happens).

Deposit-related issues are a double-edged sword:

• Renters may need to go into debt to come up with the required 1–2 months' rent for a deposit. 

• Landlords, on the other hand, face risks if the deposit doesn’t cover a month’s rent (or even more) for potential damages or loss of income. 

• Not to mention that it’s a time-consuming process especially when people are literally moving out in the morning and need to move into their next place that night.

It’s a fine balancing act for landlords

Charge too much up front and you increase the barrier to entry and risk a drop in occupancy. 

Charge too little, or nothing at all, and you won’t have any windfall if there are damages or the tenant defaults.

This is where local PropTech startup LeaseSurance are making some moves by offering protection on rental lease agreements that eliminate the need for property rental deposits.

Using tenant data gathered from landlords, they develop tailored premiums and coverage on rental contracts that give tenants the option of selecting to add a small additional monthly fee instead of the cash deposit.

Then LeaseSurance will cover any claims should they move. And the fee is typically around roughly 5% of the rental amount per month… much more affordable from a cash flow perspective. 

And it's a big market

With over 3.3 million rental properties in SA, the likely amount of deposits locked in rental contracts of just the R5’7001–R7’500 pm properties bracket (just under 30% of all rental properties in the country) alone right now could be around R9.6bn.

According to the 2023 Q4 results of PayProp Rental Index:

Get access to more tenants

Traditionally only 30% of those who qualify for a rental property end up taking it, simply because they can’t come up with the cash deposit at short notice.

So, by incrementally upping monthly payments over lump sum deposits, you address serious barriers to entry for renters, giving landlords a larger pool of potential tenants to choose from. 

And LeaseSurance seems to be onto something – currently projects show that 3 out of 4 tenants opt for the marginally higher monthly payment option as opposed to paying a deposit.

Pretty soon, the rental deposit might be a thing of the past… We are watching this space…

IN SHORT

🤝 African x Korean Kollab. AfricaLabs and The Korea-Africa Foundation have signed a memorandum of understanding for a strategic partnership to drive innovation and economic growth across the continent via AfricaLabs’ network of nearly 500 hubs across 260 African cities.

🤢 All Aboard. Dr Nicole Taylor, a postdoctoral research fellow from Stellenbosch University’s Mechanical and Mechantronic Engineering Department is developing an app, Mariner 4.0 in the hopes of curing seasickness in professional seafarers.

🤑 Funding SA’s Media. SA’s Competition Commission is considering starting a fund for struggling South African media houses which will be funded by global big tech players like Meta and Google.

✋ Eskom’s High 5. Eskom has won an appeal to keep 5 of its oldest plants operational until March 2030, exempting them from the more stringent restrictions on pollutants kicking in next year. The 5 plants currently generate a quarter of SA’s coal-fired generation capacity.

☀️ African Lake Power. New research has shown that Ethiopia and Rwanda could generate more than 100% of their energy needs from floating solar panels on large lakes and other water bodies.

Using Content to Drive Leads

The rise of AI has brought about the rise of automated sales emails…. It’s just too much. And it begs the question: “How effective will outbound sales be in the future?”

Only time will tell. But what has always worked is content marketing that drives inbound leads.

In fact, according to HubSpot, inbound SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads have a 1.7% close rate.

But how do you create more inbound leads? One way to do this is through content marketing.

When it comes to creating high-quality business content, you don’t need “good writers”, you need people that understand tech and business.

That’s where Stream comes in: Unlimited content subscriptions to grow your brand, drive inbound leads and front-load value to prospects.

Check it out here and set up a call to learn more.

HOW WOULD YOU BUILD IT?

How to Manage Your Brand When You Pivot

If you have to pivot but are stressing over the impact it might have on your customers and reputation, then this week’s podcast is for you. We spoke to Ean Barnard, head of brand and marketing at Finch Technologies, who had to transition from mixed-level B2C to full-on B2B, and he had some gold advice for when pivoting.

Catch the highlights

1. Overcoming the No. 1 brand hurdle in a pivot

Separating your business case from messaging and a useful framework for redefining your brand messaging. It’s about clarifying/redefining who are and what to say to clients – get the insights here.

2. Unlocking the power of collaboration for clarity

From team workshops and sessions to expanding to stakeholders for diverse perspectives, it’s vital to get as much input as possible to uncover new insights for messaging that resonates – see what Ean did here.

3. Adding a touch that resonates universally

No matter who or where you’re pivoting to, one thing remains true: Humans respond to human stories. Showcasing the people behind the company and their stories results in wins in any market – see how it’s done here.

YOUR VOICE

We asked what else you’d prefer to do via WhatsApp, and it’s a mealtime affair…

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 👩🏻‍⚕️ Drs appointments (31%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🍳 Restaurant menus and bookings (40%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🔗 Business registrations (19%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🙌🏼 Asking for a raise (4%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🔮 Getting psychic readings (2%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 👛 Couch cash collection booking (4%)

Your 2 cents…

Wonderful, thanks, guys! More coming real soon.