Nishid Dosa

Entrepreneur, Deal Maker

[Adam Habib @AdHabb]

1. On 4 November 2026, in 10 days, JHB goes to the polls to elect its mayor. I have previously argued that Helen Zille is the only sensible candidate to vote for in this race. This would be a vote for the DA. The importance of this vote was underscored on a recent visit to JHB.

[The Common Sense @CommonSense_ZA]

Oh boy, the latest polls are out. In many of the big cities, from Johannesburg and Pretoria, to Gqeberha, and Ekurhuleni, the Democratic Alliance is averaging between the high 20s and the high 30s, and the African National Congress between the mid-20s and the mid-30s. The chief exceptions are Durban, where the ANC is below 20%, and Cape Town, where the DA leads outright. In scores of secondary centres, the same kind of ANC/DA split, with each in the 20s or 30s, holds.

What do the numbers mean? Answer: The fragmentation of the Union of South Africa.

Read the full Common Sense Diary with the link below.

https://t.co/rRYoMebGPg

[Alex Hormozi @AlexHormozi]

It’s always harder, takes longer, and costs more than you think it will.

And it's still worth it.

[Tim Denning @Tim_Denning]

I’m in love with this sentence:

“Winners win because they decide they’ve already won and let reality catch up.”

Jay Yang nailed it.

[Mteto Nyati @mteton]

Yesterday my daughter, who is studying in the United States, attended the Springboks versus All Blacks match in Baltimore.

She spent five years of her life in that city before moving to Cleveland. At the stadium she bumped into an old school mate from Dainfern College who now lives in Florida. Two South Africans, far from home, finding each other in a crowd of more than 68,000. It was already an emotional moment.

What neither of them expected was how deeply they would be moved by our national anthem. Standing there, thousands of kilometres from home, singing Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika. Pride in our roots. Pride in our diversity. Pride in excellence. And faith - watching the circle and the kneeling that followed the final whistle.

That image stayed with me.

There is a well known observation in India, popularised by Gurcharan Das, that “India grows at night while the government sleeps.” It captures a country whose people and enterprises often advance despite, rather than because of, the state. South Africa has that same untapped potential. We see it in the Springboks. World-class performance is not confined to the rugby field. It exists across our people, our businesses, our communities. We have what it takes.

What we still need is simple, and it is hard:
Create a genuinely business-friendly environment.
Confront crime with seriousness and consistency.
Appoint leaders in both the private and public sectors on merit.

Those three interventions would allow this country to occupy the place it deserves among the winning nations of the world.

We are a resilient people. Our character has been forged in difficulty. In a volatile world, that character is not a weakness. It is an advantage.

The Springboks keep showing us what is possible when talent, discipline, purpose and belief come together. The rest of the country can do the same.

We have the people. We have the potential. Now we must get our act together and grow during the day as well.

#Springboks #RugbysGreatestRivalry #BetOnSouthAfrica #Leadership #Merit #SouthAfrica #ProudlySA

[Joshua Meservey @JMeservey]

Cant and self-righteousness are de rigueur at events like the “Global Progressive Mobilization Plenary.” South African President Ramaphosa’s speech strictly adhered to tradition. Some of the funniest moments:

--He decries inequality and poverty, speaks of protecting workers, and says money spent on illegal wars should be used for building hospitals and schools. Yet he presides over a government and party that are comprehensively corrupt and steal money from some of the world’s poorest people, to the great detriment of his country’s health care and educational systems.

--He flatters his audience for “showing those who are powerful that you will not be cowed,” as if he and other speakers are not among the powerful. It’s a great glimpse into the third-worldist philosophy that it is only the West that wields power negatively. The developing world, by contrast, is only ever resisting the West’s malign power, even when it is unleashing horrors on its own and other people.

--Relatedly, he condemns wars of aggression and says the UNSC is toothless (correct) because some of its members are undermining the global order. It’s safe to assume he was referring to the US here while pretending Russia hasn’t invaded Ukraine and Georgia and that China hasn’t invaded its neighbors’ waters in the South China Sea. Again, the “moral” standard anti-Western ideologues use only ever condemns in one direction because it isn’t grounded in genuine morality. It is grounded in fighting the West by hook or by crook.

--He frequently speaks of democracy and laments the violation of human rights around the world, yet his government and party support many of the globe’s most aggressively anti-democratic and abusive regimes like those in China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.

--His first invocation of Palestine sparks by far the biggest response despite his speech also hitting most of the other progressive orthodoxies. Palestine really is the current central dogma of global progressives, in part because they believe it is a potent weapon against the West.

--He (again) congratulates himself and South Africa for taking Israel to the ICJ. SA’s government and the ANC do so frequently, yet the hypocrisy of it still amazes.

[Vivek Ramaswamy @VivekGRamaswamy]

The #1 factor that determines whether you succeed in life is you. It isn’t “the patriarchy.” It isn’t the Jews. It isn’t the Muslims. It isn’t the billionaires. It isn’t the foreigners. It isn’t white people. It isn’t black people. It's time for us to move on from victimhood culture in America.

[WHOOP @WHOOP]

Heart rate at its lowest on 18 when it’s all on the line. @McIlroyRory was made for this.

[Daily Investor @DailyInvestorSA]

Hungry Lion is set to open 200 new stores this year, which is the fastest rollout of any fast-food restaurant chain in South Africa.
https://t.co/WcMRM0NDIQ

[Helen Zille @helenzille]

The whole of O R Tambo airport has no water today. Incredible, in the true sense of the word.

[Ejaaz @cryptopunk7213]

i find it fucking hilarious how Apple "failing" at AI is now the exact reason they're about to win it:

- watched everyone else burn $1.4T+ building models... then picked the winner (gemini) to use for... $1B

- while everyone fights to grow users, apple flips a switch and 2.5 billion devices get AI siri tmrw.

- $150B to splurge on the device / app layer. zero competition (because everyones spent their cash).

- while openAI charges $200/mo subscriptions, Apple lets you run models on-device (cheaper, faster, private, personal)

- while openAI struggles to build an AI device, Apple just dropped 5 powered by the best AI chips for hand-held devices.

they "lost" the model race because they didn't need to win it in the first place

greatest to (accidentally) ever do it.

[Alvin Foo @alvinfoo]

Mark Cuban: You only need to be right one time to change your life forever.

[Naval @naval]

People who don’t organize into tribes get wiped out by people who do.

[DA Gauteng @DAGauteng]

🚨💧 Joburg is losing millions of litres of clean drinking water because of unattended water leaks. This is the real reason why you do not have water in your taps.

Watch the DA Johannesburg Mayoral Candidate, Helen Zille, report on the ground.

[Satya Nadella @satyanadella]

Thank you, PM @narendramodi ji, for an inspiring conversation on India’s AI opportunity. To support the country’s ambitions, Microsoft is committing US$17.5B—our largest investment ever in Asia—to help build the infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities needed for India’s AI first future. @PMOIndia

[WHOOP @WHOOP]

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Bring your data story to life with WHOOP Advanced Labs — purchase a testing package or upload your lab results today.

[Michael Jordaan @MichaelJordaan]

Fundraising is super hard. So we are very happy for the investors who backed ⁦@chronoscapital_⁩ when AI wasn’t the buzzword that it is today. https://t.co/NXepSpGk1S

[Alex Hormozi @AlexHormozi]

You'd be surprised how far you can get by only knowing what you want and not accepting anything else until you get it.

[Leila Hormozi @LeilaHormozi]

Harsh Truth: People won’t respect you at the bottom, they’ll ignore you in the middle, and they’ll hate you at the top.

You’ll never get everyone’s approval. So just do you.

[Michael Jordaan @MichaelJordaan]

20.1% stake bought by FirstRand already suggests a much higher valuation. Listing date for Optasia now 5 November. Exciting times. https://t.co/zBuz154Cgs