Founders at Work returns to Durban with AI masterclass ‘The Company Brain’ to help South African scale-ups let go and scale

SMEs make up approximately 91% of all businesses in South Africa, with over 2.7 million SMEs providing over 60% of total employment in the country. It is at this transition, from founder-run startup to sustainably scalable business, that too many promising companies plateau or fail.

Jason Goldberg calls it the founder’s dilemma: You can be the centre of every decision and every detail of your business, or you can build a business that scales beyond your personal control towards financial freedom, impact and a life outside the office. You cannot be both. Most founders know this. Letting go is the hard part.

It was to help founders navigate exactly this that FNB and Art of Scale launched Founders at Work in October last year - a first-of-its-kind ecosystem helping South Africa’s scale-up founders navigate one of the most disruptive moments in modern business: scaling in the age of AI. Almost a year on, the initiative has taken its masterclass series to founders in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, and Polokwane, with many more joining via live stream from across the country.

“Once a business moves beyond the early stage, growth stops being about working harder and starts being about building repeatable ways of leading, deciding and delivering. That is the gap Founders at Work was created to close,” says Goldberg, co-founder of Art of Scale and Edge Growth, and author of The Art of Scale, who facilitates the masterclass series nationally.

The first year of this initiative has shown just how eager South Africa’s founders are for that kind of practical, hands-on support.

Over the course of its first year, the series has tackled the disciplines founders need to scale, from the Art of Scale, Strategy, Team and Execution through to the Art of Hiring, alongside practical AI sessions in which founders have built working AI agents to leverage workflows live in the room. Momentum has been strong, with the first masterclass of 2026 oversubscribed, over 80 founders attending in January, and many returning month after month to keep building capabilities they can apply immediately in their businesses.

For founders, the value is showing up in real operational change. Atish Dahya, who runs a law firm and debt collection practice, describes how the programme helped his team evolve how they grow.

“What it’s done is allow us to grow. We’ve grown our business from around 200 staff to about 400,” he says, adding that for his business, data is key. “We need automated QA scoring, data analytics, and we’ve brought in a few tools into the business that literally sets us apart from our competitors.”

This series returns to Durban for the final masterclass this year. Entitled ‘The Company Brain’, it takes place at The Oyster Box on 25 August 2026 between 9am-12pm, with a live stream option for founders across South Africa. Thanks to the sponsorship by FNB, attendance is at no cost to delegates (with qualifying criteria), and in-person seats are limited.

The session tackles the wall every scale-up eventually hits: growth outruns the founder’s ability to stay personally connected to every decision. In this hands-on session, participants will build an AI-powered "Company Brain" using their own business knowledge, enabling teams to access consistent guidance, reduce reliance on the founder and create a stronger foundation for sustainable growth. Each attendee will leave with a working system and a practical roadmap to continue developing it after the session.

The masterclass is designed for founders and senior decision-makers in established or scaling businesses with between 10 and 200 employees and annual turnover of R8m to R150m.

Business founders are invited to register at https://foundersatwork.co.za/august-2026-masterclass-the-company-brain/. Please note that in-person seats are limited.

Reference:

1. https://sacci.org.za/small-business-growth-index