Finding stability

For South African indie info providers, entrepreneurship means constantly balancing the drive for growth with the need for personal sustainability. This pressure is so pronounced that in late 2025, organizations like the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) began actively urging journalists to prioritize their mental health. While some indie info providers have successfully stabilized their businesses to achieve a manageable work-life balance, many still grapple with the continuous demands of daily operations. Many turn to AI to manage operations, reflecting a broader national trend where AI usage far exceeds global averages — in one survey, 65% of South Africans used it to explore career changes and new ventures — even as creators navigate the cultural biases and connectivity issues inherent in AI applications.

Interviewees are mixed on whether they are professionally happy: They enjoy their work and take great pride in it, but financial uncertainty is taking a toll.

Of the 18 South African interviewees, 12 started their brands before 2020, with at least four of them running their businesses for 10 years or longer. This stage of entrepreneurship is not necessarily easier, but they are proud of what they have accomplished in this time.

For many, the primary source of pride comes from their impact on audiences and other stakeholders. They feel successful when they can “get someone to change their minds about someone else” or “[change] the person who’s reading it in some way for the better,” and they revel in hearing that they have succeeded in doing so. This group includes several who take pride in telling important stories and telling them well, especially when other outlets are not reporting on these topics. Another source of pride is meeting goals they set for themselves, like publishing in a certain outlet or reporting on a certain topic. But this can be a double-edged sword: after meeting their goals, they may be more willing to leave the field. As one of them said, “I’ve achieved a lot of the milestones I wanted to achieve and had the experiences and worked with the publications I’ve wanted to work with and now I’m a little bit, like, ‘what now?’“

When interviewees reflected on their happiness in their roles as indie info providers, they often felt very proud of their work. However, many noted that pride in their work does not make up for a high level of stress, and field-wide financial uncertainty is a major contributor. They feel like they have “very little control” over big questions about the future of the field, where “the returns are diminishing.” In some cases, they’re “exhausted” from working multiple jobs. Finding financial sustainability to help maintain a work-life balance feels absolutely necessary, and yet, it remains an existential question. As one interviewee explained,

To survive and to make a life are two different things. But now I feel like I’m still surviving. I’m not making a life. But I need to be in life mode, where I don’t stress about money.” 

While many interviewees have stabilized their businesses enough to maintain standard working hours, some still struggle with the demands of growth and operations.

Most of the South African interviewees do not work more than an average “9-to-5” day. Two of the 18 interviewees described their work as more than full-time, five worked about 30-45 hours a week, three reported working around 10 hours per week and the remainder gave vague answers or none at all. 

Many of the interviewees have reached a stage where their work has become more predictable, mirroring studies that show entrepreneurs begin to work more regular hours after their businesses have stabilized. One interviewee told us proudly, “Today we just agreed on set holidays for the year for the first time … we now are in an era, we’re all in our early 30s or late 20s, where we need to be sustainable and have lives.”

However, multiple interviewees said they felt limited by time to manage all aspects of their business. One said they need to spend more time writing grant applications and another needed to dedicate more time to the “business” part of their project, including growth and marketing. Another said it was difficult to spread themselves out across the needs of the newsletter, social media, marketing, operations, sales and everything else required.

Interviewees — and the South African public — are optimistic about using AI to manage newsrooms with limited resources.

For many of the South African interviewees, large language models (LLMs) seem to help them run their newsrooms with limited staff and funds. For example, one interviewee uses an LLM “as a coworker when I’m doing strategies,” but specifies “no writing from AI.” Interviewees described using these tools for a wide range of strategic and editorial tasks, including optimizing headlines for SEO, developing story angles, drafting emails to potential clients, cleaning up scripts before recording their podcast and correcting their English grammar. As one South African interviewee said, 

Listen, I want to complain with everybody about AI and how awful it is, but I work alone. I am a one-man team, and it has been an invaluable resource for me.”

High levels of generative AI adoption in South African newsrooms are reflected in public optimism regarding the impact of technology on journalism. According to a 2024 CNTI survey, at least 75% of South Africans approve of journalists using technology to improve writing, summarize documents, fact-check, translate content and edit images. This positive outlook sets South Africa apart globally. While 46% of South Africans said AI will have a mostly positive impact on reporting, sentiment is significantly lower in the United States (15%) and Australia (18%).

 At the same time, new technology’s effectiveness can be hindered by cultural biases, linguistic gaps and unreliable rural internet infrastructure.

Although a majority of interviewees are happy with the support they found in AI tools, including LLMs, several interviewees remain skeptical. 

Some cite pragmatic and functional challenges, but may be open to using these tools if the quality improves. One of them noted that AI “is not great at gleaning reputable South African sources for their content, and AI is not particularly good at translation across [12] official South African languages.” Indeed, multiple studies have shown that widely used LLMs have a cultural alignment more closely akin to English-speaking and Protestant European ideologies, and that quality varies widely across languages. 

Others are opposed at a more fundamental level. One interviewee compared handing the writing process to AI to “asking someone to eat my dinner for me.” 

Physical infrastructure also presents a major hurdle, as the digital divide frequently dictates if and how technology can be used. As one interviewee explained it, “One of the major problems is lack of internet access and lack of cell phone coverage. I mean it’s incredible. It really shows the rural-urban divide in sub-Saharan Africa.” This interviewee reflected on the reality that 60% of rural South Africans lack a dependable internet connection. They continued, “How do you keep your business going if you can’t send text messages, phone people, or get onto the internet?” 

Interviewees’ descriptions of the technology they use reflect a second digital divide: fairly basic hardware, but often quite sophisticated software.

The realities of life in South Africa often impact the technology interviewees use for their projects. Several of them primarily use a smartphone for their work rather than a laptop, and at least two specifically mentioned having better access to newer and higher quality phones than to computers. External peripherals like cameras or microphones are also relatively uncommon.

On the other hand, most use sophisticated software, which is increasingly available for all devices. These include dictation and transcription apps as well as project management tools, image generators like Kling AI and Midjourney, cloud-based servers and others.

Tools mentioned
Area of work	Specific task	Tools
Managing workflow	Task & project management	ClickUp, Excel
	Strategy development	LLMs
Research	Managing sources & story fodder	ChatGPT
	Brainstorming story ideas	ChatGPT, Gemini
Production	Dictation or transcription	Fireflies, Heroscribe, LLMs, Otter.ai, Sonix.ai
	Translation	ChatGPT, Gemini
	Graphic design & image/audio/video editing	Ableton Suites, Adobe Audition, Adobe Premier, Audacity, Canva, CapCut, ElevenLabs, Garageband, Premier Pro, Reaper ProTools, Samson video
	Image creation and sourcing images	KlingAI, MidJourney, Nanobanana, Pixabay
	Text editing	ChatGPT, custom GPTs, LLMs, WhatsApp AI
	Cloud services	Apple Cloud, Google Drive, LucidLink
Distribution	Web hosting, newsletter service & CMS	Campaign Monitor, Personal CMS
	Social media syncing & management	Buffer
	Analytics	Google Analytics
Finances	Subscription management	Pipedrive

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