We haven't found a good one for that yet. Know one? Nominate them →
About Good Founders
Good Founders is a short list of independent, founder-led South African businesses that are genuinely good at what they do. Every one is chosen on merit. Nobody pays to be listed, and nobody can pay to be ranked higher.
Four things every business here has in common
01
Support local, but choose good. Being independent or South African is not enough on its own. The work has to be genuinely good: well made, reliable, and good to deal with from the first message to the last.
02
The founder still matters. No franchises, no corporate subsidiaries, no national chains dressed up as artisans. These are businesses small enough that the people who started them are still part of the work.
03
There is something about how they do it that you will not get from the generic option. A plumber does not have to reinvent plumbing. The good ones bring care, know-how and a way of working that is their own.
04
The business is the recommendation. The founder is the story. Every listing leads with what the business does and why it is good, then introduces the people behind it.
No fees, no paid ranking, no sponsored spots
We come across a business ourselves, or a customer tells us about one. Businesses can put their own name forward too.
We buy from them, use them and ask around. If we wouldn't send a friend there, they don't go on.
No listing fee, no paid ranking, no sponsored spot. A place here can't be bought, which is why it's worth having.
The one rule
No paid listings, no paid ranking, no sponsored spots. Businesses are found by us, nominated by their customers, or put forward by their owners, and every route ends in the same place: is it genuinely good? If a business is here, somebody thought it was worth putting here.
The bakery you'd queue for. The plumber who came back to check. Tell us about them, and we'll go and see for ourselves.