This week's No Free Lunch Podcast, provides a level headed view of AI developments in a discussion between his Greg Stewart and Professor Anné Verhoef of Nort West University. The discussion examines the recently released allegations that a swarm of AI agents acted independently to escape a test sandbox, coordinate with one another and hack Hugging Face, and what sensible AI development should look like.

Dr Ryan Noach’s career is anything but conventional. From emergency medicine and helicopter rescue services to senior leadership at Netcare, Discovery Health and now DNI, his journey reflects a consistent appetite for entrepreneurship, innovation and meaningful societal impact. In this engaging conversation with Greg Stewart, he explains how his experiences shaped a broader mission: expanding connectivity, affordability and digital inclusion across South Africa and the wider African continent.

n this episode of No Free Lunch, host Greg Stewart speaks with Hariprasad Vishwanathan, COO for Sub-Saharan Africa at VFS Global, about why international travel is becoming more difficult in some parts of the world, while African countries are simultaneously moving toward more open and accessible travel systems.

In this episode of No Free Lunch, Greg Stewart speaks with Brendon Thorpe, CEO and co-founder of X Tenure, about the fast-growing health tech sector and the role artificial intelligence can play in making cancer screening more accessible, more targeted, and more affordable. 

The conversation centres on a key challenge in modern healthcare: how to identify the people most at risk early enough to intervene, without relying on expensive blanket screening for everyone.

In this episode of No Free Lunch, Greg Stewart chats with Shaun Durandt, Head of Business Development at PayJoy, about how affordable smartphone access can help unlock earning potential, Learning access and business opportunity across African markets. The discussion explores the scale of the smartphone gap in Africa, the business model behind PayJoy’s responsible lending approach, and why access to mobile technology is now central to education, entrepreneurship, healthcare, and everyday communication.

This episode of No Free Lunch explores the rapid growth of South Africa’s ICT and small business sector, with a particular focus on the funding challenges faced by SMEs working on larger projects. Host Greg Stewart is joined by Andrew Keggie, Chief Information Officer at Lula, a Cape Town-based fintech that provides working capital and business banking solutions for SMEs. Together, they unpack the forces driving growth in the sector, the financial pressures that can limit expansion, and the role of flexible funding in helping businesses scale.

Host of No Free Lunch – Greg Stewart interviews Simon Ellis, the co-founder and CEO of JEM, an innovative AI driven South African Startup, following the company’s announcement of an $8.4 million Series A raise. 

Our conversation traces Simon’s path from accounting and corporate work in London to entrepreneurship, while also exploring how JEM became a fast-growing workforce platform serving frontline and deskless employees across South Africa and beyond.

In This episode of No Free Lunch, Greg Stewart chats with Wesbank CEO, Robert Gwerengwe, about the major shifts in the Automotive industry today and what this means for vehicle financing and ownership costs.

The vehicle and asset finance industry is undergoing a major transformation, and Robert Guerengwe, CEO of WesBank, believes the pace of change is only accelerating. In our discussion, he outlined how South Africa’s automotive market is being reshaped by new brands, shifting consumer expectations, and the rise of electrification.

In this episode of No Free Lunch host Greg Stewart explores the importance of ecosystem building within industries like advertising and media to foster skills development and leadership for women. The discussion features Paula Hulley, and the Managing Director Digitas South Africa and a seasoned leader in the South African advertising and marketing industry. The discussion highlights strategies, systemic frameworks, and practical steps to create sustainable, inclusive ecosystems to develop women and young people entering the industry.

The latest No Free Lunch podcast discussion focuses on the Purple Group’s acquisition of Telescope AI and the strategic thinking behind the deal. Purple Group CEO and Founder, Charles Savage explains that the relationship between the two companies began years ago, when he first met Telescope AI founder Luke, and became more serious in late 2025. 

The recent acquisition was not simply a financial transaction, but the result of a shared vision, strong cultural fit, and a belief that the two businesses could create more value together than they could separately.