Scale smarter. Lead braver.
Thrive in the age of AI.
South Africa’s national business scale-up initiative – launched by FNB in collaboration with Art of Scale. In 2027, successful founders and leaders are building AI systems so their businesses can scale beyond them, one Build Lab at a time.
11 November 2026
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Why now?
Scaling changes the rules. AI changes the game.
Once a business hits around 20 people, the model where the founder is the system buckles. What worked in the startup stage stops working – the company now needs a scalable operating system, distributed leadership, and a stronger economic model. Many businesses stall or fail at this point.
AI raises the stakes, and it opens a door. For the first time, a founder can build in a day what used to need a team. That is what Founders at Work is for in 2027: helping leaders unlock leverage inside their business with the power of AI.
Founders at Work makes sure you’re not just keeping up – you’re scaling stronger, faster, and smarter by harnessing the power of AI in your business.
Scaling SMEs isn’t just about your business - it’s about South Africa’s future.
Scale-ups are the engine of job creation and inclusive growth.
By helping founders and leaders break through the scaling barrier, Founders at Work supports stronger businesses, more jobs, and a more resilient economy.
Through high-impact engagements, expert guidance, and peer learning, we give you:
- Proven scaling frameworks (leadership, teams, systems, capital, growth)
- Practical ways to integrate AI where it matters most
- A trusted network of founders and leaders facing the same challenges
Who is this for?
Founders, leaders, and decision-makers of growing SMEs
Leaders who feel the weight of growth stretched teams, complex systems, and the pressure to adapt fast in the AI era
Scaling-stage businesses
typically 10–200 staff,
R8m–R150m+ turnover
Free with the qualifying business profile
Free with the qualifying business profile
Free with the qualifying business profile
Free with the qualifying business profile
Free with the qualifying business profile
Free with the qualifying business profile
Free with the qualifying business profile
Free with the qualifying business profile
Free with the qualifying business profile
Free with the qualifying business profile
The Founders at Work promise
We combine time-tested scaling methods with the tools you need to lead in the AI era.
This is not an AI course.
In 2027 Founders at Work is running eight Build Labs. In each one you build a working AI system for your own business, either in the room or online, and you leave with it running, a Lab Kit to build it further, and Build Clinics to help you keep your build moving.
What you get
Build
- A short masterclass, then you build
- A Build Lab, either in the room or online
- Hands-on support in the room, and your AI Build Assistant works alongside you
- A working AI system for your business before you leave
Connect
- A WhatsApp community – your support network in your pocket
- Daily discussion with fellow founders
- An AI bot for the questions between builds
Keep building
- An AI Build Assistant stays with you so you keep building
- Build Clinics after each Lab take the build further and answer what comes up
- Each Lab builds on the last: build something real, make it safe, align the company behind it, put it on the P&L, then systemise
Proof and credibility
Built on a Proven Foundation Founders at Work may be new, but it stands on decades of real impact:
Collaboration
Edge growth and FNB have collaborated to fund and assist scale ups for over 15 years,
The book
The best-selling book, The Art of Scale, is a comprehensive guide that demystifies the obstacles to scale, the path to scale, the science of scale, and the art of scale,
Scaling with AI
Art of Scale provides founders and business leaders with proven frameworks, diagnostics, tools, and coaching to scale using AI.
1,039
Masterclass Registrations
80
+
NPS Score From Surveyed Attendees
545
+
Community Members
Hear it from our founders and leaders.
Proof in action
Backed by South Africa’s leaders
For more than 15 years, FNB has been at the forefront of SME development in South Africa — funding, mentoring, and equipping entrepreneurs to grow.
Together, these programs have already helped scale hundreds of SMEs and created thousands of jobs — proof that investing in scale-ups transforms communities and the economy. These initiatives have laid the foundation for the Founders at Work initiative.
This track record also positions FNB and Art of Scale to take these lessons beyond South Africa, as part of Africa’s scale-up story.
Art of Scale is the implementation engine behind Founders at Work.
Built on the top-selling book The Art of Scale, AoS provides the frameworks, diagnostics, and tools that help founders and leaders put what they learn into practice.