With a population of over 60 million and one of the continent’s most dynamic digital economies, South Africa is experiencing a major start-up and innovation boom.
Five South African businesses featured in Bloomberg’s 25 African Startups to Watch in 2025, while the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Global Innovation Index 2025 ranked the country as the number one innovation economy in Sub-Saharan Africa, naming it as one an “innovation overperformer.”
This surge is powered by entrepreneurs embracing digital opportunities. From e-commerce to fintech, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are becoming the backbone of the country’s innovation story.
Behind many of these digital success stories stands 1-grid, a Cape Town–based hosting and domain provider that’s been helping South African businesses grow online for nearly three decades.
Deep roots in South Africa’s internet space
1-grid’s history runs deep in the country’s digital ecosystem.
Madeleine Abrahams, Head of Marketing at 1-grid, explains that the company began in 1997 as part of Webafrica. Over time, through various acquisitions and strategic shifts, it transformed into an independent hosting provider dedicated to helping South African SMEs establish their online presence.
That evolution included relocating to a world-class, ISO-certified data centre to improve speed, reliability, and security for their growing customer base, which now exceeds 32,000 businesses. This investment has allowed 1-grid to deliver global standards of service while remaining deeply rooted in the South African market.
More than a hosting company
While hosting sits at the heart of 1-grid’s business, the company’s mission goes far beyond infrastructure. “We are more than a hosting company,” says Abrahams. “We see ourselves as a growth partner for entrepreneurs. We help them get online, stay secure, and compete in a very competitive online space.”
That mission has shaped 1-grid’s full-service offering – from company registration and domain names to website builders, hosting, and SSL certificates – all designed to make going online simple, secure, and sustainable.
Madeleine elaborates:
“We understand that the typical small and medium enterprise owners wear a hundred hats a day, and we support them by making the online part of their business very simple and very reliable. We give them an easy way to get online through their domain and their website. We back them up with services like SSL certificates, website backups, and professional email. And very important for the South African market, we offer local 24/7 human support. So if there’s ever a problem, there’s always someone local they can speak to. In a nutshell, if our customers grow, we grow – and nothing makes us prouder than seeing a side hustle becoming a thriving SME.”
It’s clear why this customer-first mindset and proven reliability make 1-grid’s partnership with Openprovider a natural fit.
A trusted partner in Openprovider
In 2019, 1-grid became an Openprovider customer, marking the start of a strong, collaborative partnership focused on reliability, scalability, and value.
“In business, partnerships matter, and Openprovider certainly makes our life easier and our offerings to customers stronger,” says Madeleine.
The partnership gives 1-grid access to a wide range of TLDs at great prices on one platform – helping them expand their offering while keeping costs fair and transparent.
“Openprovider’s pricing is competitive,” says Madeleine, “but more importantly, they provide a stable solution and a stable platform that’s easy to integrate. What’s more, Openprovider is backed by a company that understands the registrar business.”
One of the most strategic advantages for 1-grid is the growing demand for geoTLDs in the South African market. The 1-grid team is seeing increased interest from small businesses in domains such as .durban, .joburg, and .capetown, which allow companies to signal their local presence and connect with their communities.
Openprovider Membership makes this possible by giving on-demand access to over 1,900 TLDs at cost price, including these local market geoTLDs.
With cost price registrations and renewals, 1-grid saves 20% off retail prices for cityTLDs and 32% off .co.za domains. This allows them to offer highly competitive pricing to its customers while maintaining strong margins.
Beyond South Africa, Openprovider is helping 1-grid expand into the wider African market, which is developing rapidly and full of new opportunities. With Openprovider Membership, 1-grid can register the .africa domain at 45% off retail, giving local businesses an easy and affordable way to establish a pan-African digital presence.
Looking ahead: A shared vision for growth
South Africa’s digital economy is growing fast, and 1-grid and Openprovider share a vision of helping local entrepreneurs seize that opportunity.
“Only a fraction of South African small businesses have a proper online presence, which means the growth runway is massive,” says Madeleine. “I’m very excited about the growth in e-commerce, which is forecasted to grow by 38% in the next year. I’m also excited about localization with extensions like .africa, .joburg, .capetown, which gives these businesses a sense of identity.”
Together, 1-grid and Openprovider are helping realize this potential – combining local expertise with global infrastructure to make digital success easy, affordable, and reliable for South African entrepreneurs.
1-grid and Openprovider are proof that when the right partners come together, both innovation and community thrive.
“Here at 1-grid, we focus on a lot of things in the online space, but the guys at Openprovider are the specialists, and it’s good to know they have our back,” says Madeleine. “For us, we value partners that are flexible, transparent, and innovative – and I think Openprovider ticks all those boxes.”
Get started with Openprovider
You can try out our platform for free – no credit card required.
Ready to get instant access to 1,900+ domains at cost price? Start spending less on your domains, use these savings to create competitive bundles to attract and retain customers, and become more successful and profitable with domains. Discover Openprovider Membership subscription options here.
