I am a self-driven entrepreneur with a passion for building businesses and solving complicated problems. My foundation in actuarial science gave me the analytical background to solve complex problems, but what has defined me is an entrepreneurial instinct to identify opportunities, and the grit to back myself (and team) and see things through. Above all, I’m a father and a husband to an incredible family.

Jaltech is a South African fund manager specialising in alternative investments. The business designs, structures, and manages innovative investment products that provide retail investors with access to alternative investments.
All products are managed in-house, with compliance, governance, and investor outcomes at the core of every investment. Jaltech raises and deploys capital across two core verticals:

• Private Debt: We offer companies medium-term debt facilities of between R20 million and R80 million.
• Solar Funding: We offer companies a fully funded solar solution.

I co-founded Jaltech in 2012, with our first office literally being one of the two founder’s living rooms. Like most start-ups, we didn’t get it right straight away. We continuously pivoted before finding our niche in alternative investment management, and it took years of trial and error to get the model working.
What I’m most proud of is how we got to where we are today: a sustainable financial services business, R2.5bn in assets under management, over R4bn deployed into investees and a team of 30-plus skilled staff, built entirely organically, with no third-party funding for our operations. Every rand of that growth came from the business itself.
I believe that’s the story behind this nomination: growing a financial services business from nothing, through repeated pivots, hard work and some luck after getting ourselves in the right position at the right time, without ever compromising on our values.

My vision for the future is to keep growing Jaltech sustainably and in line with our values. An important part of my goals is to ensure that our staff and their families are well looked after and grow in their careers. This will likely mean growing our current offerrings, innovating with new products/solutions within our focus areas and, over time, may involve expanding beyond South Africa’s borders. I want to do this without sacrificing time with my own family and friends, and in particular I want to be present enough to raise my son to be a mensch.

On South Africa, I’m an optimist. My key relationships are here, my business is built here, and my family is able to live great lives here and together. South Africans have a habit of talking the country down, but when you look elsewhere, we don’t have it too bad. South Africa has the potential to be a truly great country, and I believe if we can get some of the basics right, starting with reliable service delivery of necessities like water, electricity, education and transport, the impact would be enormous. If a couple things fall into place, we could genuinely be living in one of the best countries in the world. As a business, I believe we already contribute to this in a meaningful way, through our Solar offering and providing business with access to capital.

Recreational activities

Running (training for a trail run in November) and boxing to keep fit and enjoy watching rugby, cricket, soccer; Historically played: Cricket (full colors at a school level), Rugby (full colors at a school level), Golf, Padel, Comrades, Half Iron man. A love for travel which includes skiing/snowboarding and sailing.