Maya Fisher-French is a well-known South African personal finance journalist and author of Maya on Money: Implement your Money Plan. She has twice won the prestigious Sanlam Award for Excellence in Financial Journalism for the category of Consumer Financial Education. Maya is a regular columnist and commentator across several media channels including magazines, radio and television and is a popular speaker at both local and international events where she provides a consumer’s perspective on the financial industry. She also provides money management workshops for employees.

By Jeff Miller, Jonty Sacks and Neil Hobbs

Jeffrey Miller is an experienced venture capitalist and serial entrepreneur. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Grovest Corporate Advisory. He is also the co-founder of MeTTa Capital Managers, Grovest Energy, Grovest Hospitality, Mdluli Safari Lodge and sunstone Capital. He is a member of the sub-committee of The Southern African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, focused on Venture Capital. He has over 30 years of investing in unquoted companies across numerous industries and is a start-up specialist. He co-founded Brandcorp, which was listed on the JSE in 1997. He is also the co-founder of KNR Flatrock, Balboa Finance, Born Free Properties, Eurosuit, Bride & Co, Redwood Capital, Incred Finance and Seed Academy.

Jonty is a partner at Jaltech, a boutique financial consultancy firm specialising (in amongst others) Section 12J fundraising, formation and administration services. His role within Jaltech is focused on accessing retail and institutional funding within the South African market and to date, he has raised substantial funding within the Section 12J sector. In addition, Jonty is active in assisting clients with forming Venture Capital Companies (incorporated under Section 12J of the Income Tax Act) across various sectors.

Neill is a Chartered Accountant, Registered Auditor, Registered Tax Practioner and founder of Hobbs Sinclair Advisory. Neill is also one of the first pioneers who put Section 12J VCC’s on the map, including Iridium Private Equity (Pty) Ltd, the very first 12J VCC to be formed. He holds several directorships and is the founding partner and Director of three VCC’s. Neill is the CEO of Anuva Investments Limited and so far has raised R275 million to date, invested in 11 Companies and created 350 jobs. Neill is very passionate about job creation and developing SMME’s, which aligns perfectly with the Section 12J opportunity.

Jason Swartz is the Head of Portfolio Solutions at Satrix, where he is responsible for research, bespoke client solutions and product development. Previously Jason was at Momentum Asset Managers (Unconstrained Strategies team) where he was a multi-asset fund manager and responsible for investment strategy, asset allocation and quantitative research. Jason also has research experience on the sell-side, having worked with award winning teams at Cadiz Financial Strategists and JPMorgan in Johannesburg. Jason has a Masters degree in Business Science from UCT and is a CFA charter holder.

Paul Sweeting is Chief Risk Officer for the Hassana Investment Company based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Prior to taking up his role with Hassana, Paul was a Professor of Actuarial Science at the University of Kent. He now holds the title of Honorary Professor of Actuarial Science at the university. As well as being a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, Paul is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and an Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. He is also a Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary and a CFA Charterholder. Paul has written several articles, papers and books, including the textbook Financial Enterprise Risk Management. This book is used as the set text for actuarial courses in Enterprise Risk Management around the world. Paul also helped to design SP9 (formerly ST9), the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries’ examination in Enterprise Risk Management.

Jamie Anderson is Professor of Strategic Management at Antwerp Management School and Visiting Professor at INSEAD & DUKE CE. Named as a “management guru” by the Financial Times, Jamie has also been included on a list of the world’s “top 25 management thinkers” by the journal Business Strategy Review. His articles have appeared in some of the world’s leading international journals, including MIT Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, and the Journal of Business Strategy, and his ideas have been quoted in outlets such as Business Week, the Economist, Wall Street Journal and Financial Times.