After studying at UKZN South Africa, I worked in one of the largest South African insurance companies as broker consultant, before becoming a stay-at-home mom for 16 years.
During this time, I moved to the USA, homeschooled our children during periods of time, and did extensive volunteer work in the Palm Beach County school system.
After moving back to South Africa, an opportunity came up for me join the work force in the capacity of Administration Manager for a large pvc custom engineering company that exported over 50% of their goods. During this time it became clear that the skills I had picked up running a household, were useful beyond my small home environment.
My journey with Akro began when I saw the difficulties my son faced as entrepreneur and the many missing links of assistance a new startup faces.
CEO of Akro Capital
My experience with Akro has give me the opportunity to dive deep into the startup and venture capital industry. I have gathered a broad understanding of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and developed expertise across a range of skills.
In this context my network is expanded across the landscape as necessity has dictated that I work with startups from a range of backgrounds, working with angel investors and venture capital companies that have specific portfolio requirements.
Furthermore, in order to assist startups further, my network has extended to working with a variety of experienced people in business who provided mentorship and coaching to our startups, as well as potential business contracts and deals. Our various collaborations with corporates has been invaluable in this regard.
Although I work mostly within the South African environment, more and more I have startups form across the globe reaching out and it satisfying to see the expertise from the tip of Africa being able to assist startups from a far a field as Washington DC and London.
The market is expanding and therefore my knowledge base is constantly being expanded as well beyond local financial, operational, assessment, and strategy. Thanks to covid I have seen more of my home in the last 3 months that I have in the last 5 years, and the possibility of a global business from my desk is more real than ever.
The achievements I am most proud of is going from student to work force, to housewife, to workforce to entrepreneur making a different to startups.