Co-founder and Managing Director at Outsourced CFO
Louw started the award-winning finance firm Outsourced CFO with fellow Top 35 chartered accountant Dana Pretorius at the end of 2013. Under his leadership as managing director, the company has grown from two desk spaces to seventy people in just under nine years, posting more than an average of 50% growth per year. Outsourced CFO now serves clients from over 25 different countries around the world, and their staff operate from six provinces in South Africa and three continents around the world.
Along the way, OCFO has been named a Xero Partner of the Year finalist (2022) and is counted among the Fast Company Most Innovative Companies in SA. Their team has helped raise well over a billion rand in growth funding for entrepreneurial companies.
Louw has been recognised as a Top 35 chartered accountant (2015/16), a Top 3 finalist for Young Professional of the Year (SAPSA Awards 2016), and the Sanlam/Business Partners Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year winner (EOY Awards 2018). He has been included among the Fast Company Top 20 under 30 (2016), the Fast Company Most Productive People in Business (2018) and Insights Success magazine’s Top 40 under 40 (2021). He is one of the youngest members of Entrepreneurs’ Organization, among three hundred South African founders that form part of their global network of over seventeen thousand million dollar companies.
His thoughts on entrepreneurship, leadership and finance have been shared in Entrepreneur magazine, Your Business magazine, Fast Company, VentureBurn, Fin24, Accountancy SA, and various other leading publications.
Within OCFO, Louw has spearheaded the creation of the leadership and strategic frameworks on which the company is built. His vision in the arenas of marketing and sales, and his passion for strong execution, have led to the creation of a scalable business that is currently doubling every fifteen months. As a firm, Louw co-created Outsourced CFO to not just be a business built on integrity and flawless ethics but a meaningful place of work with an incredible culture and huge capabilities to accelerate the careers and personal growth of all of its employees.
Outside of OCFO, Louw and his team have set up Founders Foundation NPC, a non-profit vehicle that runs various programmes and initiatives for young and previously disadvantaged entrepreneurs who are starting out on their journey. Together with corporate partners, they have helped to secure more than R80 million in funding opportunities for young entrepreneurs and have supported more than a hundred and fifty entrepreneurs with financial mentorship. Millions in corporate CSI and ESD spend have been channelled to deserving young entrepreneurs to date.
