CFO at Bridgement (Pty) Ltd

Back in 2004 Johann started his first business, DS live SA, at the age of 14. It started as a live production business, but when stage-lighting technology changed, they designed and imported some of the country’s first DMX LED stage lights, which they still distribute across SA today. This venture sparked his passion for business which led him to the CA(SA) qualification. He obtained his qualification in 2015 after placing in the Top 10 in the board exam.

Since then, Johann has been part of some amazing businesses in South Africa:

• PwC for seven years, managing large listed audits and projects, as well as SME audits.
• VAT IT, starting off as head of operations and taking up the role as CRO (chief revenue officer) after changing the way that tech-based products are sold across the global business. (He focused on the development of automation, AI and OCR in his operations role.)
• He founded Brand Capital Properties in 2019 with two CA(SA) colleagues. This property investment business is still growing at a rapid pace today.
• He is a member of the SAICA ITC sub-committee and oversees the Board 1 setting process. He has always been technically inclined, so this has been a passion of his and an important investment in future CAs(SA).

Around 2019 he realised that the world, and along with it the CA(SA) qualification, is changing and that skills in the tech space are a must-have. He prides himself on learning new skills and growing with the world, and so he has learned various coding languages and data analytic techniques.

The culmination of the above has led him to where he is today: CFO of fintech Bridgement. They are passionate about growing SME businesses in SA and do this by removing the barriers to access funding by using tech in the right way. To date, they have supported more than 10 000 jobs in South Africa.

In Johann’s words: ‘I have big ideas; a lot of people have big ideas.

Execution is what matters, and I do execution.’