On June 13th 2018, AlmaLinks Johannesburg hosted the CEO of Investec, Mr. Stephen Koseff, to discuss his personal story and his company’s success. Founded in South Africa in 1974, Investec today serves clients in Europe, South Africa and Asia, and is listed on both the London and Johannesburg Stock Exchanges.
In addition to his directorships of Investec Ltd, Investec PLC and various other Investec subsidiaries, Mr. Koseff is a Non-Executive Director of the South African Banking Association. In 2017, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Commerce degree by the University of Witwatersrand.
Below are some of the highlights from the event:
- Stephen spoke about being at the helm of the company for 40 years and building one of South Africa’s largest private banks, with a substantial global presence.
- He explained that building an entrepreneurial culture within the company has been the key to their successes.
- Investec has an open-door policy that promotes cooperation, teamwork, and transparency.
- He discussed how Investec originally started targeting young professionals as a lead-generation mechanism. Ultimately, these young professionals became high net-worth individuals that never left the Investec stable.
- As Stephen is quite involved in politics, there was a lengthy discussion about the future of South Africa. Stephen gave an insider’s look at the recent political transition, and discussed how big businesses have the ear of the country’s current president.
