Dominique Olivier
The South Sea bubble: a financial crash to remember
If you’ve been watching the current frenzy around artificial intelligence - the breathless predictions, the overnight billionaires, the declarations that civilisation is either saved or doomed - you may feel a faint sense of déjà vu as you read Dominique Olivier's tale of The South Sea Company bubble. It even caught out Sir Isaac Newton!
Ghost Stories
Ghost Stories #83: Winners vs. missed opportunities in 2025 – and finance tips for entrepreneurs
Duma Mxenge (Head of Business and Market Development at Satrix) joined me right at the start of the year to talk about some of the things we would be looking out for in the markets this year. With the benefit of hindsight, we could now dig into some of our winners, overall surprises and missed opportunities in 2025. We also took the opportunity to talk about the nuances for entrepreneurs when it comes to personal financial management.
Ghost Stories
Ghost Stories #82: WeBuyCars – from dealer revolution to digital evolution
WeBuyCars is an excellent example of a disruptor in the South African market, having completely changed the way people buy and especially sell their vehicles. As a sign of just how valuable the data and technology systems are, WeBuyCars has announced that Chief Digital Officer Wynand Beukes will also take the role of Deputy CEO as part of succession planning at the group. CEO Faan van der Walt isn't going anywhere just yet though - he still has plenty of energy to give the group. Both Faan and Wynand joined me to discuss the business and the road ahead.
Dominique Olivier
A succulent crime story
How did a lockdown hobby turn into an ecological emergency? In the stillness of the Karoo, poachers aren’t after gold or ivory, but thumb-sized succulents so coveted that entire species are vanishing into the black market.
Capitec
The Finance Ghost Plugged in with Capitec: Ep 5 (From espresso to enterprise with Bootlegger)
Ricky Ruthenberg has truly taken a ground-up approach to his career. Adapting to opportunities as they present themselves is clearly a powerful skill. From waiting tables at Col’Cacchio to helping launch the first Bootlegger in Sea Point, he’s gone on to build the team that runs a national chain of nearly 100 Bootlegger restaurants. This is the story of Bootlegger and a dream about coffee.
Podcasts
PODCAST: MTBPS 2025 | Gold’s fiscal glow
South Africa’s economic story is balancing between risk and resolve, discipline and delivery. As the country prepares for its first Mid-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) under a coalition government, National Treasury faces a difficult equation: stabilise debt, restore credibility and still find space for growth. In this episode of No Ordinary Wednesday, Jeremy Maggs is joined by Investec’s Annabel Bishop, Tertia Jacobs, and Osa Mazwai to unpack the policy choices shaping the 2025 mini budget.
Ghost Stories
Ghost Stories #81: Lesaka Technologies – disrupting through distribution to build a fintech giant
With a growth strategy that is grounded firmly in the belief that Southern Africa offers one of the most exciting opportunities in the world today, Lesaka Technologies is executing from a tried-and-tested playbook of disruption in the fintech space. To explain the opportunity and how Lesaka's business model is built to win, Executive Chairman Ali Mazanderani joined me on this podcast.
Sponsored
Buy the world, without the bumps
Advanced Investment Holdings Ltd is a structured product promoted by Investec that offers diversified international equity exposure, plus capital protection. This could be a smart option when markets appear to be expensive. In this article, Investec explains how they address tricky market entry points through structuring elements.
Podcasts
PODCAST: No Ordinary Wednesday Ep113 | The new era of cyber risk
Deepfakes that fool the eye. Voices that sound real. Attacks that never sleep. As artificial intelligence reshapes both offence and defence, cyber risk has gone mainstream. In this episode of No Ordinary Wednesday, Jeremy Maggs speaks with Investec cybersecurity experts Nomalizo Hlazo and Tash van der Heever.
Ghost Stories
Ghost Stories #80: Taming the herd – how to navigate bubbles, biases and big market moves
Kingsley Williams is the Chief Investment Officer at Satrix, which means he has built his career around being a student of the markets. He started working right before the dot com bubble, so Kingsley has seen exactly what happens when you have herd mentality in the markets.
Bubbles. Biases. Big market moves and the way they make people behave - it's all here in this great conversation around how to stay sane in a market that is driven by emotion, and one of the most dangerous human traits of all: greed.
Ghost Stories
Ghost Stories #79: Fintech meets frontier markets – now on the JSE
Optasia is listing on the JSE, which means that South African investors will have the opportunity to invest in this exciting fintech business. With a proprietary platform and extensive relationships across numerous emerging and frontier markets, Optasia builds bridges between financial institutions and traditionally unbanked consumers seeking airtime credit and microfinance solutions. To explain how the business works, Salvador Anglada (CEO, Optasia) joined me for this detailed discussion.
