Investment banking spoke to me more and more, and this explains my switch away from engineering. I was also very fortunate to land the role of Executive Assistant to Paul Harris, then CEO of First Rand Group. I greatly enjoyed the entrepreneurial spirit that was very evident within the company culture, and the sense in which division heads were empowered to run their ‘businesses within a business’ as though it were their own.
My eventual move to Deutsche Bank was more of a manifestation of my desire to start something of my own, and it was only a matter of time before I took the leap.
The inspiration behind Ata Capital can be traced back to my work at RMB, which involved servicing private equity houses. I fell in love with the Private Equity (PE) industry as a culmination of conversations with colleagues about opportunities that existed in the market.
My original vision for Ata Capital
Ata Capital was founded as a special opportunities fund, designed to go after deep value opportunities. My goal was to build fund strategies around these deep value opportunities, then attract investment partners. From the beginning, Ata Capital was always intended to have a ‘different flavour’ to traditional PE houses.
While we began by targeting the BEE space, Ata Capital started to look and feel more like a traditional PE fund as we grew. This helped us to attract more conservative institutional investors as we were now selling products that people could more easily recognise.
Despite this ‘move to the centre’, we certainly benefitted as a company from our less conventional beginnings, as this allowed us to differentiate ourselves from the competition and get noticed as an up-and-coming PE firm that had already built up a track record of success.
Solving the BEE liquidity problem
Ten years ago, the transformational/BEE investment subset was constrained by systemic factors including levels of gearing and lengthy lock-in periods. This meant that BEE investors tended to be asset-rich but cashflow-poor. We realised that we could help provide liquidity and enable BEE investors to have more diversified asset bases. It was our contention that transformation could only be considered complete once liquidity was available, and the markets agreed.
The power of networking
We’ve talked a lot about how it takes ten years of hard work to create the perception of an overnight success. Nowhere is this truer than in the networking arena – an absolutely vital function when you need to gain people’s trust as a business that will be managing their money.
Relationships cannot be instantly created at the point at which you start a business; rather, they must be cultivated and nurtured over many years. In the case of Ata Capital, this process precedes the idea of establishing the company.
As mentioned, trust is vital – but so too is commonality of thinking. That’s something that the Harris family and I realised we shared very early in our professional relationship.
No growth without challenges
In the case of Ata Capital, there were four main challenges we needed to overcome. At the time I started the firm, I had just become a father – my personal responsibilities were becoming much more significant at the exact moment that I was taking the biggest risk of my career.
The second challenge was to be open and transparent about our failures – and we have had several as a PE firm. It was important to always be honest so that investors could trust us, but also to realise that trust is not necessarily based on performance; rather, it’s about being open and honest at all times.
Perhaps the most consistent challenge has been fundraising for each new Ata Capital fund, and the new relationships that needed to be built each time. In the case of institutional investors, we obviously had to look at longer-term relationships even though it was initially more difficult to gain their trust when we were a relatively new player in the market.
Of course, each fund we established added to and reinforced our track record, but there were still times when we had to dig deep so as not to succumb to the temptation to quit. Ultimately, avoiding the inevitable occasional failures is less important than the way in which you handle them.
Scaling the business has also had its challenges – hiring new people brings with it the responsibility for their livelihoods. After all, when you’ve sold them a dream, you can’t then let them down.
The people who’ve been my most significant influences
My late mother, Dr Ntsiki Rantloane, was my biggest cheerleader and taught me how to make the best of every adverse situation in life. My father, Prof Arthur Rantloane, continues to show me the value of hard work and continuously giving of yourself to enrich the environment within which you want to thrive. It is only when I was older that I got to appreciate the exceptional of leadership I grew up under.
Without question, the greatest influence on my career has been Paul Harris. It’s no exaggeration to describe him as my professional ‘father figure’. I consider it an immense privilege to have been invited to join him on his journey, to witness his unique leadership style, and to learn from and be inspired by his genuine care for people.
Success stories that have meant the most to me
While I can’t speak to the details of specific deals, I am most proud of the deals that proved the validity of what we were doing, and why we were doing it. Outside the remit of the deals themselves, we can be extremely proud of having built a formidably talented team. Our ability to attract the individuals that make up our ‘centre of excellence’ proves the soundness of our vision. In addition to building capabilities by attracting very high-calibre people, we’ve also successfully built trust.
The next ten years: where to from here?
Over the next decade, Ata Capital needs to become a multi-product, multi-jurisdiction private markets business. In this way, we can continue to deliver on our vision of partnering with, growing and supporting the businesses that are transforming African economies – while always being conscious that transformation can mean different things in different African contexts.
On a personal note, I look forward to the continued backing of my remarkable personal support system – specifically my wife and my kids. They’re the principal reason that I continue to look forward with hope, confidence and undiminished passion for the transformative potential of our company.
