Our Teams

• Business Development
  • Chrizaan Nel - BComm (Hons) Marketing Management, Business Development Consultant.
    Chrizaan completed her studies in Entrepreneurship and Marketing with Honours before Joining EFS Investment Solutions in 2008.

    Cobus du Plessis - BComm, Business Development Manager.
    Cobus together with his team is responsible for business development. Prior to joining EFS, Cobus was with Sanlam for more than 23 years.

    Lizelle van Loggerenberg - NDIP (Marketing Management), Business Development Consultant.
    Lizelle previously occupied a position as a Financial Planner in commercial short term insurance with ABSA Brokers, before joining our team in August 2007.

    Wihan van Huyssteen - MCom Risk Management, Business Development Consultant.
    Wihan joined the EFS team after completing his Masters degree in Risk Management at the University of the North West.


• Client Services and Administration
  • Celeste Richardson - BSocSc (Hons), Head of Administration and Human Resources.
    Celeste has over ten years experience in the financial services industry. She was formerly the Chief Operating Officer of EFS Investment Solutions, then the Lisp Operations Manager of Silica Financial Administration Services, and prior to that a Client Relationship Manager at mCubed Capital. She holds an Honours degree in Social Sciences from RAU as well as a NQF Level 4 Wealth Management Qualification in Retirement Funds.

    Karusha Govender - BComm(Hons), Team Manager.
    Karusha completed her studies in Finance and Economics with Honours before joining EFS Investment Solutions in 2006.

    Keitumetse Nthodi, Client Liaison and Administrator.
    Keitumetse joined the team in March 2008. She previously occupied Client Services positions at Investec Private Bank and Momentum Wealth .She is currently pursuing a Financial Management Degree.

    Laura Chapman, Client Liaison and Administrator.
    Laura joined the team in 2008. She has over 15 years experience in long term insurance and administration. She was formerly a PA at Plum Portfolio Solutions, a Broker Consultant Assistant at Sanlam and an Office & Administration Manager at Gemfin. She has completed several Service Excellence courses throughout her career and is an award winning employee.

    Liezel Pollard - BComm (Hons), Client Liaison and Senior Administrator.
    Liezel joined us in March 2007 after completing her BComm Financial Management degree at the University of Pretoria. She has since completed her honours degree in Financial Management at UNISA.

    Michelle Olesen - BComm Business Management, Client Liaison and Administrator.
    Michelle joined EFS Investment Solutions in January 2009, after completing her B.Comm Business Management degree at the University of Pretoria.


• Directors
  • Cathy van der Merwe - BComm(Hons) in Marketing Management, Managing Director.
    Cathy joined the team in Feb 2004. She was formerly General Manager Client Services for Heinemann Publishers SA.

    Heiko van Wyngaarden, Chairman.
    Heiko has been investing on the JSE since 1983, and is highly regarded as a hedge fund manager. He qualified as a chartered accountant by passing the final qualifying exam and completing his articles with Deloitte in 1991. His career includes successful spells at FirstCorp Merchant Bank, the Coronation Group as MD of Coronation Investments, and CEO of Equinox Holdings. He initiated the process to set up Equinox.co.za in 1999.
    Heiko is the primary shareholder of EFS Investment Solutions (Pty) Ltd, the company that owns Equinox.co.za and Intervest.co.za.

    "While hedge funds are often viewed as high risk, the opposite is usually true. The objective of hedging, or selling some shares short, is to reduce market risk. The importance of minimising market risk while maximising returns has been central to the approach of the Equinox team since its inception more than six years ago. These skills and this approach are now put at your disposal." - Heiko van Wyngaarden

    Warren Morton - BCompt (Hons), MCom Taxation CA(SA), Financial Director.
    Warren Joined EFS in July 2007 from Rand Merchant Bank where he was COO of the Investment Banking division. He was formerly CFO of Equinox Holdings, and prior to that a senior manager with the Deloitte Financial Institutions team.


• Fund Manager
  • Barry Shamley - BA, NDip Financial Markets, Portfolio Manager.
    Barry joined Oryx Investment Management in August 2006 . He was previously at Investec Securities where he was joint head of the Johannesburg Advisory Desk. He has 10 years investment experience which included advising and trading equities for high net worth individuals as well as managing portfolios for them in conjunction with the various investment committees he was a member of.


• Information Technology
  • Andreas Pauley, Developer.
    Andreas joined the IT Team in June 2007. He completed his National Certificate in Datametrics through UNISA in 2008. Before he joined us he was employed at QBCon and Translate.org.za.

    Bennie Kahler-Venter - National Technical Certificate (N6) Telecommunications Electronics.
    IT Administrator.
    Bennie joined the IT team in October 2009 as IT Administrator. Bennie has 22 years collective experience in both Telecoms and IT sectors.

    Dawie Strauss - B.Eng. (Hons) Computer Engineering, Senior Developer.
    Dawie had worked as a senior software engineer in FNB's Special Projects Incubator before joining EFS Investment Solutions in 2003.

    Heinrich Oelofse - NDIP, Computer Data Processing, Developer.
    Heinrich joined the IT Team in June 2007. He was formerly with Momentum.

    Pieter Nagel, Senior Developer.
    Pieter specialised in advanced database administration and automated systems deployment before joining EFS Investment Solutions in 2001.


• Marketing and Research
  • Grant Tapson - BA, Marketing Coordinator.
    Grant completed his BA at the University of Pretoria and a diploma in brand management from Vega School of Brand Communications before joining the team in 2005.

    Liz Still - BA, Editor and Head of Research.
    Liz has been a journalist in the financial services industry for some time. She was involved in the writing of Profile media's Unit Trust Handbook and authored the popular Understanding Unit Trusts, before joining EFS Investment Solutions in 1999.