Ghost Stories

Cell C has been on quite the adventure in its efforts to carve out a sustainable competitive position. The telcos space can be brutal, with historically high levels of capital investment required to compete.

This has thankfully changed, with Cell C having created a profitable business model that goes well beyond the MVNO operations that the market tends to focus on.

In this podcast, CEO Jorge Mendes joined me to explain Cell C's business and how they plan to win across key verticals like Prepaid and Postpaid in addition to the exciting MVNO and other opportunities. We talked about why the turnaround is behind them and how Cell C plans to grow into the future.

As a separately listed company with a much simpler balance sheet, Cell C is on the radar of investors and worth understanding in more detail. This podcast is an excellent resource in your research process.

This podcast has been sponsored by Cell C. As always, I was given an opportunity to dig into the strategy and ask my own questions in my quest to learn more. You must always do your own research and speak to a financial advisor before making any decision to invest. This podcast should not be seen as an investment recommendation or an endorsement.

As we look back on a fascinating year in the markets, Nico Katzke (Head of Portfolio Solutions at Satrix) delivered a fantastic mix of insights on this podcast that can be applied to your strategy in 2026 and beyond.

For example, it's so important not to learn the wrong lessons from a particular investment or observation. It's also important to avoid complexity for the sake of complexity - if there's a simple solution that works, then that's probably the right one. 

Along with insights related to investment term, diversification, the AI "bubble" (a term that Nico isn't a fan of), US hegemony, gold and REITs, there's just so much in here. Get ready to apply more discipline and less drama to your portfolio decisions, assisted by the depth of knowledge and experience shared by Nico on this podcast. 

This podcast was first published here.

Disclaimer:

Satrix Investments (Pty) Ltd & Satrix Managers (RF) (Pty) Ltd is an authorised financial services provider. The information does not constitute advice as contemplated in FAIS. Use or rely on this information at your own risk. Consult your Financial Adviser before making an investment decision. While every effort has been made to ensure the reasonableness and accuracy of the information contained in this document (“the information”), the FSP’s, its shareholders, subsidiaries, clients, agents, officers and employees do not make any representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or suitability of the information and shall not be held responsible and disclaims all liability for any loss, liability and damage whatsoever suffered as a result of or which may be attributable, directly or indirectly, to any use of or reliance upon the information. For more information, visit https://satrix.co.za/products

Sirius Real Estate is a great example of a JSE-listed property fund that gives local investors a chance to participate in offshore markets. With a strategy focused on the UK and Germany, Sirius follows an “always-on” mentality to the opportunities in those markets.

Whether following megatrends like defence spending and the further industrialisation of the German economy, or being open to opportunistic plays in business parks that offer attractive upside opportunities, Sirius is never too far away from a deal.

To understand more about the strategy of the fund and how they win in these markets, I was joined by a full house of CEO Andrew Coombs, CFO Chris Bowman and CIO Tariq Khader. Get ready to learn all about Sirius and the opportunities for this fund.

This podcast has been sponsored by Sirius Real Estate. As always, I was given an opportunity to dig into the strategy and ask my own questions in my quest to learn more. You must always do your own research and speak to a financial advisor before making any decision to invest. This podcast should not be seen as an investment recommendation or an endorsement.

DIY investing is all the rage and certainly has a place in the market, but so does financial advice. As a new generation of investors power through the market and look to build on the knowledge and wealth gained in recent years, there’s an opportunity to pause and consider whether it wouldn’t be better to do this with a broader financial plan in place. After all, you might love decorating a home, but wouldn’t you still use an architect to design it properly?

Drawing on the benefits of DIY investing and financial planning leads to a best-of-both-worlds approach. You can have fun with investing and do so with the safety of guardrails provided by a proper financial plan. Kapil Joshi, Managing Director: Strategy and Proposition at Momentum Wealth, joined me on this podcast to talk about how these worlds should co-exist for investors who want to take a more active approach to their wealth creation.

Momentum Wealth is part of Momentum Investments and Momentum Group Limited. Momentum Wealth (Pty) Ltd is an authorised financial services provider (registration number 1995/008800/07, FSP number 657). Momentum Metropolitan Life Limited is an authorised financial services and credit provider
(registration number 1904/002186/06, FSP number 6406).

A decade ago, barely anyone you knew would even have heard of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, let alone blockchain technology. But today, the tokenisation of digital assets is so important that regulators around the world are paying increasing attention to it. 

Dr Wiehann Olivier is passionate about the financial guardrails that need to be in place for digital asset adoption to increase. Having completed his PhD in topics related to the assurance needed in a blockchain context, Wiehann has become a subject matter expert within the global Forvis Mazars ecosystem.

On this podcast, he joined me to walk us through the evolution of cryptocurrency from the initial Bitcoin years through to the modern environment of stablecoins and widespread adoption by leading institutions.

You can connect with Wiehann on LinkedIn here.

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. Drawing on my own experience, I shared some of the strategies I use for dealing with variable income. As Duma has these conversations with other entrepreneurs on a regular basis, he threw some great insights into the mix about how entrepreneurs tend to think about their wealth creation journeys - and the biggest mistake they make: treating their businesses as their retirement plans.

This podcast was first published here.

Satrix Investments (Pty) Ltd & Satrix Managers (RF) (Pty) Ltd is an authorised financial services provider. The information does not constitute advice as contemplated in FAIS. Use or rely on this information at your own risk. Consult your Financial Adviser before making an investment decision. While every effort has been made to ensure the reasonableness and accuracy of the information contained in this document (“the information”), the FSP’s, its shareholders, subsidiaries, clients, agents, officers and employees do not make any representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or suitability of the information and shall not be held responsible and disclaims all liability for any loss, liability and damage whatsoever suffered as a result of or which may be attributable, directly or indirectly, to any use of or reliance upon the information. For more information, visit https://satrix.co.za/products

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. Gone are the days of desperate listings in the classifieds and opaque market prices that are difficult to estimate. Today, the used car market is liquid and filled to the brim with data, thanks primarily to the scale achieved by WeBuyCars.

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.

In this candid discussion about the vehicle market and the business, Faan and Wynand joined me to discuss topics like:

Please note that I have a long position in WeBuyCars at the time of this recording - a position that I have written about many times before.

This podcast has been sponsored by WeBuyCars. As always, I was given an opportunity to dig into the strategy and ask my own questions in my quest to learn more. You must always do your own research and speak to a financial advisor before making any decision to invest. This podcast should not be seen as an investment recommendation or an endorsement.

Lesaka Technologies is among the most interesting companies listed on the JSE. 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 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. He brings deep experience in building multi-billion dollar platforms around the world.

In Ali’s own words, “A lot of the best innovation happens with constraint, not with largesse.” Get ready for fantastic insights into building platforms in Africa, with Lesaka as a homegrown example that can be accessed on the JSE. To learn more about Lesaka, you can visit their website here.

This podcast has been sponsored by Lesaka Technologies. As always, I was given an opportunity to dig into the strategy and ask my own questions in my quest to learn more. You must always do your own research and speak to a financial advisor before making any decision to invest. This podcast should not be seen as an investment recommendation or an endorsement.

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.

Speaking of greed, Kingsley also addressed the frequently misquoted Warren Buffett comment about greed vs. fear.

The markets continue to dish up opportunities and risks. The more we look at history and try to learn from it, the better our chances of future success.

This podcast was first published here.

Satrix Investments (Pty) Ltd & Satrix Managers (RF) (Pty) Ltd is an authorised financial services provider. The information does not constitute advice as contemplated in FAIS. Use or rely on this information at your own risk. Consult your Financial Adviser before making an investment decision. While every effort has been made to ensure the reasonableness and accuracy of the information contained in this document (“the information”), the FSP’s, its shareholders, subsidiaries, clients, agents, officers and employees do not make any representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or suitability of the information and shall not be held responsible and disclaims all liability for any loss, liability and damage whatsoever suffered as a result of or which may be attributable, directly or indirectly, to any use of or reliance upon the information. For more information, visit https://satrix.co.za/products

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 underbanked consumers seeking airtime credit and microfinance solutions.

To explain how the business works, Salvador Anglada (CEO, Optasia) joined me for this detailed discussion. We covered the core underlying model, the DNA of the business and the journey to scale, along with the importance of the relationships that have been built in this ecosystem. We also covered off the risks and opportunities for the group.

As always, remember to do your own research and to treat this podcast as being for informational purposes only. For more information on Optasia, visit the website here.