Investor’s Profile


Learn from a legendary local investor


Compiled by Lauren Copley


Jannie Mouton – from board dismissal to 'Boere Buffett’


t takes more than a mere mortal to use a spectacular fall from grace as a turning point to a great business empire. What started off as just another day at the office in August 1995 ended disgracefully when the board dismissed 48-year old Jannie Mouton at SMK, the company he had co- founded 13 years earlier.


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In his business memoir with the quirky title “and Then They Fired Me”, Mouton recalls candidly that 'bitterness won the first round.' However, once he realised that a negative person had never started or established anything positive, he decided to do his own SWOT analysis. Known as an outspoken, obstinate man with a temper, Mouton admits it was not easy to swallow the wise advice of colleagues and friends but he also knew that he was not yet ready to retire.


“I had to persuade myself that I was doing something useful, that I was devising plans and ferreting out opportunities. I knew I had to fight against the threat of stagnation,” he recalls in his book.


page 20 Legacy


Now one of South Africa's greatest success stories and listed nr 31 in Forbes' list of Africa's 40 richest, Jannie Mouton's determination to build his business again from scratch was fuelled in part by his refusal to recognise 'losing' as a word in his vocabulary.


In his book, straight-talking Mouton tells the inside story of how he started PSG and turned it into a success in only 15 years. As executive chairman and director of various companies within the PSG Group, PSG today has interests in companies with an overall market capitalisation of R61 billion. Described by Finweek as one of Stellenbosch' most influential businessmen, Jannie Mouton's 35+ years of experience in financial management and investment earned him the nickname the ‘boere Buffett' by Moneyweb. Ironically, Warren Buffett is also one of his most significant influences.


After completing his BComm (Hons) in 1969 at the University of Stellenbosch, Mouton went on to qualify as a CA in 1973 before starting as a


Beatthemarket.co.za | March 2012


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