Hi, Kagisho! Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Kagisho – but I’m most commonly known as KG – like Kagiso Rabada, the South African cricketer, who is also nicknamed KG! I’m co-founder and CEO of MatricLive, a supplementary learning platform in South Africa, which is the reigning app of the year that bridges the gap between kids who don't have access to traditional means to quality education and those that do have.
When did you work at Investec?
I joined in Johannesburg in September 2015. I remember it was a Tuesday. I started in the private banking space as a Rewards Consultant, and left as the Digital Marketing Head for Investec Wealth & Investment, nearly eight years later in 2023.
How did Investec help you get where you are today?
In 2016, I was one of eight individuals that Investec elected to go to the One Young World Summit in Canada to represent the country and the business. I went to a design master class at IBM’s headquarters in Ottawa. During the class, I remembered that I had conceptualised an education tech product that could help democratise access to college education. I came back from Canada with so much vigour, and started to design this product whilst I was at Investec. Then when Covid hit in 2020, MatricLive ended up being the most viral app in the country. We were one of the solutions that the government could see actually helped save the academic year during Covid, because a lot of township and village kids didn't have access to their school textbooks. We had 631,000 kids from really poor areas in South Africa using our platform, to the point that the South African Department of Basic Education used it as their assessment platform to help prepare for final exams. It was just one of those full circle moments.
Amazing! What else can you remember about your very first day at Investec, other than it was a Tuesday?
I was definitely excited, because I had two close friends from varsity who already worked there. The first day was a bit of a blur. HR showed us around the building. I was shown around the floor, to meet everyone else on the team. I got to have lunch with my friends, and showed them where I sat, in case they ever wanted to see me. Then I just spent time with my team until it was knockoff time.
What was it like being the new person?
I felt at home immediately. Everyone was so welcoming. I'm quite a bubbly person, so I was excited to meet everyone. If anything, my team was surprised that so many people were greeting me. They said: “How do you know everyone?” even though I didn’t. So, yeah, it was a good day.
Did anything funny happen early on?
By virtue of being the newbie, you automatically hold the fort for the festive season, when everyone else is on holiday. One of the things I had to do was manage our partners’ campaign balances. I was working on Christmas Eve, and had forgotten to top up the campaign for one of our senior partners. A very senior person at Investec’s friend went to a mall in South Africa to use his Investec vouchers, but when he got there, his vouchers were invalid, and it all turned into a big hoo-ha.
Are you still contact with people from Investec?
Yes, I’m in contact with a lot of people. I do business with Investec in my current venture. I spent two years in Private Bank, then moved to the Wealth and Investment space for my last six years. Those people became like family. They shaped my life, gave me opportunities, and backed me. I was at the G20 Young Entrepreneur Alliance summit recently, and spent time with them there, as I’m working on an exciting, new youth-related strategic project with them. So, yes, I'm very much in touch with Investec.
Presumably you’re a member of the Investec Alumni Network?
Yes. I also have the Investec Alumni Network app on my phone.
A fair few Investec people have gone on to start their own businesses, like I have. My current office space is an a building that is owned by an Investec alumni, which is a big coincidence. Sometimes you may have lost touch with someone or have heard that somebody's doing something great. You can just log on, search for them, and reach out.
What skills did you learn at Investec that you still use today?
My last role wasn’t just a marketing role, but also strategic. I partnered a lot with IT and the front office, to collectively solve business problems, such as: how do we create strategic marketing events that will help attract new clients? One of my favourite projects involved introducing a very different integrated way of working on a CRM system, which saw a lot of collaboration between us and a private bank. Engaging with so many stakeholders really gave me the range I needed when I started my own business.
If you could go back to your first day of Investec, what advice would you give yourself?
I wouldn't do anything differently. I would maintain the smile to greet people that I didn't know. You greet everyone from day one: from reception to the security guard, the cleaner, the people at the canteen. I feel like I had a really productive and successful stint at Investec because of the attitude I had from day one. If anything, I would try to double the amount of people I greeted!