Tekane Ledimo

Born in Bloemfontein and raised in Lesotho, Tekane Ledimo returned to South Africa at 19 to study finance and accounting at the University of Cape Town and later earned a postgraduate diploma in development finance from UCT’s Graduate School of Business.  Tekane, 29, is the co-founder and chief executive of Nisa Finance, a fintech startup unlocking access to capital for small businesses using technology and alternative data. He also leads Nisa’s credit and investment committee,  assessing funding applications from underserved entrepreneurs. Since launching in 2017, Nisa has earned accolades from AlphaCode, Telkom Future Makers and the Bertha Centre for its innovation and impact on South Africa’s SMME landscape. A milestone was concluding a multi-year transaction with a major development finance institution to fund small businesses in townships and rural areas — a deal that tested his perseverance and strengthened his belief in impact-driven finance. Ledimo also mentors young entrepreneurs and speaks at township empowerment seminars. Tekane sees entrepreneurship as a vehicle for generational wealth and lasting change. His philosophy is simple: “Be unique, not just the best.”

• Postgraduate Diploma in Development Finance, University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business
• Bachelor of Commerce degree, University of Cape Town

• Selected and awarded by Rand Merchant Investment Holdings (RMIH) AlphaCode Incubate as one of the top eight fintech and insurtech companies in South Africa.
• Selected and awarded by the Bertha Centre in Cape Town in 2018, in collaboration with the UCT Graduate School of Business, as one of the most innovative and promising businesses impacting SMMEs in South Africa.
• Awarded by Telkom Innotech Future Makers, at the conclusion of an incubation programme, for demonstrating the most traction and growth — from ideation to building an MVP and executing multiple iterations — as the standout tech start-up in Cape Town.
• Successfully concluding a fundraising transaction with one of South Africa’s leading development finance institutions to secure wholesale balance sheet capital for Nisa Finance, enabling us to on-lend to small, medium and growing enterprises across the country.

I mainly look up to many successful Afrikaner businessmen, namely Johan Rupert, Christo Wiese, Koos Bekker and Michiel Le Roux. Having read their individual biographies and books, I am drawn to them as role models because they have built, and continue to build, tangible legacy businesses that stand the test of time. I admire their work ethic, culture and drive to keep working and building even at their age, despite having already achieved great success. Their risk appetite remains high, and they are still involved in various enterprises, both in South Africa and internationally. This has taught me that one can build and manage multiple businesses simultaneously and make each one successful. Their journeys have also influenced my own, teaching me the importance of hiring the right people for my business and rewarding them well for strong performance in order to retain them. Through them, I have learned the value of portfolio diversification in building generational wealth, which I aspire to create for my own legacy and future generations. Their stories have reinforced the truth behind the saying “Rome was not built in a day” — real, tangible wealth takes years and multiple generations to build. Overnight success is neither sustainable nor enduring.