BACKSTORY: Anton Fester of Sedna

What’s your one top tip for doing a deal?  

Focus on the value the solution delivers, not the cost. 

What was your first job?  

Working as an action cricket umpire in 1992. 

How much was your first pay cheque, and how did you spend it?  

My first real job was working in telesales for Old Mutual Direct. It was R3,000 and I probably spent it on transport and a few new threads. 

What is the one thing you wish somebody had told you when you were starting out?  

The ability to learn is more important than what you have learnt. 

If you could fix only one thing in South Africa, what would it be?  

Our education system is a critical vehicle to create a sustainable economy. We need critical mass with the capabilities to identify business opportunities and create value and thereby jobs. The majority of the population appear reliant on jobs being offered by the government or big business. 

What’s the most interesting thing about you that people don’t know?  

I was the losing finalist in the 2010 Brain of Brains general knowledge competition between 702 in Joburg and 567 CapeTalk in Cape Town. 

What’s the worst investment mistake you’ve made?  

Not buying property on the West Coast when it was selling for R30,000 in 1995. 

What’s the best investment you’ve ever made? And how much of it was due to luck?

Spending time with my infant son changing nappies, feeding and playing. I’m a firm believer that the foundations for your relationships with your children are built when they can’t even speak.

What’s the best book you’ve read recently and why did you like it?  

Red Tape and White Knuckles by Lois Pryce. It’s the adventure of a 30-year-old redhead riding by herself on a 250cc motorcycle from London to Cape Town. Her descriptions of the most incredible vistas, captured with the driest sense of humour, made this book impossible to put down. 

What is the hardest life lesson you’ve learnt so far?  

Going into a deal on trust and honour and being the only party to do that. Get a contract in place. 

What phrase grates you most?

“Do something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” This is rubbish. The worst thing that can happen is that you are forced to do the thing you love more than you would like or when you don’t want to, and you begin to resent your love. Find something you really like and do that rather. 

What is something you would go back and tell your younger self that would impress them?  

You get the girl of your dreams. 

If you were President Cyril Ramaphosa, what would you change, or do, tomorrow?  

Tackle corruption. South Africa could be a global powerhouse if we weren’t handicapped by inefficiencies fuelled by greed and selfishness.