“That’s Visionary”: Mzansi Stunned as Former Teacher Turns R240K Package Into a R7,2 Billion Empire

• A former South African primary school teacher built the country’s largest private school network using just his R240,000 teacher severance package in 1998
• Curro grew from 28 pupils in a church hall to 189 schools and over 73,000 learners across South Africa’s nine provinces
• The Jannie Mouton Foundation paid R7.2 billion to take Curro private, turning it into a non-profit focused entirely on expanding access to education

A man who grew up in poverty in Goodwood, Cape Town, lost his father at age three, and watched his mother survive on a police pension, built the biggest private school network in South Africa. That man is Dr Chris van der Merwe.

Van der Merwe, a former primary school teacher, used his R240,000 severance package in 1998 to open the first Curro school in Durbanville with just 28 pupils in a leased church hall. Over two decades later, what started with four walls and a borrowed building was sold to the Jannie Mouton Foundation for R7.2 billion in a deal that stunned South Africa’s education sector.

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From a stoep to Mzansi’s biggest private school network

Van der Merwe started on a stoep in Durbanville, where he and his wife, Stephanie, sat one evening and made a decision that would change thousands of lives. He had already tried business once before with a company called SkoolCor that developed electronic learning modules. It did not make money, but it taught how to manage cash flow.

He then completed his doctorate at Stellenbosch University, focusing on what educational institutions needed to compete globally. He applied for a senior position at the Western Cape Department of Education and did not get it. That rejection pushed him toward something bigger than any government post ever could have been.

A report by BusinessTech confirmed that Van der Merwe resigned from his deputy principal role in 1998 and poured his entire severance package into a school that, at the time, had no guarantee of survival. He had no formal business training. He did the financial planning himself while his co-founders handled academics. When banks asked for collateral, he put up his personal assets and signed the papers.

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The turning point that changed everything

The first four Curro schools opened in Durbanville, Langebaan, Silver Lakes, and Roodeplaat. Each one required financing that Van der Merwe had to fight for. He eventually realised that approaching banks with personal assets was not a sustainable model for the scale he had in mind.

That changed when PSG Group, led by billionaire Jannie Mouton, bought a 50% stake in Curro. The partnership gave Van der Merwe access to a team of chartered accountants. In June 2011, Curro listed on the JSE’s Alternative Exchange with a market capitalisation of R400 million.

A year later, it moved to the Main Board with 12,000 learners across 19 campuses. Van der Merwe later said he had watched the share price climb from R5.50 to R11 on listing day. Curro grew to 189 schools across 81 campuses, serving more than 73,000 learners. Then came the R7.2 billion deal.

See the full report in the Instagram post here:

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Mzansi reacts to the story

Briefly News compiled some comments from the post below.

@tenexmofokeng commented:

"They keep getting richer every day."

@iheartlolly_ said:

"Now that’s a Visionary. 👏"

@donlothario__ noted:

"We'll be back in a few years."

@ssnyambose said:

"😂And Curro is affordable, even a petrol attendant can send kids there."

@ssnyambose added:

"Make it make sense. With a salary of a teacher and without any investors? What hard work are you talking about?"

More articles involving Mzansi teachers

• Briefly News previously reported that a local school shared a heartwarming post about the duties teachers find themselves doing for their primary school learners without signing up for them.
• A beloved South African teacher was given a hero’s farewell as he prepared for retirement after years of dedicated service.
• A South African teacher working in China filmed a heartwarming exchange in which his young learner enthusiastically requested a lesson in the Setswana language.

Source: Briefly News