Entries tagged with: Moet
Moet & Chandon Table dinner this week with Laurie Dippenaar
We hosting another fantastic Moet & Chandon Table dinner this week. I love these, as it’s a great space to interact with amazing young successful people and share the time with a leading, and more senior, guest who shares his insights and experiences. This week our guest is Laurie Dippenaar, one of the lauded founders of the FirstRand Group which is now one of South Africa’s largest financial services groups. His leadership style is highly regarded. I’m looking forward to it. His bio is below:
Laurie was born in Pretoria on 25 October 1948. He matriculated at the Menlopark Hoërskool and studied at the University of Pretoria where he obtained an M Com in Accounting. After qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1973, he joined the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Limited (IDC) where he worked as an investigating accountant for three years. In 1977 he resigned from the IDC and together with three partners and R10 000 capital founded Rand Consolidated Investments (Pty) Limited (RCI), a company specialising in project finance for public utility companies and municipalities.
From that modest foundation the Group has grown, 30 years later, to one of the largest financial services groups in South Africa providing employment to 34 000 people. FirstRand, as the Group is known today, has assets under management and administration in excess of R750 billion. Its value on the JSE Securities Exchange exceeds R125 billion. It is the 8th largest company listed on the JSE Securities Exchange.
The FirstRand Group owns well-known brands such as First National Bank, Rand Merchant Bank, WesBank, Discovery, Momentum and OUTsurance.
Laurie stepped down as Chief Executive of the FirstRand Group on 31 December 2005 but continues to serve the Group in a non-executive capacity as Chairman of Discovery, Momentum, OUTsurance and a director of FirstRand Bank Ltd and FirstRand Ltd.
Laurie serves on the Governing bodies of various educational institutions including the University of Pretoria and Michaelhouse. He is also a trustee of the Business Trust and serves on the Board of Governors of Business Leadership South Africa, a business organisation representing the sixty largest domestic and multi-national corporations in South Africa. He served as President of Business Leadership South Africa in 2002 and 2003. Laurie is a member of the Big Business Working Group that meets regularly with the President and senior members of Government.
Laurie is married to Estelle. They have three children – one daughter and two sons.
Laurie’s hobbies are golf, cycling, visiting the bush and attending the premier sporting events in the world (i.e. the Olympics, Wimbledon, World Cup rugby and cricket, soccer, etc). Laurie and his wife, Estelle, enjoy seconding their sons, Adriaan and Nicol when they are participating in the Dusi and Berg River Canoe Marathons. He is an avid reader and enjoys classical music.
He was voted Sunday Times Businessman of the year in 1998.