BNC#8 - Curro founder Chris vd Merwe: From teaching 40 kids out of his home to a 72,000-student empire

From a modest start teaching 40 children at home to building a 72,000-student education powerhouse, this is a story of grit, vision, and bold decisions. Discover how one entrepreneur scaled schools across South Africa, partnered with visionary investors, and ultimately helped take the company private to unlock greater impact. Packed with lessons on resilience, leadership, and thinking big - this inspiring journey shows how small beginnings, relentless execution, and belief in your mission can transform an entire sector..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..Watch here.Listen here.Edited transcript of the nightcap session.Alec Hogg (00:08:41 - 00:27:41)Chris vd Merwe, you've got a fascinating story and you're going to share it with us now. But let's start with the news first, because Curro and the decision by the Mouton family to buy Curro back from the stock market and take it private.Alec Hogg (00:27:45 - 00:52:22)There was a lot of a lot of publicity around that. In fact, I had a fascinating discussion, with Yann Mouton on that, and he unpacked it, and many people watched that, that, video on BizNews TV. But where are we in that process? Yeah. So good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It's a privilege to address you. And thank you for pitching up in the graveyard session.Chris vd Merwe (01:03:37 - 01:32:48)Alec, in 2017, I stepped down as CEO of Curro, and, I took a sabbatical to Namibia in my little Land Rover Stephnie and myself. And, at that stage, we had a small university company, called Embory College that trained teachers. And, at a particular stretch session, I suggested that we scale this company into a tertiary domain.Chris vd Merwe (01:33:02 - 01:50:15)And then, I came back and two things happened. Jannie called me in for a cup of tea, and he said, oh, Chris used to be playing a glorious game of tennis. So you become the CEO of this company and you go list it? Yeah. That was I actually thought I had the privilege to retire, so Alec HoggHang on, hang on.(01:50:15 - 02:10:16)We not going back to the beginning. I want to I want to catch the, I want to start the later. I want to pick up with you where you are not is the process. So is it merely finished? Chris vd MerweSo the context is in 2017, two things opened. I became the CEO of Stadio, but I also I was also appointed by Jannie on his trust.Chris vd Merwe (02:10:20 - 02:46:38)That's the only return the Jannie Mouton Trust So that's a very good movement because we help the blind, the deaf, children, homes, blah blah blah. Alec we were sitting on something like, I think it was 200 million rand. That was in 2017. And last year, March, we were sitting on 8 billion cash and it...Alec HoggSay that againChris vd Merwe8 billion because of the dividends of Capitec.Chris vd Merwe (02:46:38 - 03:13:18)So on the algorithm actually performed much better than Jannie envisioned. And I was the guy that had to allocate that capital and help the country. So I'm going to keep it short now. So Jannie Mouton was chairing this trust from London, and I was sitting in Stellenbosch with a family and I said, Jan, gee man, I'm driving my car to all this institutes.(03:13:18 - 03:36:27)I'm using ours to scrutinise. The joke is to look for corruption, blah, blah, blah. We can't even spend the interest on this 8 billion. Can't we do something spectacular that can help the country? So Jannie said, well, it's not impossible weeks after Piet Mouton on phones, I mean, I stay in Franshoek, you can eat, stays in Stellenbosch.Chris vd Merwe (03:36:31 - 04:04:09)So he says, Chris, you must just come and see me. Quickly rocked up at Piet's house and, Piet's got a one single sheet spread sheet by in folder for our own advisor. So I'm still at a conference. Tom. And, we were sitting on 8 billion cash. The share of kilo actually went. No way. It got kind of flat because the enrollments wasn't so aggressive anymore.Chris vd Merwe (04:04:09 - 04:31:10)But still, it generated about 900 million rand cash flow. So Piet said this is the brainwave of my brother, Jan. He said the following. Let's buy out the shareholders of Curro at the premium of 60%, which related to a share of a value of 13 rand, while the shares set at R8. So the shareholders will be happy.Chris vd Merwe (04:31:14 - 04:54:49)Then we change it to, PBO, then something spectacular will happen because the 600 million rand net profit that we made isn't there for the shareholders anymore. They are happy they got a premium. And that 600 million rand in terms of the legislation for PBO's, was to be allocated to the beneficiaries in terms of SARS's regulation.Chris vd Merwe (04:55:03 - 05:20:14)And that's precisely what we wanted, because now we had humongous cash flow to go build more schools. So where are we? No. So this morning at 9:00, we had our first board meeting as a PBO. The new chairperson is Piet Mouton.Alec HoggSorry, sorry. Go on. That deserves at least some celebrate it. Chris vd Merwe (05:20:18 -05:54:05)So Alec to me was rather special this morning because Piet and myself, we actually, I tell you. Look, it was tough to build 189 schools, accumulating 595 acres of ground building, 819,000m² of schools. Since 2011, it was humongous. And Piet stood with me like this, like there was a lot of criticism. There was a lot of media attacks, as you know, which stood with me.Chris vd Merwe (05:54:16 - 06:26:27)So I was so emancipated this morning as founder, when Piet Mouton became the chairperson of of this PBO and then of course, after an hour or two, excuse me to arrive at your place, Alec Hoggbut it's perfect. It's actually perfect. You here with us today? The story has come full circle. But where did it start for fit on come, doctor Chris van Amada ?Chris vd Merwe (06:26:27 - 06:53:03)I was, I never had a dad in my life. I was raised by Kenny. Fredo. I had a sister. I resided in Goodwood. We never had a colonial house, but I was always excited about life. I loved school, I was never an A candidate, so, I firmly had this kind of voice in me that one day life would reward action or the universe would take care of me.Chris vd Merwe (06:53:03 - 07:28:19)I firmly, I still did, I believe like that. And time went on. I became a teacher. I taught in Durbanville. I did a B.Ed , I did a master's degree in curriculum consultation. I was fortunate to pass it cum laude, and then I did a doctorate under her Majesty's Inspectorates, in London and in Edinburgh, where I identified four determinants of excellence in schools globally and under each determinant coded category.(07:28:23 - 07:57:21)In my thesis I wrote 20 indicators. So if a principal picked up this thesis, they could just go implement this. And Bob's your uncle. The school would have a decent quality. Then I obtained that at the age 34 and I, with huge enthusiasm like Tony Frieda raised me. I, applied for a job at the Western Cape Department of Education, and I got this.Chris vd Merwe (07:57:25 - 08:26:47)Bed later that I wasn't successful, even even with my doctorate. And that evening, my wife Stephanie say to me, she'll look after the household. She was also a deputy principal. And with that one salary plus my severance package, we could make it. Let's resign and let's buy a house. She would then take 20 grade four children, and I would take 20 grade four children, one Afrikaans, one English.Chris vd Merwe (08:27:01 - 08:57:10)Next year they go on to grade five, six, seven. So they will have one teacher on a continuous basis. Beautiful model. Interesting. It's 580 to end the month school fees in 1997. That was when the when I experienced the impetus, I would earn 25% more than the salary of a deputy principal. So gee man, that was great. So it was actually the bad news that I didn't get the job that started this story.Alec Hogg (08:57:10 - 09:21:40)They say when one door closes, another one opens, and sometimes it's a a door to great things. When you look back, if you had got the job, it would have been a different a completely different story for, well, Curro would not have existed, but it's still a long way from taking 20 kids for you and Stephanie. Yeah, so there's 40 in total.Alec Hogg (09:21:44 - 09:47:47)First of all, how did you get them? How did you get the parent to trust you?Chris vd Merwe So let me reiterate this. No man is an island. So Alec, although I'm the founder, although it started in my study room, I will never take the full, full accolade. In terms of that. I was so good to start. I had this fascinating partner, Booty Younger.Chris vd Merwe (09:48:01 - 10:09:21)He was a high school teacher in Durbanville. He was also well known for gifted child education and we had a little company. We published digital material and I went to him and I said, booty assessment. I'm a primary school teacher. Grade five, nothing more, nothing less. But, you know, high school specialist, to make this thing work, we need a high school specialist.Chris vd Merwe (10:09:25 - 10:14:23)And but he joined me and,Chris vd Merwe (10:14:27 - 10:31:32)We didn't have money for marketing. So if you visit my house in Franshoek I've got two houses. On top you've got Stephanie's house, and my one is in the basement where all my cars. I'm a car fanatic. So, I had two uncles, Clive and Stanley, who taught me everything about servicing engines.Chris vd Merwe (10:31:36 - 11:08:30)So that's a hobby. So if you if you ever visit me in Franshoek ,you will see one original pamphlet. We had money to publish 12 pamphlets this size. We stuck them up in the street and invited parents to come and listen to the pitch of Curro that we would start that evening. 11:00 it started to rain and as we didn't have any money to publish any other marketing material, we took it off and we stuck it on again.Chris vd Merwe (11:08:30 - 11:43:41)5:00 the morning, 100, 140 people pitched. It was a rainy evening and my friend Bootie Ingrid stood up and he said, if we get 15 in Romans this evening, we will start Curro. That was about January 1998. 15th July 1998 that year we got out of a premises or some classrooms at my local church from a Dominion Killer, and the school started with 28 children.Chris vd Merwe (11:43:45 - 12:06:31)I took the primary school children to the vestry, and it took the high school children to the mothers comment. You know what, a mother's committees. Yeah. So yeah. Alec HoggWhat is it? Chris vd MerweIt's it's way the mums with the little ones go observe the the the the preachers. Alec HoggIt's a, soundproof?Chris vd MerweYeah. It's soundproof. Yeah. And, I tell you, we made it.Alec Hogg We. And the name Curro. ?Chris vd Merwe (12:06:35 - 012:45:30)Yeah. So in my studies, I love the name Curro. So Curro is a Latin name which relates to to, learning pathway. Let's call it a syllabus or a curriculum. So the word Curro means I. It's it relates to an athlete running, at his or her own speed in his or her own line comes from ancient Greece, but in didactic it relates to I, the learner must be allowed to run according to my own talents, attitudes, attitudes and skills.Chris vd Merwe (12:45:34 - 13:19:11)So to illustrate uniqueness, to illustrate each child is special and also to illustrate that the learning method of the child in your class, these three children in your class. And although I can only, mediate one method at a time, you must always be aware that they might be 30 different learning styles. So Curro derived the product by means of which we can strike most of the kind of learning styles at classroom level.Chris vd Merwe (13:19:15 - 13:52:22)That's the philosophy of the name. Alec HoggFast forward to where the turbocharge came in, and that was through the association with Jannie Mouton. That's right. How did you meet Jannie? Chris vd MerweI just completed that paragraph in my book so I know it off by heart, Alec at a certain stage in 2009, more or less, March. We had three offerings on the table.Chris vd Merwe (13:52:26 - 14:14:07)Advtech wanted to buy us for 70 million rand cash offer. Alec, Exodus. I did the the almost eat the deal on the lunch area airport with Alex. But obviously I like to go back to my board. I was shocked to get an offer of 70 million. Alec. Imagine for a teacher. 70 million rand, my friend. Okay, yeah, but then it goes.Chris vd Merwe (14:14:07 - 14:40:04)The world Bank offered us X million. And then we could get rid of our debt, but then they would take 30% shares. That was the IFC. A lady from Nigeria, Ida Cameo. Spectacular lady. In that same week. Chris vd Merwe (14:40:08 - 15:08:45)So they phoned me up and they say, Chris, we've been watching you and Jannie Mouton, is requesting a presentation in your boardroom. Would you accept it? So I accepted it. The story goes as follows. I was, expecting Yanni. And let's say he's. If the next moment. Alec, the whole board pitched. Chris. ODU. Jannie Mouton. .Chris vd Merwe (15:08:45 - 15:41:36)And, I think there's something to be said about explaining stuff in a simple way, you know. And I explained to them, this is what we do. And, this is the kind of profits that I foresee in the future. I the speech was manufactured for 40 minutes of the 20 minutes, Jannie gets up and Jannie say to yeah Chris.Chris vd Merwe (15:41:40 - 16:02:08)I think you are worth about 100 million rand. I will write out the check for 50, and then I will take 50%. And by the way, if my youth league, referring to his son, Piet and John, they were young. We were all in their 40s. If they usually don't want to do the deal, I will do it in person.Chris vd Merwe (16:02:12 - 16:36:46)A week after that, we concluded the heads of agreement. That was about May/ July. The deal was transacted. Alec HoggWhy him? Why did you pick him over the others? What did he say to you that shifted it? Chris vd MerweRemember now, as a teacher, you don't necessarily have accountancy skills, etcetera. So I had to read and read and read and read to get to an understanding of how to run a business, especially when it started to scale, because at that stage we already had four big schools.Chris vd Merwe (16:36:46 - 17:00:21)It was kind of a big concern for a teacher. So I also watched Frank Thomson. Can you remember Frank from Advtech? Alec HoggYes, I do.Chris vd MerweI watch Frank and I said, you know what? This is already our fourth school. And by the way, our schools are also working in Pretoria. So if a school can work in Pretoria, manufactured by a Stormers, then surely it's,Alec Hogg(17:00:24 - 17:33:04)So, you're going to I'm sure there people you don't know the relevance, but it's, it's they mortal enemies that the South and the North, the blue balls and the stormers. Chris vd MerweSo, Alec, so I always had this idea of let's scale the concept, because otherwise you wouldn't make a dent in SA duration. And I know when Jannie spoke to us that morning, he said, guys, this is a scalable business.Chris vd Merwe (17:33:08 - 18:03:28)You must think big next week Piet came to us concluded the deal by saying the following to us. This is the vision. Remember, we were four schools, so the vision would be to get to X number of schools, making 1 billion Zar in revenue and making a net profit of 100 more. In other words, the algorithm was 18% profit off the revenue.Chris vd Merwe (18:03:32 - 18:25:41)And I like that because it pitch to my dream of scalability. Alec HoggWhere were the four schools at that stage?Chris vd MerweThe the first one was Curro Durbanville, the second one is Curro Langebaan. The third one was Curro Hazeldean next to Silver Lakes, and the fourth one was Curro Rodeplaat.Alec Hogg (18:25:45 - 18:48:11)It would be up north. Okay, so you know it's up, up north. So Silver Lakes I know for the golf course. So that's Pretoria, so Pretoria to near Cape Town. Yeah. Four schools. How many, how many scholars in each.Chris vd Merwe (18:48:11 - 19:23:24)We had about 600 in Curro Durbanville. We had about 250 in Curro Langebaan, Cairo Hazeldean had about 300 and Rodeplaat was a startup. It was only the phone foundations were built when we did the deal with Jannie. Alec HoggSo this had taken you roughly ten years? (18:48:11 - 19:23:24)The first single school took us from 1998 to 2007. Langebaan was built in 2007, Hazeldean in 2008 and Rodeplaat the next year.(18:48:11 - 19:23:24) (19:23:28 - 19:47:24)So it's a it's it's a slow burn, slow build up. Did you what made you feel ready to put the 50 million in your bank and to accelerate the the plan? Chris vd MerweOkay. So the 50 million didn't come to this to, to to the a couple of teachers that started it, they gave us a part of it, but most was used to kill the debt.Chris vd Merwe (19:47:36 - 20:11:30)And interesting, that single gearing, when the debt vanished, the bankers took cue to come and fund us because they looked at Curro as a property company, they said, you are building a school and you are renting three square meters. That's the area we the Joad sits at, right? X and and that's what they loved up to today.Chris vd Merwe (20:11:30 - 00:20:39:28)The bankers look at the algorithm like that. So that is how it happened. Alec HoggAnd how did you fund or how did you select the properties if it is a property company in their minds? Chris vd MerweYeah. So like when I was a teacher, the only way to actually enhance your balance sheet, in my world, was to build houses and then to sell it and to then register a bigger bond.Chris vd Merwe (20:39:28 - 21:00:24)So between Stephanie and myself at that stage, we have already built about six houses both and sell both. And so I was an owner/ builder, so I understood the property quite well. So I derived the following criteria. If you want to make a school successful, the earth that you boy had to be flat because there was no money for civil works.Chris vd Merwe (21:00:28 - 21:27:34)Number two we couldn't pay more than 1 million per hecter . Number three, they had to be streets to carry the children from the houses to the school. And of course, number four, there to be houses with, with children. Alec HoggSo they were, they were these four criteria. Yeah. Which is makes it quite simple. But to implement it, to find the right property, it would not have been presumably that easy.Chris vd Merwe (21:27:34 - 21:52:47)So I literally flew to Joburg, rented an Avis car with my fellow partners, took the engineer to us, and then we scouted we we looked for boards where a development's was because, remember, the state didn't build any new schools in areas that were developed and that was the niche. We targeted areas where they built new houses. And then it was easy because you got the number.Chris vd Merwe (21:52:47 - 22:17:46)You went to the developer and you made a deal with the developer. Alec HoggOkay, so let's get back to JannieMouton now. And how was he different? How was he able to help you to turbocharge this dream, or maybe even to give you the dream to go from four to, you know, 200? Chris vd MerweSo, like, let me just tell you, give you the practical version.(22:17:46 - 22:48:18)So when we, when they married us, once again, Jannei, Jannie actually liked me because I was a teacher. I was nothing fancy. And he loved the fact that to manage it sounds bizarre, but to manage a school, companies actually not that difficult. It's not chemical engineering. It's, it's just it's just a simple algorithm. Make sure you've got a very good principal, make sure you've got good teachers, make sure that ethics is right.(22:48:22 - 23:05:20)Make sure that it's in curriculum is right. Bob's your uncle. So Jannie actually liked me. And, we when we did the deal, Jannie called me for a cup of tea, and he said, Chris, you're teacher.(23:05:24 - 23:38:02)The numbers are going to get big. I'm going to send Bernard to you. I'm going to ring fence you. I'm going to take the stress off for financial management. At that stage, Steffi and myself did the accountancy. Luckily I got a C matric for accountancy, so I could you know, I could, could, I could help myself. And, Bernard, I had the luxury of having a c a and, but there was, there was something that happened before the mitten engagement.Chris vd Merwe (23:38:06 - 24:10:06)So Kous Baker invited me to the NASPAS building in 2005. Let's cut the deal 20% of zero health through core. He helped me to, formulate, a vision of creating 20 schools, helped me with these data specialists to, find the places best suited. So when you only did the deal, I what it is that they.Chris vd Merwe (24:10:06 - 24:44:11)Then Jannie phoned me one morning. That was a beautiful deal because I got hold of Andres. So I was actually at that stage surrounded with CAs, which was a luxury. So Alec, at that stage, Bernard came to sit next. Me I had Andres a CA. I had Bernard a CA coming from PSG, and Hennie Lou the ex CEO of Educov, was my third CA.Chris vd Merwe (24:44:15 - 25:11:09)They said, Chris, we not even make we not even making 4 million profit. So they say just hang in for three years, right? I went to sleep that evening. The following morning I say to Bernard, was a journalist at Finances and Technique and he was Jannie's assistant.Chris vd Merwe (25:11:13 - 25:35:37)So I said, Bernard the following day. Let's just go through this with your name and this thing bothers me. I had a little Brexit for I love the car and we went to Jannie and like it was ten minutes. And Jannie said, Chris, you are allowed to listed on the outtakes because the optics didn't even want it guaranteed profit.Chris vd Merwe (25:35:43 - 25:58:14)They wanted a guaranteed forecast. By the way, can I just I'm sure I'm going to entertain the audience now. So when you list the company. So that was out there. But when you listed a company you do an IPO may initial public public offering. So then you go on a road show because you must defend your anticipated opening share.Chris vd Merwe (25:58:18 - 26:16:43)And we thought it's going to be about R4. You know Alec, I was proud a teach is going to list the company my gosh man , on the airplane. You know, a chap called David Shapiro, of course. Right. So so our first innings, remember, I'm a rookie. I don't know anything about shades. I didn't know anything. But I've got Bernard.Chris vd Merwe (26:16:47 - 26:41:12)Okay. So. So David sits at Sesfan. He's at Sesfan and and lives a lot of analysts and they say so. So David Shapiro says Chris, you are going to grow by numbers. But that's going to not going to be enough to to give the shareholder return. You'll have to do something aggressive. Have you thought of other growth strategies.Chris vd Merwe (26:41:16 - 26:49:25)So I said, of course, David, we will do a lot of acquisitions.Chris vd Merwe (26:49:29 - 27:11:00)I said, I tell you, I already have five acquisitions in the offing. And I said, David, I can tell you exactly where they are. Here is the heads of agreement. I've got this acquisition. It's a great one. Alec HoggAnd this that sounds like it's from Jannie's roots. This is vocabulary book because he would have said something like that.Chris vd Merwe (27:11:00 - 27:27:34)So I tell you. So I see Bernard is pumping you, me in the ribs and and I go to I leave . I say, Chris, it's acquisitions. My training.Alec Hogg (27:27:38 - 27:56:49)So yeah, so you guys spoke Afrikaans ? That does not surprise me. Chris vd MerweI spoke English to the parents, Alec HoggBut but just to go back a little at the time that Jannie Mouton became your partner, he already had quite a track record, you know, and perhaps you can just share with, with the, the, the tribe here what he had done by that stage.Chris vd Merwe (27:57:01 - 28:26:11)Oh, yes. No. Look, Jannie, Jannie was at a company and then the story goes like this. So they called Jannie and Jannie actually knew G-T Ferreira from Jo'burg. So G-T told Jannie. Jannie, you can't go and sit and do nothing if you move to Stellenbosch, move to Stellenbosch with me.(28:26:15 - 28:54:30)But just go to an office, just pack your case and go to an office. Don't do nothing at home. That's a true story by the way. And Jannie. And then bought a company. I'm not sure about the name. I think it was something like Arch Capital, a good cheek me but they bought the company for X million and within a year they sold it for a huge profit.(28:54:34 - 29:29:30)So Jannei's office started to work successfully. And then he. I think his biggest breakthrough came when, he initiated a, a concept where they would buy out, guys that loaned money in the informal sector, and they created Capitec. So Janni was a huge drive force, the behind, the creation of Capitec. I think that was his biggest accolade.Alec Hogg (29:29:30 - 30:01:11)I can remember talking to him at the time. And he said to me, you would be another Capitec. Yes. He saw the same vision for Curro as he as he saw in Capitec and it has been quite a ride. Just take us through you know, the progress from those four and how quickly you started adding schools. (30:01:15 - 30:31:42)So it was a it was an amazing journey, Alec I had to get used to shares.I had to study first again. The CA helped me. I had one competitive edge. I could I could speak in a simplified manner. By the way, I'm going to test your memory quickly. 2012 in Alec Hogg speaks to Chris vd Merwe on the radio. Your introduction is as follows. Chris, aren't you scared? Your share price range from seven to 9 to 13 rand and your PE standing at almost 200 exit.(30:31:47 - 030:36:42)Alec what do you mean it's nice to have a PE off 200.(30:36:46 - 31:04:20)You can go check me out, but, in any case. So. So I had to learn about these things, but I slowly but surely I matured. Alec in 2013 oh 2014. We built 17 new schools in one year. Can you imagine that? Now? As you remember, it's humongous schools. It's schools that carries 8500 kids. You've got to go market the schools.(30:01:15 - 30:31:42) (31:04:24 - 31:40:28)You've got to appoint the engineers. You've got to do quality control. You've got to do cashflow management. I had to report in the PSG boardroom. So so it scaled incredibly up to a point. We in 2016, we were awarded the third best place in the top 100 companies competition. We we gave the shareholders.(30:01:15 - 30:31:42) (31:40:32 - 31:52:28)Call me, average 48 comma, three, 5%, five years consecutively. That's so I was very proud and and and then.(31:52:32 - 32:30:05)Can you remember the day that Provin Gordon was fired? The next week we saw House. I want to put it positively out. Suddenly the numbers of Curro, more or less 2016 17 Alec HoggIt was 2015, December the 15th, I think. Chris vd MerweMore or less they up to 2016, but when we hit 2017, the ripple effect of it caught us and the school's numbers didn't climb with, let's say, 10 to 20.Alec Hogg (32:30:10 - 32:52:16)Sorry. Apologies. That was when Nene was fired. Was 2015. Said would have been 26. (30:01:15 - 30:31:42)I remember we were on the pinnacle. It I mean, I was I was busy handing over the company to Andries Grayling. They had succeeded me. And then suddenly the numbers just plateaued because of the economy in South Africa.Chris vd Merwe (32:52:20 - 33:21:18)We we had intelligent researchers that looked why it couldn't have been that. It couldn't have been one single CEO. That was a good forget that, because the CAs are smart people. They are data orientated. So the economy definitely look, we escalated school fees with 10% upon 10%. And at a certain stage we still did fine. But it kind of plateaued.Chris vd Merwe (33:21:22 - 33:50:10)So where are we today? We, we we built enough capacity to accommodate 100,000 kids. It's already built and we sitting at 72,000 kids. Alec HoggSo, just stop a little bit. 72,000 kids. You go to Ellis Park, you watch the Springboks play the All Blacks in the World Cup final is 63,000. So it's all those people, you know, plus a few waiting outside. It's an enormous number of human beings that are in your schoolsChris vd Merwe (33:50:12 - 34:17:17)Then you must add Stadio but that's a topic for a bit later. Alec HoggBut my point is, how do you how does it make you feel when you think what you started at your home is now educating that many people. Chris vd MerweIt's it's it's humbling and it's, it's humbling because if you really know me, I got one A matric.(34:17:21 - 34:32:00)And that was because of a great teacher. And when I got that A four history, 388 zero 400 as a 15 year old child in grade 10.Chris vd Merwe (34:32:04 - 35:04:40)That gave me confidence. Now every time I look at the stats and I had a glass of wine with Stephanie, the feeling is just it's just too good to be true because I know where I was at age 15, I was a cricketer. I was never an academic. So it's, it's it's humbling. It's also it's also just so inspiring to had the luxury of.Chris vd Merwe (35:04:43 - 35:31:44)Because you must remember I started career with Bootie Ingrid who was Bootie Ingrid. He was my co examiner of my master's degree. Then days from Rory phoned me. He was my my inspector of education. I was 12 years the junior and then DS flunk and found me. He was the director at the Western Cape Education Department on human resources.(35:31:48 - 35:59:12)Six months after we started Curro. I still call the meneer because they were my meneer. They gave me my first teaching job in the state sector. So like it's it's humbling. Alec HoggAnd what was it that you were doing at Curro that parents were prepared to pay rather than go to the government school, which was the only option previously?Chris vd Merwe (35:59:16 - 36:32:01)Okay, I think so. I'm going to I'm going to own my success now. But please don't think I'm arrogant. So I sat, with a qualification that was incredibly scarce, I knew how teaching in the London school happened. I did my empirical study there I knew Eton, I knew Edinburg, I knew Enschede in the east of Netherlands. These were the top line centers when Ex-model C schools flourished.Chris vd Merwe (36:32:09 - 37:01:05)So I was on top of my game. I was also a fairly popular teacher in Durbanville. The parent community knew me and they knew Bootie. They knew Eddie. So whenever we made speeches, we had the right terminology, we had the passion, and we had the first bite.(37:01:09 - 37:28:29)And parents didn't care whether we didn't have an astroturf or a heated pool or a team rugby that could compete. They wanted top line education at classroom level. Alec HoggAnd Koos Bekker was your partner earlier on. And it's, parallels here because when he was at Columbia, he learned all about said la TV and he brought it back to South Africa and started M-Net.(37:28:33 - 38:00:04)And that was the beginning of his success story. So he'd done his research, you know, in the same way as you did your research. So maybe, maybe that was what he really liked about you. Chris vd MerweKoos , he's a very intelligent chap. He's, he's a he's he knows about everything. Yeah. And and when I sat with him, he discussed my, my studies and my understanding of education, and then he'd delegated this to Educore because, Educore came to visit me.Chris vd Merwe (38:00:04 - 38:24:27)But ultimately, cuz I do sign it off through Media24, which was governed by Heine Brandt in those days. But what I didn't tell the audience. So we was I was so emancipated when a chap called Koos Bekker took a stake in Curro, extremely proud. And then Koos phoned me one morning and they say, gee, Chris, I've got very bad news for you.(38:24:31 - 38:54:46)Okay? The call actually came through Heine Brandt , Koos did this bizarre deal with a company called Tencent's, and he wants to sell off all the small little companies. That's that clashes with the era of digital gaming, blah blah blah. But it just shows you the great guy that Koss was. He offered us. He helped us to actually build Rondeplaat.(38:55:00 - 39:28:20)He helped us to get to the fourth school. Remember, this happened in 25 and he came back to me and he said, I'm going to do you a deal. Go to your partners and see if they are willing to give the cash back because they have an opportunity to buy the shares back at the same price. When you were only one and a half schools, it was the most difficult check of 650,000 rand that I, as a teacher, had to go withdraw out of my absolute account for 1%.(39:28:24 - 39:41:05)That 1% later became almost 300 million rand. Alec HoggWhat a story. Well, we're coming.(39:41:09 - 40:05:09)We're coming close to the end. But the the two things I'd like you to leave us with your stories. Inspirational. It has to be where you came from, what you've created. What would you pass on to entrepreneurs in the audience who may be trying to scale their business? And the second question for your subconscious is what you would say to that 15 year old.(40:05:13 - 40:13:35)Your 15 year old self if you could go back today. So let's start with the entrepreneur. You know.Chris vd Merwe (40:13:39 - 40:20:17)Everything starts small. Everything starts small.(40:20:21 - 40:56:47)It's like you climbing a lot of steps. You get on the first step. You can only see a small little vision. You enroll your next 30 kids. You get onto step two. The vision gets a bit broader and ultimately, when you gain height, by the way, through hard work and believing in yourself, back yourself. Back yourself. But as you climb the stairs, your vision expands.(40:57:01 - 41:23:21)It cannot happen otherwise. You've got to start from the first step. So your aim must just be to get to the second step. Just get to the second step. That's my advice to entrepreneurs. Alec HoggSo you don't you don't have a grand plan. You don't have the plan. We're going to have 150 schools. We just going to open one school at a time.(41:23:25 - 041:47:48)That's how it happened. Because so by the way, I built that first school with my blue overall city laborers, ten bricklayers, one plumber, one electrician and an engineer for R876 the square meter. In 1999. That was my first step.(41:48:02 - 42:10:44)And as I was building this monster, remember my friends taught in the church. I said, sure, Chris, how can you afford the school . I had to report to my banker on a weekly basis, even if I enrolled one new kid, I went to the bank and reported i enrolled one more kid. Step by step by step.Alec Hogg (42:10:48 - 42:18:22)And your 15 year old self, if you could go back and advise him.Chris vd Merwe (42:18:26 - 42:47:10)Okay, I can remember why I got an I remember I didn't have a dad. So Frans brought discipline into my life. Some of the previous authors said something about the magic of using colors for optimal learning, and Frans made us some update. Our textbook with a green paint repeating in a blue pen, and I stuck to that recipe up to varsity days.(42:47:10 - 43:20:39)So it was so great for me to get that a to prove to myself. But there was always a price to pay. It's called diligence. Spend the hours, have a plan and believe in yourself. But spend hours with studying because it's not just going to come for free. Alec HoggChris. Thank you, Chris vd MerweThank you.

BNC#8 - Curro founder Chris vd Merwe: From teaching 40 kids out of his home to a 72,000-student empire

Related Stories