Listen here.He spent three months convincing two reluctant shareholders to sell. He drove across the Hong Kong border in a train packed "like sardines" to negotiate with four young founders through an interpreter. He talked Naspers into betting $32 million it barely had on a loss-making Chinese chat app called QQ. It became Tencent, one of the most valuable companies on earth, and the single biggest driver of wealth in almost every South African pension fund. A year later, his contract wasn't renewed. In this fireside chat at BNC#9, Hans Hawinkels breaks a two-decade silence to tell Alec Hogg exactly how the deal got done, why he still doesn't know why he was pushed out, and what he thinks Africa would need to produce its own Tencent..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.