The former Springbok captain who runs businesses in Cape Town and London

Since leaving the world of rugby, former Springbok captain Bob Skinstad has become a successful businessman with interests in South Africa, the UK and France.

Before starting his rugby career, Skinstad attended the prestigious Hilton College in KZN and Stellenbosch University, where he would captain the first team.

Despite being born in Zimbabwe and eligible to play for Ireland via his Irish-born mother, Skinstad played for South Africa at all junior levels and would make his full international debut in 1997.

He played in the 1999 and 2007 Rugby World Cups, winning the trophy in the latter tournament, while captaining the Springboks in the early 2000s.

Outside of his international duties, the loose forward played for the Western Province, Lions, Sharks, Stormers, invitational-only Barbarians, and Newport Gwent Dragons.

He retired from professional rugby shortly after the 2007 tournament, having won 42 caps for the Springboks, and moved into business.

Skinstad ventured into sports management, co-founding the company Esportif. He also worked as a rugby analyst and commentator for various media outlets.

He would become a Director at Itec Innovate, a company specialising in print, security, and communications.

From 2013 to 2016, he was the Chief Marketing Officer at Seartec, a distributor of top Office Automation brands in South Africa. His role was managing new business, team culture, and sustainability with clients.

In 2013, Wesgro named him an Ambassador for the Overstrand region, including Gansbaai, Hangklip-Kleinmond, Hermanus and Stanford.

He would also become the chairman of the South African chapter of the Rugby Business Network, where members would help each other at networking events worldwide.

In 2015, he was the co-founder and venture partner in KNF Ventures, a SARS Section 12J Venture Capital.

It helped qualifying investors to claim amounts invested as a full and permanent deduction from taxable income. It focused on South African innovation-driven SMEs to generate enhanced returns for investors.

Two years later, he became a partner at Knife Capital, the parent company of KNF Ventures.

The company specialises in growth equity investments, focusing on innovation-driven ventures with a proven track record.

From 2016 to 2021, he was also a partner of DRAPER-GAIN Investments, a UK-based investment company with a particular focus on Africa.

From 2021 to 2024, he was also a strategic advisor at CrowdIQ, a company that used gigapixel photography and computers to quantify the composition and behaviour of crowds.

Current roles

Skinstad currently holds several roles at companies across South Africa and the UK, where he is currently based.

He is the co-founder and owner of Old School, a marketing company specialising in sports and music events, based in Cape Town.

Since 2023, he has partnered with London-based business consulting firm Elixirr.

As a partner, his responsibility is to expand the consultancy division and help businesses achieve their best performances, building relationships with key players, boosting growth, and challenging business norms.

In addition to his partner role at Elixxir, he has been a strategic advisor and shareholder at Fanbase, a Scottish-based company.

The Scotland-based company develops software and created the world’s first fan operating system purpose-built for back office teams.

The system is designed to help sports teams solve problems such as ticketing, VIP and hospitality services, and fan data services.

Despite shifting to the world of business, Skinstad has not forgotten his rugby roots and has fulfilled a lifelong dream by becoming the co-owner of French rugby club ASBH Beziers Hérault.

Skinstad is the club’s co-president alongside New Zealand’s Andrew Mehrtens, a former All-Black fly-half.

He’s also helped with grassroots rugby, spending a short time as the assistant coach for Wellington College in the UK.

Headline image source: Sky Sports