{"id":865214,"date":"2026-07-09T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=865214"},"modified":"2026-07-09T16:54:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T14:54:39","slug":"the-south-african-who-left-his-job-at-a-liquor-company-to-start-a-bank-and-became-a-billionaire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/865214\/the-south-african-who-left-his-job-at-a-liquor-company-to-start-a-bank-and-became-a-billionaire\/","title":{"rendered":"The South African who left his job at a liquor company to start a bank and became a billionaire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Michiel le Roux co-founded Capitec in 2001 and served as the company’s first CEO and chairman. Since its inception, the bank has grown to become the largest in South Africa by customer numbers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Le Roux was born in South Africa in May 1949 and grew up in several towns, attending different schools due to his father’s work as a mine ventilation engineer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He later attended Ho\u00ebrskool Alberton, where he completed his high school education and graduated in 1966.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After matriculating, he enrolled at Stellenbosch University, where he earned a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws degree, the latter of which he completed in 1972. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While studying, he stayed at the Eendrag residence in Stellenbosch. After graduation, he began his career in the liquor industry, working for Distillers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Le Roux eventually became the managing director of the company, which had grown to be the leading wine and spirits producer in the country by 1979.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1994, he transitioned into the banking industry by joining Boland Bank, a small regional bank near Cape Town, where he worked for four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBoland introduced me to banking, and that\u2019s where I discovered that banking was very archaic,\u201d Le Roux said on Radio 702<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first thing I asked when I got there [Boland Bank] was \u2018why do banks close at 3 o\u2019clock in the afternoon?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chairperson of Boland Bank, Christo Wiese, appointed Le Roux as the company\u2019s managing director, a position he held until his resignation in 1998.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His resignation resulted from a disagreement with Wiese over the bank\u2019s future direction, which ultimately cost him millions and led to a lawsuit between them that lasted nearly a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s biggest bank<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the past 25 years, Capitec has transformed from a micro-loan provider into the nation\u2019s largest bank by customer numbers, now serving over 26 million clients. The bank currently has a market capitalisation of R544 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe remained true to our fundamentals and executed our strategies, growing our active client base to 25 million,\u201d Capitec said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michiel le Roux became a billionaire by retaining a massive 11% stake as the company grew into Africa’s most valuable bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than diversifying his wealth, his fortune scaled directly alongside Capitec’s explosive rise on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the financial year ended 28 February 2026, headline earnings increased by 23% to R16.8 billion, up from R13.7 billion in 2025. The group also raised its dividend per share by 23% to 7,980 cents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is several years of compounding momentum \u2013 a trajectory very few can match. We are not a growth story that has peaked. We are still building,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank’s net interest income increased by 19%, reaching R24.1 billion in 2025, up from R20.2 billion in the previous year. Interest income from lending rose by 14%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This growth was driven by significant increases in loan disbursements: 27% for Personal Banking and 48% for Business Banking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank’s overall growth strategy focuses on transitioning to digital channels, which has allowed it to rapidly expand its client base. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This digital-first approach has also helped Capitec reduce costs, enabling it to provide affordable banking products that appeal to lower-income earners in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the bank emphasises its digital-first model, it also recognises the importance of maintaining a strong branch network and offering in-person engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank has partnered with Home Affairs as part of the government\u2019s new expansion plan, which enables banks to have greater control over the service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capitec now operates 86 branches across the country where clients can obtain Smart IDs, specifically focusing on previously underserved areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since its inception in March 2026, the group has successfully processed 71,000 Smart ID applications at its branches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michiel le Roux co-founded Capitec in 2001 and served as the company’s first CEO and chairman.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":865294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2075233787420479583","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[1798,20140],"class_list":["post-865214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-capitec","tag-michiel-le-roux"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865214"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":865290,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865214\/revisions\/865290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}