Asked why his contract was not renewed after completing the deal, he was blunt: \u201cOf course, I don’t know. I really don’t know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He acknowledged that the decision left a scar, but said he refused to let it shape the rest of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI came back to South Africa, but I didn’t allow that scar to fester and control my life thereafter. I put it behind me,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hawinkels\u2019 path to Tencent began with his work at M-Net and MultiChoice. He was headhunted by M-Net in 1993, when the company had about 500,000 subscribers and had only recently broken even.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He helped establish MultiChoice as M-Net’s distribution arm and worked on expanding its television operations across Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those efforts brought him into contact with China. During a trip to Beijing in the mid-1990s, Hawinkels developed relationships with Chinese officials and state broadcaster CCTV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe developed what we call guanxi, which is a relationship of trust and work with these people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Naspers subsequently sent Hawinkels and his family to Hong Kong in 1997, where his role shifted towards identifying investment opportunities in Asia, particularly China, Thailand and Indonesia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Initially, Naspers wanted to control the companies it invested in. That requirement caused it to miss several opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deal of a lifetime <\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Tencent-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHawinkels said he met Alibaba founder Jack Ma and had the opportunity to buy a 77% stake, but Naspers’ control requirement meant he had to walk away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI had to turn it down. Eventually, Goldman Sachs bought it,\u201d he said. He also rejected an offer to buy 10% of Chinese gaming company NetEase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Tencent was different. Hawinkels was approached by IDG Ventures, which owned 25% of the young company and wanted to sell. He subsequently persuaded another shareholder, PCCW, to sell its 25% stake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final negotiations were not easy going. PCCW gave Hawinkels an ultimatum to buy the shares at a $66 million valuation without conducting due diligence, or walk away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe said to me, Hans, we’ll sell our shares to you. The valuation of the company will be $66 million,\u201d Hawinkels recalled. \u201cI’m giving you no time to do any due diligence. Take it or leave it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Naspers needed about $33 million to acquire the combined 50% stake. At the time, Tencent had around 20 million users but little meaningful revenue. \u201cIt was a big punt,\u201d Hawinkels said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What persuaded him was Tencent’s management team, particularly co-founder Pony Ma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI liked the management team. I mean, you back the jockey, and those jockeys, those guys were really, really impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also believed Ma wanted a partner who could help Tencent turn its large user base into a profitable business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe actually wanted a partnership. Somebody that could help him monetise that 20 million user base,\u201d Hawinkels said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During his remaining year at Naspers, Hawinkels helped Tencent become more corporate and worked on developing its first meaningful revenue stream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A breakthrough came through China Mobile, allowing Tencent users to access its services on mobile phones for about $1 a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China Mobile retained 15% of the subscription revenue and passed the remaining 85% to Tencent. \u201cThat was the start of a revenue source,\u201d Hawinkels said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tencent continued expanding as broadband and mobile adoption accelerated in China. About six years after Naspers’ investment, Tencent launched WeChat, which Hawinkels said \u201cjust exploded and grew massively\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The investment eventually became the foundation of Naspers and its international investment group Prosus. At its peak, Naspers’ Tencent stake was worth about $200 billion, or roughly R3 trillion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The stake has since been reduced as shares were sold to fund other investments, but it remains worth roughly $100 billion to $120 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After leaving Naspers, Hawinkels went on to become CEO of Virgin Active and worked with MTN and international investors before later joining the board of Truworths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said Naspers chairman Koos Bekker eventually contacted him and that they discussed his departure. \u201cI think they recognise that a mistake was made,\u201d Hawinkels said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, for Hawinkels, the success of Tencent ultimately mattered more than the fact that he was no longer at Naspers to experience it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no way in our wildest dreams could we have imagined that this little budding company would be so valuable today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ans Hawinkels helped Naspers, South Africa\u2019s most valuable company today, make one of the most successful investments in corporate history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":872630,"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":"2093715566875812112","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2190180118469054","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17927193585166424","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[25021,107,853],"class_list":["post-872535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-2026-biznews-conference","tag-naspers","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872535","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872535"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":872631,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872535\/revisions\/872631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHawinkels said he met Alibaba founder Jack Ma and had the opportunity to buy a 77% stake, but Naspers’ control requirement meant he had to walk away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI had to turn it down. Eventually, Goldman Sachs bought it,\u201d he said. He also rejected an offer to buy 10% of Chinese gaming company NetEase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Tencent was different. Hawinkels was approached by IDG Ventures, which owned 25% of the young company and wanted to sell. He subsequently persuaded another shareholder, PCCW, to sell its 25% stake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final negotiations were not easy going. PCCW gave Hawinkels an ultimatum to buy the shares at a $66 million valuation without conducting due diligence, or walk away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe said to me, Hans, we’ll sell our shares to you. The valuation of the company will be $66 million,\u201d Hawinkels recalled. \u201cI’m giving you no time to do any due diligence. Take it or leave it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Naspers needed about $33 million to acquire the combined 50% stake. At the time, Tencent had around 20 million users but little meaningful revenue. \u201cIt was a big punt,\u201d Hawinkels said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What persuaded him was Tencent’s management team, particularly co-founder Pony Ma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI liked the management team. I mean, you back the jockey, and those jockeys, those guys were really, really impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also believed Ma wanted a partner who could help Tencent turn its large user base into a profitable business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe actually wanted a partnership. Somebody that could help him monetise that 20 million user base,\u201d Hawinkels said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During his remaining year at Naspers, Hawinkels helped Tencent become more corporate and worked on developing its first meaningful revenue stream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A breakthrough came through China Mobile, allowing Tencent users to access its services on mobile phones for about $1 a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China Mobile retained 15% of the subscription revenue and passed the remaining 85% to Tencent. \u201cThat was the start of a revenue source,\u201d Hawinkels said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tencent continued expanding as broadband and mobile adoption accelerated in China. About six years after Naspers’ investment, Tencent launched WeChat, which Hawinkels said \u201cjust exploded and grew massively\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The investment eventually became the foundation of Naspers and its international investment group Prosus. At its peak, Naspers’ Tencent stake was worth about $200 billion, or roughly R3 trillion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The stake has since been reduced as shares were sold to fund other investments, but it remains worth roughly $100 billion to $120 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After leaving Naspers, Hawinkels went on to become CEO of Virgin Active and worked with MTN and international investors before later joining the board of Truworths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said Naspers chairman Koos Bekker eventually contacted him and that they discussed his departure. \u201cI think they recognise that a mistake was made,\u201d Hawinkels said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, for Hawinkels, the success of Tencent ultimately mattered more than the fact that he was no longer at Naspers to experience it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no way in our wildest dreams could we have imagined that this little budding company would be so valuable today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ans Hawinkels helped Naspers, South Africa\u2019s most valuable company today, make one of the most successful investments in corporate history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":872630,"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":"2093715566875812112","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2190180118469054","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17927193585166424","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[25021,107,853],"class_list":["post-872535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-2026-biznews-conference","tag-naspers","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872535","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872535"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":872631,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872535\/revisions\/872631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}