MASTER INVESTOR
The making of a Founder
Learning, Adapting, Surviving
MASTER INVESTOR
Today, Antonie leads a national, cloud-based estate agency built on empowerment, not hierarchy. His mission is simple but powerful enable top agents with world-class technology and unwavering human support. But his road to“ Master Investor” status was anything but simple.
This is his story of Antonie’ s entrepreneurial journey behind the brand and the playbook for where he’ s going next.
The making of a Founder
Antonie didn’ t so much choose real estate as collide with it. He was raised in Riversdale( Hessequa) in the Western Cape, in a values-first family where character and work ethic were prioritised above all else.
At Stellenbosch University, while studying BCom, he quickly discovered a love for business creation. He built a student housing portal in 1999( dial-up era!), and discovered an industry aching for better systems, better pictures, and better service.
With little more than curiosity and grit, he outsourced coding, hired a part-time marketer, and learned early that value lives wherever frustration meets opportunity.
That small student project opened his eyes to a bigger truth, South African real estate was crying out for modernisation: better systems, better images, better service, and agents who actually cared.
Learning, Adapting, Surviving
The early years were brutal. The 2008 global financial crisis hit just as Meridian Realty found its feet. Deals froze. Credit disappeared. But Antonie doubled down on relationships, stayed lean, and proved that trust outlasts turbulence.
By 2010, Meridian Realty was already innovating ahead of the curve, rolling out professional photography, launching a YouTube channel, and offering virtual tours years before Matterport became a buzzword.
16 REI MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2025