MASTER INVESTOR
Meridian Realty Today: Integrity. Innovation. Empowerment.
The Leadership Edge
MASTER INVESTOR
Then came the next evolution. In 2014, long before“ PropTech” was fashionable, Antonie flipped Meridian Realty into a cloud-based model. It was a radical move with decentralised agents, centralised systems, and a tech-enabled back office doing the heavy lifting.
When COVID arrived, it tested everything. While many agencies retrenched, Antonie went the other way. He leveraged their digital infrastructure to sell homes sight unseen, doubled down on recruitment efforts and emerged stronger. The pandemic didn’ t define Meridian Realty, it validated it.
Meridian Realty Today: Integrity. Innovation. Empowerment.
Two decades later, Meridian Realty stands as one of South Africa’ s leading independent estate agencies, fully cloud-based, nationally recognised, and powered by a proprietary CRM called Meridian Connect.
Its model flips the industry on its head: agents aren’ t employees, they’ re clients. They earn up to 100 % commission, supported by an in-house team handling everything from media and marketing to compliance and admin.
Recruitment is selective, around 1,000 applicants for roughly 50 approvals a year, because culture, Antonie insists, is Meridian Realty’ s real competitive advantage.“ We hire for values, train for tools, and lead with vision,” he says.
The Leadership Edge
Antonie’ s leadership philosophy is simple: hire good people, trust them, and get out of the way. He believes tech amplifies great humans; it never replaces them.
18 REI MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2025