Quinton van der Burgh is a South African mining magnate and one of the wealthiest people in the country. He is a serial entrepreneur whose business is largely focused on the energy sector.
Van der Burgh is the founder of Quinton van der Burgh Investments (Pty) Limited, a diversified business conglomerate. Through its subsidiaries, he manages investments in the mining, property and media industries.
The South African is reputed to have made his first $1 million before turning 21. However, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the tycoon, who lost everything at the age of 26 in London, only to then pick up the pieces and build it all again from scratch.
With a large heart for generosity, the 44-year-old is passionate about changing the lives of South African youth and wants to help South Africans who are living in poverty to become financially free.
In a recent chat with Billionaires.Africa, van der Burgh recounted his business successes and challenges, passion for philanthropy and views about the future of a global digitized financial economy.
— In South Africa, the name “Quinton van der Burgh” is synonymous with a goal-getter, a philanthropist, and a man with a diversified business portfolio. Who is Quinton van der Burgh? Could you tell us a bit about yourself and what informs your life decisions? Were you born wealthy? Or did you start from scratch?
— I think it’s more about how I was raised, being Christian, and being taught by my mother at a very young age to give back and make sure that people around me are more important than what I think my life is, otherwise. So, I always put other people first over myself, and I think those relationships, over time, talked for themselves. I have a lot of trusted relationships. My handshake means everything. Honor means everything.
Although it’s challenging in today’s times, because everything is a contract, and most people don’t abide by their contracts. Which is a very competitive version of how I was brought up. But I still believe in a handshake and this has benefited me. People who have done business with me understand that if there’s a mistake, I make sure that it is made up. Even if it takes time to make it up, I’ll stick to my word and stick to the fact that if I owe you 10 Rand and I can’t pay today, I’ll tell you how I’m going to pay you that 10 Rand.
In business, it’s not all smooth sailing. Every single billionaire will tell you the same story. They’ve gone through many trials and tribulations and many ups and downs. And I think that character is what pulls you through and why people would want to deal with you again. Especially if you have had a default or problem in your life, to know that if it ever happens again, you’re good for your word, and you’re good for making it happen again. So it’s not always a glorified story.
Obviously, many things have happened in my career from 21, as you said, making much money in London. I had a lot of businesses and much success. But through that, at 26 years old, I had a massive issue that hit me from a global auditing perspective. My accounts were frozen. Then, I had the goal of making it bigger and better and ensuring I never got back to that point again. I didn’t come from a family of money or trust funds. I had to make all that money in London by myself. I had to stand on my own two feet every time I hit a roadblock or a problem in my career, which has happened three times.
So yes, it’s a character thing, and I think that’s what I believe in, which makes me who I am. I’m a firm believer in people and in the upliftment of people. However, people have faulted me for that because they’ve said: “people are taking you for a ride” or “people are using you” or x, y, z.
But, that’s not on me, you know. If you look at the Christian way, that’s on them. I’m not going to be judged for that. They’re going to be judged for that one day.
So, I’m going to stick to what I do and what I’m good at doing. To just always be a good person. I think that’s what makes the difference between a lot of wealthy and successful business people today. I look at their shortcomings, and a lot of them are based on being self-centered. They want to hoard money for themselves and to make that success for themselves.
And you will always hear me in my statements. I never refer to “I.” I always refer to “we.” If you always see anything I’ve done online, any interviews, otherwise, the success is not owed to me. The success is owed to the people who have stuck by my side, the companies I have run entrepreneurial roles with and the people who I have groomed and developed over time to be the success they are. And I think that’s where my success has stemmed. I have a great team behind me.
— What are the core values that have shaped your business life?
— Trust. People can look at me and see that I’m open and I’m trusting. I could walk into any room, and any boardroom, and that energy that I project is that of trust and that of getting the deal done. And I think people look for that perseverance and persistence. They look for that energy. That’s what rubs off and people can pick it up. Whether you are not an energy person, I am. So I can tell very quickly whether I can do something with you. I can see whether you’re a go-getter. I can see whether you have the same level of thinking and aspirations.
An entrepreneur loves, eats, sleeps and drinks business. I think that’s what my character is built upon. It’s pure energy. I’m a trusting person and when it gets to a deal, I can see through the bullshit.
If you come in here with a story, speak openly and honestly about what you know. That itself goes a million miles while we have another conversation.
— You would agree that the year 2020 was unprecedented and disruptive for the global market. Most business people and investors were forced to recreate boxes as the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic made people scramble for ways to live with the new normal. How was the Quinton van der Burgh brand able to stay afloat at the pandemic’s peak in 2020, especially in South Africa, which happens to be the hardest hit on the continent?
— Okay, so it affected everyone, I think, in more than one way. But my business is explicitly energy-related, which is a necessity and essential service. So, we struggled in the first two, three weeks. I think that market prices had depth, specifically with what we do from exports. And I think that everyone felt it. The times were hard, but I pushed myself harder because I saw the default in not doing so. In other words, what I’ve gone through as career breaks and seen in the downtimes, I saw that in COVID-19 and it worried everybody because we didn’t know how long it was going to last.
You know, when everyone said “shut down,” businesses shut down, mine shut down. I was kind of thinking, “Oh, shit, here it comes again.” Just when you think you’re ahead, you know, slam dunk! And everybody’s back to zero again.
It made me realize that everybody was starting from the starting block again. It gave everybody an equal opportunity to prove themselves, because many big corporations saw bad times, too. And they had to pick up the pieces themselves. They were also going to concentrate on just keeping their doors open, as many opportunities would be available to the open market again and to many young entrepreneurs, more diverse people, and people seeing the breaks within logical operational faults.
So for me, I picked up a lot of good things during COVID-19. In the same sense, I saw more business opportunities. I hustled twice as hard. I made sure that on the mining front, I developed things from COVID-19 when it first started in March. I began developing mines when everybody was running away from it. So now, what’s happening in our market today? I’m seeing the benefit of that because I’ve developed to see the good times again during the bad times. And now that everyone is trying to get back into it, it is a bit too late, you know. The year 2020 was good for me for many reasons, like rebuilding myself mentally, physically, and otherwise.
— Quinton Global Commodities (QGC) is a significant player in South Africa’s mining industry and a key coal supplier to Eskom, the national grid. What has revenue turnover been for QGC since Eskom began experiencing severe power cuts between 2019 and now? Has it been a struggle?
— We did much good business from COVID-19 to now. Eskom has always been a struggle for us, you know. We deal through a lot of indirect contracts — people who short-supply and otherwise. But our biggest strong point is making sure that every day we persist with new transactions. Sales and marketing are our forte to ensure we get multiple angles to moving coal specifically and other minerals we trade in. I myself will never take a day as a mistake or as a misread market sort of delay on what we’re trying to achieve. So yes, I’ve just built.
In the last year, I think we’ve doubled our capacity. We’ve pushed harder. We’ve gone into multiple angles to distribute our product, even though the market is down, even though Eskom is not taking any product.
— In 2015, you launched Generosity Water in South Africa to provide clean drinking water to millions of people throughout Africa. In conjunction with the Quinton van der Burgh Foundation, you have donated a portion of the proceeds to building boreholes throughout the country. Also, between 2018 and now, you succeeded in helping more than 200,000 people gain access to clean drinking water. Is this gesture only for South Africans? Are there other African countries already benefiting from this initiative, or are plans underway for that to happen?
— About 12 years ago, Generosity Water was formed in the States. It was a foundation. I sort of progressed to taking that model into Africa, South Africa. It’s been in Haiti, India, worldwide. But more so in South Africa. We’ve concentrated heavily on schools. To uplift schools because sanitation and water are not there in our schools, and government assistance hasn’t been there either. So I took it upon myself.
I’m self-funded as a foundation. I do not look or seek money from anybody because I’m highly passionate about it. I’m extremely passionate about change. I see the flaws in the government, and I see the flaws in what has not been provided to the people. And for me, as a South African being brought up the way I am, I just want to make as much impact as I can before I depart from this world and hopefully leave a legacy that I can extend. If I die, I hope that my foundation will continue for the next 25 years doing good work, and that’s what I have put in place to fund to make sure that it continues. We are helping families come out of financial debts by giving them financial advice and helping them pay their debts off. We are also helping schools and orphanages.
Pretty much half of my life goes towards thinking about how to change other people’s lives. And the most important thing for me is when people get to a similar level of business, check to know if it is about greed. What are you doing with that money, and what impact can you make for your society around you? That is what counts. It’s not about the cars or clients or houses that you own. It’s really about what you’re doing to impact your country’s society positively.
There’s a lot of good people around the world doing that, you know. I think many people are passionate about it.
— You recently launched a coffee table book, “100 Making a Difference,” where you spotlighted over a hundred globally renowned celebrities, including Serena Williams, Dwain Johnson, Usher, Oprah Winfrey and many others, who are actively contributing to charitable causes on the international stage. What inspired that book and what is the long-term goal you hope to achieve with it?
— The book is, actually, a brainchild of a guy called John Russo, a world-renowned photographer who only shoots A-list celebrities. I’ve known John for some time. He came to me when the book was still in concept, basically conceptualizing what he would do with that and I wanted to partner with him. I want to be remembered for having South Africa or Africa as a reach for the foundation and having a global reach, and leaving a legacy for global impact.
And so, we got into this seven years later. Russo shot every single person in that book firsthand. You know, we’ve got 143 foundations, with probably 70, or 80 of the biggest names in the world, A-listers. Firstly it’s a coffee table book, something you can put out there and be proud of. But it’s 100-percent foundation driven. So, in other words, every single cent from purchases of this book goes towards those 143 foundations’ support. We’re doing this work to bring attention to global foundation or philanthropy work, like Ronaldo, for instance. Everyone’s got their foundation. Everyone’s passionate about it. But how many people knew that half these people ran these foundations? So we are bringing a voice to it, one that brings credibility. And I think the social reach of the people in the book is 1.6 billion. So I think that pretty much the entire social media platform is in that book if we can get that reach.
The more people who buy that book, the more money is going towards good causes that will be spread amongst these 143 foundations. And for me, I’m very proud to have put my time, money and effort into making sure that that was a global success.
We’ve done a soft launch. We’re waiting for the hard copies to be released in the next coming weeks. Once that is, and even COVID-19 lifts, we’ll be doing some pretty large launches around the world next year. And we’ll be getting involved with a lot of these celebrities firsthand to make sure that they bring the voice, as well, to the book and to the foundations.
— We found you to be interested in the progress and self-advancement of young South Africans. You believe youth is the future and you do what you can to support them. Recently, your company offered a Johannesburg home to Bright Hlongwane, an ambitious young entrepreneur. He was looking to relocate to Johannesburg. We find that quite inspiring. To what length do you want to go for the South African youth?
— The old generation or the generation from my era or after still has a systemic issue that will not go away anytime soon. And I think the only way you’re going to rebuild this country is for us to be united. And that messaging will come from the youth, who are the future leaders of this country.
So, as a white South African, I want to positively bring that messaging to say we all want to work together or need to work together. We need to quickly forget about fighting and going on past aspects for which none of us are to be blamed today.
Unfortunately, in Africa, especially South Africa, unemployment is not going to be an easy fix because the unemployment rate in South Africa ranks as the highest in the world. Something we’re not going to just get away from.
And people need to understand that and then each understands its economics before they can start judging it and questioning it and start blaming somebody for it. And obviously, who is the natural person to blame is the Old South Africans that ran the country. So you know, I’m really trying to develop and bring that positive energy back into the youth. And obviously, people that take this country, and hopefully change what is systematically wrong right now. Something that I cannot fix. Something that no one can fix right now.
I think it’s going to take 10, 20, 30 years for that to change progressively. And when it does, hopefully, the people would be helping with the messaging that is positive and upliftment of youngsters and young people in this country. To promote education on a world platform, not just a South African or African platform, young people could scale themselves in competing in international markets. I think I’m very passionate about that. So that’s why I’m focusing heavily on schools, education, and financial distress because that’s the three areas that I believe need help right now. And yes, that’s all I can try and do. I’m one person. I’ve got a support channel with my company behind me. Still, I’m saying that to one person that I’m trying to do what I can in my space, you know, and try and bring that messaging to other people to do the same thing, hopefully.
— In the global market, not everyone has entirely accepted cryptocurrency, given its volatility. Are there statistics that show that your crypto brand, AXIA Coin, has had a steady sail since its inception and what major headwinds have you been able to surmount?
— So, we launched about two months ago. I’d say it’s more of a soft launch in my opinion. AXIA is not a cryptocurrency alone. It’s a currency that is competing against the dollar and other world currencies. More so, hyper deflationary, which means there will be a finite supply, which means it’s always going to increase in value.
So we burned the actual access coins and anything that will be used as interest or charges and otherwise. People can bank you in AXIA. You can utilize this money anywhere in the world. It’s not crypto that is hard to trade or hard to transact like Bitcoin. You know, Bitcoin is a store of value alone. In my opinion, it is very difficult to use.
In my opinion, we are building out a massive platform. It is multi-tiered. It’s an entire ecosystem that we are building, like a normal world economy like you see today in Africa and globally, and we’re doing it from the ground.
So it’s going to be an interesting journey to follow. It is truly unique in its design, enabling users to make money over a period of time. It is truly rewarding to the individual because of its no charges from tier to tier. So if I transfer to you, there are no charges. It’s extremely safe to transact. You get a bank card. You can spend it anywhere in the world, dollar, pound, euro. In Nigeria, wherever you are, you can spend your money.
It is designed like an institutional bank today, but within its back is a decentralized cryptocurrency with all its value curves. You have the browser, monetary rewards, and you have a dozen things that AXIA does that no one else does. So combine what you know of the natural world today. We’ve got everything you can imagine from a financial point of view, plus rewards, applications, our emailing system and our integration.
— How does a layman get to use the AXIA Coin? Do people have to download an app or contact an agent to connect them?
— So basically, it’s a straightforward process. You visit axiacoin.org or go to AXIA capital bank to open up a bank account and do your certification, which is a straightforward process. From there, you transfer your money from your existing bank account to AXIA, and you can utilize it any way you please.
It’s easy to subscribe, and you get your bank card given to you wherever you are in the world. We will send you a bank card, and you can spend your money freely as you wish. You also get 12-percent interest rates in our bank, which is not heard of anywhere else. It’s an offshore jurisdiction, which is helpful to people that are trying to put some money away for a rainy day or otherwise. And it’s fascinating about how many values you earn just by banking, with the bank, and how many different applications you can use to advance your life daily.
It’s not a quick fix. It’s going to be a slow “progresser,” but one that you want to get in early because you will look back at it a couple of years later. It is going to be one of those things going up in value because we’re asset-backed.
At the moment, we’re sitting with a $30-billion asset backing launch. This means our currency holds weight, holds value, and holds an actual concentric value that people can say, “Oh, okay, it’s not just imaginary money.” It’s something that you can hold on to.
The more businesses we acquire, the more applications that grow, the more people who join the ecosystem and spend on their credit cards, all that money gets earned for the individual.
So yes, it’s hard for the layman to understand that because they’re looking like, “I don’t understand digital. I don’t understand what crypto is. I don’t understand what to do with it.” You don’t have to. Just put your money in a bank, spend it how you want and get a little reward on the back of it. Simple!
The layman’s simple explanation is that I can put my money into cold storage, it’s safe, and it’s protected. I then get a bank card, switch on my computer, see my bank balance. If it’s $1,000, or $5,000, or $50,000, it doesn’t matter. And I’m able to spend it wherever I like as long as I’ve got a tap and go, where I’ve got a transactional Visa card station that I can use it on. It’s easy to use.
So that’s the point. Everybody wants to access, see and touch. And I want to be able to do what I want with it right at any given time.
Cryptos, in general, are just challenging to transact because you got to go to wallets. You got to go through specific elements of trying to trade it. But with AXIA, it is very different. It’s like a regular bank.
