Romeo loves alternative investments
LUYOLO MKENTANE
AYOUNG entrepreneur is on a crusade to present lucrative financial markets as the answer to South Africa’s high unemployment scourge, now at 26.7%.
Romeo Hadebe says his mission is to provide alternative investment opportunities for investors seeking to diversify their portfolios and gain exposure to high-risk, high-return assets from a research-informed position.
The 27-year-old founder and chief executive of Caps Wealth and Investments says his company offers high-risk investment opportunities on the short-to-medium term through a range of products.
The licensed JP Markets trader and portfolio manager established his company in 2014, specifically to explore alternatives in the investment market.
He says he has always been intrigued as to why the price of commodities such as gold and crude oil constantly went up and down.
“I just loved economics and how firms make decisions, the law of supply and demand, etc,” says Hadebe, who graduated with a Bcom in finance and economics from the University of Kwazulunatal (UKZN) in 2013.
He went to Johannesburg and worked at a call centre, selling short-term insurance for Mutual & Federal.
But after four months he resigned, feeling that he was overqualified for the job as most of his colleagues only had matric as a highest qualification.
He took up a job at Sanlam as a financial planner but soon got frustrated because he was not making any investment decisions.
In 2014, Hadebe joined GT247. com, a career move that steered him towards starting his own company later in the year, CAPS Wealth and Investments.
“I wanted to educate and train people on how to trade the financial markets. I saw a gap in the market. We have taught more than 2 000 people across the country, who have gone on to become multi-millionaires and esteemed businesspeople,” says Hadebe.
Before starting the company, Hadebe worked for brokerage firm GT247 as financial planner where he says he helped clients trade in the financial markets.
He describes GT247 as a onestop-shop specialising in shares, indices and forex trading.
“It was like a dream come true for me because I could hear the older guys in the company speaking the language of The Wolf of Wall Street with clients,” says Hadebe, who holds a national certificate in wealth management from the Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority, among other educational qualifications.
It has been a long way for Hadebe who was raised by his single mother in Mpumalanga township in Kwazulu-natal.
Hadebe says his mother, who passed away while he was writing his matric examinations in 2009, was more than an inspiration for him as she juggled her work as a businesswoman who ran a spaza shop, sold imported clothing brands in the township and was a small-time lender.
“She gave me tough love. She taught me at an early age what it is to be responsible,” remembers Hadebe, who sold sweets, watches and perfumes at school.
“She wanted me to study commerce but all I wanted was to become a chemical engineer.”
He says he turned to commerce after his late application to study engineering was turned down by UKZN.
He believes in conducting business with integrity, saying: “We don’t sell people dreams. We are realistic in our approach.”
Hadebe, who offers advice on financial market products of derivatives, says the lucrative financial markets are the future.
“The market is out there for us to make a profit. If all the unemployed youth could learn the skill that could give them at least $100 (R1 270) a month, that could go a long way in helping the country alleviate the scourge of unemployment and poverty,” he maintains.