The Southern African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SAVCA) has announced two new appointments to its board of directors.

New SAVCA board members Sonja De Bruyn Sebotsa, Principal Partner at Identity Partners, and Arnold van Wyk, Executive at RMB Corvest, bring over 30 years of financial and private equity experience to the board.

De Bruyn Sebotsa is a co-founder of Identity Capital Partners, a women -led private equity firm.

Its social impact is achieved through Identity Development Fund which primarily invests in black-owned businesses run by women or young entrepreneurs.

She is a former vice-president at Deutsche Bank with positions in the Johannesburg, London and Tokyo offices.
In her previous role as an Executive Director at WDB Investment Holdings, she led acquisitions in companies such as Bidvest, FirstRand and Discovery.

She has 12 years’ board experience and is currently a non-executive director at RMB Holdings and Discovery Group.

Van Wyk joined RMB Corvest in 2013.

The firm provides private equity funding for mid-sized management buyouts, leveraged buyouts, development capital and funded BEE solutions.

He completed his articles at Deloitte and spent a number of years in the firm’s corporate finance division.
Van Wyk joined the FirstRand group in 2003, first as corporate banker at FNB and later as investment banker at RMB, where he specialized in acquisition and leveraged finance.

During his time at RMB, he was instrumental in helping to expand the company’s operations in the rest of Africa, with specific focus on West Africa.

Erika van der Merwe, CEO of SAVCA, said: “We welcome Sonja and Arnold to the board and look forward to the new energy and perspectives that these seasoned finance professionals will bring to our organization.”

SAVCA is the industry body and public policy advocate for private equity and venture capital in South Africa, representing about R160bn ($14.7bn) in assets under management.