Oppies Opperman: Farmer to Business Coordinator With a Tech Twist
- Entrepreneur
Danielle
- 2
- 5 minutes read
Oppies Opperman:
Strategic Business Coordination & Technology Consulting
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Oppies Opperman’s forward thinking and visionary nature makes him an aspiring “Nobel Prize
Winner” in the eyes of his colleagues. “I was always a pioneer in a lot of stuff. I was always the first –
maybe twenty years in front of time, or twenty years too late – but that makes life interesting,” says
Oppies.
Starting in 1985 as a commercial farmer on his father’s farm in Limpopo, Oppies recognized the need for cash flow in businesses. This enticed his strategic mindset, which later led to him being one of the first microlenders that was not part of a franchise.
Oppies ventured further into microfinance by writing the first report on the impact that microfinance has on South African consumers for Piet Du Plessis Business School in 1995. He finally transitioned from farming to microfinance in 1996, when he founded the Microlenders Association, known today as Micro Finance South Africa.
Some of his other career highlights include contributing to the formation of the National Credit Regulator, the National Credit Act, NAEDO- (Non-Authenticated Early Debit Order) and AEDO (Authenticated Early Debit Order) Systems, as well as being one of the founding members of FioX. Additionally, he conducted the first point-of-sales transaction in the microfinance industry and the first offline smartcard transaction.
His passion for technology, especially the use of payment systems, evolved as he continued his pioneering journey. With all these accomplishments in mind, he says his proudest does not stem from his career. “I am most proud that I know my Savior. I believe I can move a mountain, when I have my Savior on my
side.”
Looking back on his career, Oppies would not do anything differently. “I will probably make the same
mistakes. The only way you learn is by making mistakes and trying to fix those mistakes. I would still
encourage every young entrepreneur to go and study,” he says.
He is furthermore a firm believer that an entrepreneur’s success can be determined by two aspects; the first being “connecting their skillset with the correct people”. Secondly, he believes that “you need to dream and play”.
Despite mastering these two determining aspects Oppies emphasizes that an entrepreneur’s success
will never be guaranteed. “Do not think that everything you are going to touch is going to turn into
gold. You are going to make mistakes,” says Oppies.
He keeps his entrepreneurial spirit thriving by utilizing his knack for problem solving, and acknowledging that all his ideas do not necessarily need to be unique. He says, “A lot of the ideas that I have are not unique but I need to solve a problem.”
In his latest business venture, FioX, Oppies aims to use technological payment systems to conquer capital challenges in the entrepreneurial sphere. This venture is fueled by his mission to help others, as he concludes, “I would like to be remembered for helping somebody.”
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Oppies will change the Tech world forever!