Leadership
Growthpoint Properties
I’d always had a passion for property; many of the things we did in the private banking business pivoted on real estate.
It’s important that the sector is growing but the environment it has to operate in must also be conducive to that.
Back in South Africa Estienne completed his stint in the army, obtained a BCom from Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) – now the University of Johannesburg (UJ) – and worked as a business analyst for Eskom from whom he’d received a bursary for his second and third years of study. The years 1995 to 2001 were spent with Investec. “I joined the private bank working on the healthcare finance side. Basically I was selling debt to doctors,” he quips. “I learnt about commercial business, how to run numbers, service debt etc. It was great experience.” It was not long before he was promoted to head up a wealth management team. Estienne qualified as a Chartered Accountant (CA) in 2002, completing his board exams in a single year in 2001. “I was never going to be an auditor; my personality didn’t fit that.” So he undertook his three years of articles attending Investec’s TOPP (Trainee outside of Public Practice) programme. “I think I am the oldest TOPP in the country,” he chuckles. “I came up from Investec’s Pretoria branch to Investec’s Johannesburg branch to do my year of internal audit and it was here that I bumped into Norbert. We played in the same squash league team and became good friends. “Ultimately, he talked me into joining him at Growthpoint. I’d always had a passion for property; many of the things we did in the private banking business pivoted on real estate, so in August 2002 I joined as Financial Manager. “When Growthpoint internalised management in 2007, I assumed the role of Managing Director while Norbert took on the role of CEO. Then we really started doing deals and growing the business. And things went a lot quicker in terms of scaling when we started going offshore. It was a wonderful experience and over the years I've even learned a little bit about property, which is helpful,” he jests.
Industry initiatives Estienne does not do things by halves. Aside from being CEO of Growthpoint SA, he has constantly been involved in industry initiatives. He was involved in negotiating the Property Charter in 2006, the REIT dispensation (successfully completed in 2013) and became President of the South African Property Owners’ Association (SAPOA) that same year. Along the way he also became Chairperson of SAREIT (SA REIT Association), a position he still holds. He also formed and headed up the Property Industry Group in 2020 to help steer the property industry through Covid-19. “The idea is to improve the growth of the sector rather than just worrying about the things that impact it. It’s important that the sector is growing but the environment it has to operate in must also be conducive to that,” he says.. On the national front, he’s currently working on two initiatives. He has taken on the role of Chairman of the Advisory Committee for Asset Management reporting to Minister Macpherson , the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure. “The committee’s objective is to provide advice to the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure on how to improve the running of the government’s property portfolio and letting portfolio.” And he’s advocating to add municipalities to the B4SA (Business for South Africa) initiative with the aim of assisting metros to improve their service delivery, planning and efficiency.
Estienne and Joanne Solomon: CEO of the SA REIT Association with Steve Wechsler: CEO of Nareit, and Peter Verwer: Executive Chairman, Futurefy
Estienne and Norbert Sasse
October 2025 | Issue 141 | Asset Magazine 237
236 Asset Magazine | Issue 141 | October 2025
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