Meet the team

 

André Sturmer - Joint Managing Director

• André Stürmer was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He holds a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Freiburg, and an MBA from the IESE Business School in Barcelona
• André joined JPMorgan in London in 2000 and worked for 3 years in the Debt Capital Markets division, raising bonds and loans for corporate borrowers across the ratings spectrum
• After completing his bilingual MBA in 2005 he lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for one year, working for the largest domestic management consulting firm
• Upon his return to South Africa in 2006, André re-joined JPMorgan to drive the expansion of the Sub-Saharan Africa Debt Capital Markets and Derivatives franchise. In those 2.5 years with JPMorgan, André worked with a very broad spectrum of borrowers, from the government and parastatals to large corporates and financial institutions, offering a complete range of financing and derivative solutions
• André is Managing Director of TriVest and is a Joint Managing Director at Solsquare

 

Niels von Hase - Joint Managing Director

• Niels von Hase was born in Windhoek, Namibia. He obtained a Master's degree in Commerce (Accounting) and an Honours degree in Business Science (Finance) at the University of Cape Town and is a registered Chartered Accountant (SA)
• He commenced his professional career as a lecturer in the subjects of accounting and auditing to graduate students at the University of Cape Town and other tertiary institutions
• Subsequently, he joined KPMG in 2004 and completed his articles contract in the Consumer Products and Industrial Markets business unit gaining insight into a variety of different markets including retail, oil and gas, the listed loan stock property market, advertising, fishing and manufacturing
• He continued his career at KPMG in the Regional Audit business unit where he acted as the engagement manager responsible for the audits of companies including New Clicks Holdings, AVI group subsidiaries (Irvin & Johnson), Safmarine Container Lines (subsidiary of AP Moeller Maersk), Halliburton South Africa, Acucap Properties and Atlas Properties.
• Niels is the Finance Director of TriVest, and also sits on the board of Solsquare as Joint Managing Director

 

Billy de Jong – Chief Technical Officer

• Billy de Jong was born in Phalaborwa, South Africa. He graduated as an electric and electronic engineer from the University of Stellenbosch where he completed his honours in photovoltaic systems and controls in 2007
• After graduating, he worked as a systems engineer at Integrated Seismic Systems International, designing and installing seismic monitoring equipment in the mining arena
• Billy designed an innovative vertical axis wind turbine and all the controlling equipment to manage this turbine as part of his quest to develop new products
• Billy joined Solsquare in March 2011 as the Chief Technical Officer, where his portfolio includes energy audits and small and large scale alternative energy system design, as well as having general oversight over the operations and installations teams.