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Iqbal Survé, one of South Africa's richest men, started in public hospitals on the Cape Flats, working as a medical doctor and, later, as a physician to political prisoners during apartheid. That background — part activism, part medicine — is central to how he still sells his story: the doctor who swapped stethoscopes for term sheets, and set out to build a “socially conscious” conglomerate.
In the late 1990s he moved from clinics to capital. With a small pool of seed money and a handful of partners, he set up what became Sekunjalo Investment Holdings, an investment company aimed at backing black-owned and black-led businesses in post-apartheid South Africa. Over the next two decades, that holding structure fanned out into media, technology, fishing, pharmaceuticals and events, wrapped in a narrative of transformation and inclusive growth.
The numbers have always been bold. Sekunjalo has at various points claimed to control or hold stakes in more than 200 companies, with a portfolio once marketed as being worth several billion dollars. Whether you buy those valuations or not, the group’s footprint is hard to ignore: it owns one of the country’s biggest newspaper stables, a large black-owned ICT investment group, a listed fishing business, and a cluster of healthcare and biotech bets.
That reach has brought attention and controversy in equal measure. Critics have questioned governance at some of the listed entities, the terms under which state money flowed into his tech vehicles, and the use of his media outlets in political battles. Survé, for his part, insists he is building African champions in sectors long dominated by old capital.
Here are eight of the most important businesses he owns.
1. Sekunjalo Investment Holdings (Holding Company)
Everything starts here. Sekunjalo Investment Holdings (often just “Sekunjalo”) is the private vehicle where Survé sits as executive chairman and ultimate decision-maker. The company positions itself as a diversified investment group with interests in media, ICT, fishing, healthcare, financial services and events, and says it has stakes in more than 200 companies and associated investments.
Sekunjalo doesn’t list on a stock exchange; it sits above both listed and unlisted assets. When you see Survé’s name linked to a company, chances are it is held either directly here or through one of Sekunjalo’s major subsidiaries.
2. African Equity Empowerment Investments (AEEI)
For years, African Equity Empowerment Investments (formerly Sekunjalo Investments) was the public face of the group on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Sekunjalo held a controlling stake, using AEEI as the main listed platform for fishing, healthcare, technology and events.
AEEI has since been taken private, but its structure tells you how Survé likes to work: a holding entity with multiple verticals underneath it, from abalone farms and fishing quotas to biotech labs and event organisers.
3. Independent Media
In 2013, a Sekunjalo-led consortium bought a controlling 55% stake in Independent News & Media South Africa (INMSA), the group behind titles such as The Star, Cape Times, Cape Argus, The Mercury, Daily News, Pretoria News, Sunday Tribune, Isolezwe and others.
The deal turned Survé into one of the most powerful media owners in the country almost overnight. It put a large portion of English-language print news in the hands of a single, politically connected businessman, and it signalled his belief that controlling narrative and information flows matters as much as owning factories or fleets.
4. IOL & African News Agency
Print wasn’t enough. Survé’s group also owns Independent Online (IOL), the digital news platform that carries content from the Independent titles and original reporting, and helped keep the group visible as print circulation declined.
Then came African News Agency (ANA) in 2015, a news-wire service created to syndicate African content to local and international outlets. In theory, ANA gives Sekunjalo control of both production and wholesale distribution of news across parts of the continent — a kind of African Reuters, albeit on a much smaller scale.
5. AYO Technology Solutions
If Independent Media made Survé a visible media baron, AYO Technology Solutions made him a lightning rod in the tech and investment world. AYO is billed as one of South Africa’s largest black-owned ICT investment groups, with interests in network infrastructure, security, software and services. Sekunjalo controls a significant majority stake.
AYO’s 2017 listing, and a substantial investment from the Public Investment Corporation (which manages government employee pensions), later became the subject of inquiries into valuation, governance and political influence. For Survé, AYO is both emblematic of his ambition to build big African tech platforms — and the scrutiny that comes with drawing on public capital.
6. Premier Fishing & Brands
Through AEEI, the group controls Premier Fishing & Brands, a vertically integrated fishing company with quotas and operations in lobster, hake, small pelagics, squid and related products. The business owns vessels, factories and cold-storage facilities and has shipped product to markets in Europe and Asia.
In a country where access to marine resources has historically been concentrated, Premier Fishing positioned itself as a black-empowered player, benefiting from post-apartheid quota allocations. It gives Sekunjalo exposure to food, exports and a hard-asset base that looks very different from newspapers and data centres.
7. Bioclones, Genius Biotherapeutics and Pharma Bets
Survé has also pushed into healthcare and biotech. Under the AEEI umbrella sit companies such as Bioclones / Genius Biotherapeutics, Ribotech, Wynberg Pharmaceuticals and Sekpharma, focused on areas ranging from oncology-related research to generics and nutraceuticals.
These entities are much lower profile than Independent Media or AYO, but they fit his long-running narrative about combining medical roots with business. If they scale, they could give Sekunjalo a stake in higher-margin science and healthcare markets; if they don’t, they still illustrate how wide he has cast the net.
8. espAfrika & the Cape Town International Jazz Festival
Through AEEI, Survé’s group owns espAfrika, the events company best known for staging the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, once marketed as “Africa’s Grandest Gathering”.
