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Exactech In the News

It is not easy for a company to get featured in the press, be it radio, TV, magazines or newspapers.

Here we list the exposure that has been given to Exactech over the past few years for which we are most grateful.

2012 - Success Stories - Exactech: Antonio Pooe

Antonio Pooe Exactech

Keeping expenses down is critical for all businesses, and has been a contributor to the growth of cyber forensics company, Exactech.

With a strong belief in what he was doing, Antonio Pooe, the owner of Exactech Fraud Solutions, pursued his long-term vision for the business without allowing factors such as no funding compromise his dream.

“For the first eight months, we didn’t make a cent,” explains Antonio. His focus in the first two years was on educating the market, creating a need and filling it. He applied for financing through the banks, but was unsuccessful. Antonio knew he had to keep operating costs down in order to survive and plan at least 24 months ahead to keep the business afloat. “I knew that any money I got had to be used to grow the business. I couldn’t go out and buy a Ferrari.”

Antonio started as a one man show, and has hired people as the business has grown. He only has the full-time employees he needs and calls in consultants when necessary. He believes in hiring the right people for his team who share his values and passion.

“It is important for businesses to start small and grow,” says Antonio explaining that the prize money he won through the SAB Kick Start programme all went to buying machinery for his lab. The lab took around two years to build, as he bought bits and pieces as and when money flowed into the business. “Only spend money on what you need. It might be great to have a flashy office, but I’ll keep three chairs, and until I need that fourth chair, I’m not going to buy it.” Source: Entrepreneur Magazine

2011 - Zeal against fraud lands Antonio in the News

UNISA's student newsletter, Inspired, published an article on Antonio in their Volume 7, number 2 November 2011 issue. To download the article please click here

Antonio Pooe Exactech - UNISA

2011 - Businessmen heed Gordhan’s praises

Small business owners who received a special mention during Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s Budget speech all plan to grow their businesses.

In his speech, Gordhan described Mlondolozi Khosi, Antonio Pooe and Norman Mpedi, as inspiring small business owners.

Pooe started Exactech Fraud Solutions in 2007 as a business operating from his home. He has since grown it to a company with offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, employing 24 people.

“The recognition by minister Gordhan shows I am doing something right. I have always wanted to make something happen, and the idea of being employed was not how I was going to make things happen,” said Pooe.

Exactech is a computer forensic firm which provides fraud risk assessment measures for companies.

Pooe, who is completing a PhD in Informatics, said his plan was “to have an international footprint”. He won an SAB small business owner competition last year.

2010 - SAB Ultimate Kickstart Winner

WINNER: Antonio Pooe Company: Exactech Fraud Solutions Nature of the business: Digital forensic services & fraud risk management SAB KickStart Class of 2007 Website: http://www.exactech-fraud-solutions.com/

There are a tiny handful of companies in South Africa providing specialised computer forensic services - and Antonio Pooe's is one of them.

"At Exactech Fraud Solutions, we help organisations detect and investigate digital crimes, we chase hackers and viruses and we recover deleted data," says Pooe. The company also helps its clients prevent fraud by putting appropriate risk-management services in place.

It's a long journey from the streets of Sebokeng, one of South Africa's largest townships where Pooe grew up, but one he appears to have made with ease and grace. After graduating with an IT diploma from the Vaal University of Technology, he initially worked at Ernst & Young as the manager responsible for their computer forensic business. He developed his interest in IT security further as a senior technologist at Standard Bank, before completing a Masters degree in Information Systems and Technology Management at the University of Johannesburg. He is now pursuing a PhD in Informatics through the University of South Africa, in the area of Digital Forensics.

Pooe's credentials are impressive: he served for two years on the board of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE SA) and has worked with local and international law enforcement agencies, attorneys and corporations, in the fight against fraud. He is a sought-after speaker at local and international conferences and training courses, and holds certifications from prestigious institutions locally and abroad.

Pooe began planning his business while he was still studying. "I started from ground zero with nothing more than an idea," he explains. "The challenge was to put together a working plan on how I would move my concept into reality. Not only that, but I had to think about where I would get the funds to build a basic forensic technology lab. The next challenge was to develop a marketing strategy to convince big corporations that this young business could deliver and compete in the same space as the giant auditing and legal firms."

His motivation for entering the SAB KickStart competition was financial, says Pooe. "I entered purely to raise capital to buy basic tools for the forensic lab. Failure was not an option - I had to win as I needed the money."

The dream came true - Pooe used an initial SAB KickStart grant of R90,000 and the additional R150,000 he won in the national competition to equip his forensic lab. But cash was not the only benefit, he notes: "SAB KickStart had a big impact on my business. It made it possible for me to form networks with like-minded youth who wanted to make a difference. Three years later, I'm still in touch with many of my SAB KickStart group members."

The media attention he received as a SAB KickStart winner was another benefit, and Pooe did several radio, TV and magazine interviews that helped to raise Exactech's profile.

Exactech is now growing steadily and is well on its way to being a national business, with offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal. There are international clients too, and Pooe intends to establish a presence in other African cities in the future. Exactech also recently added a fraud hotline service (Be HeardT) to its portfolio, acquiring a stake in a Durban-based contact centre solution provider.

"SAB KickStart is about making a real change in the community by empowering the youth," concludes Pooe. "They are doing that very well."

2009 - South Africa: Supporting Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment

KickStart is one of the ways SAB Ltd supports Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE), the policy for distributing wealth more fairly across a broad spectrum of South African society. The programme seeks to promote business awareness and develop a culture of entrepreneurship among young people through training, providing grants as start-up capital and mentoring and assistance during the set-up phase.

Antonio Pooe entered the KickStart competition in 2007, won a regional grant in Egoli and then went on to win approximately US$17,000 more as a runner-up in the national competition. An expert in fraud detection, he used his grant to start Exatech, a niche company specialising in fraud prevention, detection and computer forensics.

Exactech is growing and now employs four full-time and four part-time members of staff. Aside from the monetary award, Antonio found that KickStart encouraged him to go it alone after a tough year trying to break into the market.

2008 - New breed of entrepreneur; KickStart awards for those with the right kind of spirit

Equipped with determination, experience in computer forensic investigations and his retirement savings, Antonio Pooe founded his hi-tech fraud detection company Exactech in May last year.

Barely a year-and-a-half later, the 29-year-old man from Sebokeng in the Vaal has the world at his feet.

His acumen earned him a R150 000 second prize and praise at the annual SAB KickStart awards this week. The KickStart programme, funded by SA Breweries, is aimed at enabling previously disadvantaged people aged between 18 and 35 to grow their own businesses

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