Transaction Capital resulted from the confluence of three major businesses and five established entrepreneurs.  Notable features of the Group's history and medium term future are described below.

Jonathan Jawno, Michael Mendelowitz and Roberto Rossi

Stratvest, Nisela and ABIL

In 1995 Jonathan Jawno and Michael Mendelowitz co-founded financial services entity Stratvest.  In 1997, African Bank Investments Limited (ABIL), then Theta Financial Services Limited, acquired 50% of Stratvest.  It was this relationship that led to the formation of Nisela Growth Investments (Nisela), the private equity entity, which played a key role in identifying and implementing growth strategies within ABIL.  Jonathan and Michael held the position of joint CEOs of Nisela.  During the course of 2002, as the core assets of Nisela began to achieve scale, a decision was taken to integrate those assets into African Bank Ltd.

Shortly after the formation of Nisela Rob became involved with ABIL.

MCG, Nisela and ABIL

In 1991, Rob Rossi founded Miners Credit Guarantee (MCG) to provide credit card type facilities to mine workers.  MCG acted as a credit provider between retailers and Teba Bank until 1998, developing a network of over 300 retailers serving 150 000 clients.  In 1999 Nisela acquired a 50% stake in MCG when Rob assumed executive roles at MCG and Nisela and was subsequently responsible for the establishment, acquisition, growth and operations of several of the businesses owned by ABIL.  During 2003 MCG was integrated into African Bank Ltd and Rob sold his remaining shares in MCG to African Bank Ltd.

Post ABIL

The relationship between Michael, Jonathan and Rob strengthened during their time at ABIL and in 2003, following the successful integration of the Nisela assets into African Bank Limited they left ABIL. In partnership they acquired collections business MBD Holdings (Pty) Ltd (MBD), fledgling SA Taxi Finance (Pty) Limited (SA Taxi Finance), Credit Management Solutions Group (Pty) Limited (CMS), and credit consulting business Process Integration Consulting Solutions Pty Limited (PIC Solutions). 

Kanderlane

The Kanderlane Group

In 1999 Steven Kark co-founded the Kanderlane Group, which as ATM Solutions, grew to be the regional leader in independent payment services with the largest sub-Saharan network of ATMs.  Under Steven's leadership, ATM Solutions established an impressive growth record, winning the KPMG Unlisted Company of the Year Award in 2003 and attracting an investment by the private equity group Ethos in 2006.  In recent years the Kanderlane Group expanded into other payment services businesses notably DrawCard (Pty) Limited, a prepaid card solutions provider, EFTPOS (Pty) Ltd, a merchant card acquiring provider and BDB Data Bureau Pty Limited, an EFT bureau.

Transaction Capital

Beginnings

In 2006 the assets acquired by Michael, Jonathan and Rob merged with the Kanderlane Group to form Transaction Capital with Jonathan, Michael, Rob, Steven and Ethos owning 90% of the shares.

Under Steven Kark's leadership Transaction Capital entered the first phase of its development, during which operating performance, the strengthening of management, and the rationalization of underperforming assets took precedence over the establishment of substantive group structures, practices or plans.

Mark Lamberti's introduction

During this period the shareholders reached the conclusion that Transaction Capital's next stage of development would require the experience of an individual who had led a large public company.  In late 2007 they approached Mark Lamberti, a B Com, MBA, PPL graduate, and the founder, non-executive chairman and erstwhile CEO of Massmart Limited, who had earned extensive public company experience and recognition during his business career.

Mark became an investor in Transaction Capital and was appointed Chairman of the Board and CEO in July 2008.  In March 2010, he handed over the chairmanship of the Board to Christopher Seabrooke, thereby splitting the roles of Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board (in accordance with best governance practices).