About us

Management Team

Spice has assembled a highly experienced management team, including the co-founders of Citadel, among others, bringing to bear decades of accumulated knowledge in telecoms services and infrastructure, entrepreneurial skills in launching start-up companies, sales and marketing know-how in managing direct sales teams as well as reseller channels, and skills in successfully growing business into market leading enterprises

Spice's senior management team members are:

Mr. Wikus Marais (Chief Executive Officer)

Mr. Wikus Marais is an economist and expert on business strategy and innovation. He is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer and is involved daily in overall strategy, market positioning, strategic and operational alliances and financing alternatives. From 1991 to 2006, he was the main driver of the business strategies and client services that took Citadel from a small business to one of the most influential wealth management businesses in South Africa. He developed unique financial planning tools to support original financial planning strategies that could only be implemented if supported by his groundbreaking fee-based client service and sales structures. Between 1982 and 1990, Mr. Marais worked as an economist for stockbrokers George Huysamer and Partners (1989 and 1990), United Building Society (1987 and 1988) and the South African Reserve Bank (1982 to 1986). During this time, he also completed a full-time Masters in Philosophy degree with a major in economics at Cambridge University as the Old Mutual/Nedbank Scholarship Competition winner (1987). Mr. Marais also has a Masters in Commerce (1986) and an Honours Bachelor in Commerce (1984) degree in economics from Pretoria University. From 1979 to 1981, he completed his Bachelor in Commerce degree at Pretoria University.

Mr. Quintus Marais (Chief Operating Officer)

Mr. Quintus Marais is a co-founder of Spice and is responsible for day to day operations at the company. He is an expert in business processes and computer systems. Before joining Spice, Mr. Marais founded Tequa Software Partners in 1999, a software consulting and custom software development company. While at Tequa, he also spearheaded the development of Tangint, a web-based "software as a service" accounting system. From 1993 to 1999, Mr. Marais was one of the founding members of Citadel Investment Services, where he was responsible for all information technology systems as well as the information technology support team. Mr. Marais also led the team that developed Citadel's market leading administration and portfolio modelling and management system, named Horizon. Mr. Marais holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a major in Informatics (Commercial Computer Science) from Pretoria University and an honours Bachelor of Commerce degree with a concentration in Economics from Rand Afrikaans University.

Mr. Johan Marais (Chief Sales and Marketing Officer)

Mr. Johan Marais advises Spice on all strategic and operational matters as they relate to marketing initiatives as well as capitalizing alternatives. He is responsible for supervising and establishing a properly equipped sales team, highly focused on procuring the most advantageous business opportunities. Mr Marais is highly experienced in founding and growing start-up companies into significant players in their respective markets. In the early part of the current decade, Mr. Marais participated in growing a number of companies, including: Spellbound, which provides training to corporate employees, and StratAssist, which provides investment advice to high net worth individuals. In 1993, Mr. Marais co-founded Citadel Investment Services ("Citadel"), a financial and wealth management services company, and was responsible for marketing until he left the firm in 1999, just after Peregrine's initial investment in the company. Under his supervision, Citadel built up its investment inflows to more than R200 million per month, a level not seen since his departure. In 1984, Mr. Marais founded Johan Marais Brokers ("JMM"), a company that eventually became Citadel in 1993. JMM was an insurance brokerage and investment advisory firm, which went on to consistently win the top marketing awards, from such prestigious organizations as Old Mutual and Sanlam. From 1982 to 1984, Mr. Marais started his career selling life insurance for Sanlam at age 21. Mr. Marais holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Pretoria.