Key Management
Christo du Plessis – Managing Director
Christo du Plessis
Christo joined Abagold in 2003 as Financial Manager, and was appointed MD in 2006.
Christo obtained his B. Accounting degree in 1992 through the University of Stellenbosch, and B. Compt (Hons) through UNISA in 1993. After passing his Board Exam in 1994 he completed his articles with PwC and continued working for them in Cambridge, UK until 1997. He returned to SA in 1998 and worked as Financial Manager and Project Accountant at Blue Chip companies in Cape Town before joining Abagold. He currently also serves as Chairperson of Amanzi Biosecurity, a section 21 company providing veterinary health services to the aquaculture industry.
Christiaan de Wet – Engineering Manager
Christiaan de Wet
Following several years of working in the UK and USA, Christiaan returned to South Africa in 2006 to join Abagold as Engineering Manager.
Christiaan completed his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1996, after which he started his career at Volkswagen where he developed and launched VWSA approved climate control systems. He joined Ford Motor Company in the UK as a senior thermal and aerodynamics systems engineer, after which he was employed by Visteon Corporation in Plymouth, MI, USA, as a HVAC Design Engineer.
Johan Hugo – Financial Manager
Johan Hugo
Johan joined Abagold as Financial Manager and Company Secretary in 2006
Having finished his B Accounting (Hons) in 2001 at Stellenbosch University, Johan started his career at KPMG. As a senior accountant, his audit clients included Old Mutual, Prescient Investment Management, Sanlam, Sterling Alliance Group, Bank Fin, Nedcor Limited and the Western Cape Provincial Department of Housing. His next career move was as a Group Accountant for Afrifresh, a fruit export company, before joining Abagold.
Stoffel van Dyk – Operations Manager
Stoffel van Dyk
Stoffel was appointed Operation Manager in 2006 and is responsible for operations on all three of the Abagold Farms; Sea View, Bergsig and Amaza.
Having received his B.Sc. Agric in 1996, followed by his Hons.B.Sc. Agric in 1997 at the University of Stellenbosch, Stoffel joined a animal production research and farm technology laboratory at University of Leuven (Belgium) in 1998, whereafter he worked at Rainbow Farms.
Werner Piek – Processing Manager
Werner Piek
Werner joined Abagold in 2006 to head up the new processing plant
After studying food technology at the Cape Technikon, Werner started his career in the fresh fruit industry as a quality assessor at PPECB. In 2000 he became involved with an internet start-up company marketing fresh fruit on the internet. He was one of the founder directors of FairTrade South Africa (FTSA) and served 2 years as Chairperson on the FTSA trust. During this time he was a representative for Southern Africa on the African Fairtrade Network (AFN). He currently serves as one of the directors on the Farmed Abalone Exporters Council (FAEC) board.
Dr. Willem Burger – Marketing Manager
Dr. Willem Burger
Willem joined Abagold in March 2009 as head of the Marketing Department.
After completion of his B.Sc. (Agric) degree at Stellenbosch, Willem furthered his studies and obtained his B.V.Sc (Veterinary Science) degree at Onderstepoort in 1990 and later completed programmes in Executive development and Senior Management.
During his career in the research division of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, and thereafter as head of Research and Development at Klein Karoo International (Pty) Ltd, he also chaired in several organisasions (Director of SAOBC; Chairman of NOPSA; Establishing and Chairman of SAOBC).
