Jaco Botha

Managing Director
B.Eng (Hons) (Electrical Engineering) (University of Pretoria)

Jaco initially worked at Eskom as a software development engineer, before joining Nanoteq in 1989. At Nanoteq he fulfilled many roles – Project Manager, Director of PC and Network Security and Director of Product Strategy.

In 1999 Jaco led a Management Buy Out of the IP-Granite Technology from Nanoteq. Trispen Technologies was established as a specialist secure communications company to further the development of the IP-Granite product range. Under Jaco’s directorship Trispen has extended IP-Granite’s development scope and market penetration. Furthermore other Internet-security-based products have been added to Trispen’s product portfolio.

Rolf Axmann

Finance and Administration Director
B.Eng (Electrical Engineering) (University of Witwatersrand); MBA (University of Witwatersrand)

Rolf started his career with Eskom managing a Special Projects section, with engineering projects in metering and control. Still with Eskom, he later became an IT systems project manager, involved in implementing large-scale IT projects, such as SAP.

In 1999, he joined Nanoteq as a project manager for the IP-Granite team. Rolf then joined Trispen Technologies as one of the founding members.
Rolf is currently heading up Trispen’s fledgling operation in Australia.

Coen Bester

Non-executive Director
BSc Eng; MBA; Owner-Manager Executive Programme (Harvard)

Coen started off his career as a lecturer in Electronics Engineering at the University of Pretoria. During this period he got his first taste of high tech start-ups through his involvement with LGI (Pty) Ltd and its evolution towards Technotron (Pty) Ltd. In 1983 he moved to Armscor where he was divisional manager responsible for the defence industry’s Technology Management Portfolio.

He got involved in his first startup company, Lambda Technology (Pty) Ltd as marketing director and key shareholder in 1988. In 1989 he founded DataFusion Systems (Pty) Ltd to address the voice technology market.
Coen founded BrainWorks (Pty) Ltd in July 1999. BrainWorks is a venture capital and management skills mentor company, specifically focused on “high-tech” organisations.

Coen joined Trispen’s board of directors in 2006.

Rowan Williams

Non-executive Director
MPhil (Cambridge University); BSc (University of Witwatersrand)

Rowan represents the iCapital Growth Fund on the Trispen board and assists Trispen with strategic, operational and organisational advice.
Icapital is a South African private equity firm that holds a 30% share in Trispen Technologies.

Rowan is also a member of the South African Venture Capital Association (SAVCA) executive committee and is chairman of the Technical Subcommittee.