Amanda Du Pont and entrepreneur Zareef Minty join board of UAE FinTech company StartX

For celebrated Swazi-born South African television actress Amanda Du Pont and Johannesburg entrepreneur Zareef Minty, good looks, education and popularity are not merely enough to move up the ladder in the world of business.

Hard work and serious international networking have just landed Du Pont and Minty, plum executive positions with United Arab Emirates (UAE) based FinTech company StartX, with founder and chairman Arash Razaei having appointed the two as CEO and COO respectively.

Said Razaei of the two key appointments at StartX: “Amanda is simply incredible.
“She has all the characteristics needed to be the CEO, while Zareef has years of experience under his belt at such a young age – appointing him as COO, just made business sense.”

Asked by The Citizen to reflect on their appointments to StartX, Du Pont and Minty said they were “honoured”.

“I love the vision of StartX and I know that it will positively impact the lives of millions.
“It’s an absolute honour to be a part of something this meaningful,” said Minty.

In announcing the company’s new mobile application, Du Pont said: “Our innovative platform will provide services that use technology to provide financial services and investment opportunities to businesses and consumers using the app.”

Du Pont and Minty have just returned from a trip in the UAE, where they met with various stakeholders in the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The platform allows entrepreneurs to list their ventures or concepts, while the algorithm finds the perfect funding partner for a specific business.

According to Minty, once a funding partner is found, the platform assists entrepreneurs with structuring all their documents to be investment-ready and be presented to a funding partner.

Headquartered in the UAE, the company will soon launch subsidiary offices in South Africa.

Actress, model and television host Du Pont is known for her portrayal of Senna in the CW drama series Life is Wild and as Sharon in the SABC 3 comedy-drama Taryn &Sharon.

Also known for her role as Nompumelelo “Lelo” Mthiyane in the SABC 1 soap opera Skeem Saam, Du Pont currently stars in the Netflix thriller series Shadow.

Born of a French, Italian, Portuguese and Swazi ancestry, Du Pont was awarded a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the South African School of Motion Picture and Live Performance in Johannesburg.

The next year, she graduated from the New York Film Academy in New York City.

Serving on various company boards, Minty – a motivational speaker and author – became the youngest director to sit on the multibillion-rand Afribiz board.

An LLB graduate from Wits University, he was honoured by Forbes as 30 under 30 list-maker, made the Mail & Guardian’s Top 200 list and won the title of One Day Leader Season 4.

With over 22,000 followers on Instagram (@iamzareefminty), where he shares daily motivational content and entrepreneurship tips to help the youth, Minty is the author of Empire – a self-help motivational book.

brians@citizen.co.za

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