Johan du Preez, Impact Investor, on Blending Giving and Investments to Tackle Poverty (Ep. 146)

Jul 7, 2025

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Johan du Preez is a seasoned South African entrepreneur and investor, and the Founder of SAAD Investment Holdings and the Tree of Life Foundation. Johan began his career path as a pharmacist in his early twenties and spent many years managing pharmacies that needed major turnaround. He then became the CEO of a large healthcare organization before the Spirit led him to start his investment company with a focus on impacting the Kingdom of God.

Johan brings a unique perspective as a faith-driven leader who channels private equity investment returns into longterm, sustainable generosity through an investment firm contained within a charitable foundation. From leading major corporate turnarounds to pioneering innovative giving platforms in South Africa, Johan’s life and work exemplify the intersection of strategic investing and radical generosity.

Major topics include:

Johan’s early life and faith background
How becoming a pharmacist laid the foundations for what he does today
Integrating faith into business and money management
Strategically operating from the spirit realm in money and business
Realizing that money can help build God’s kingdom
The story of SAAD and the Tree of Life Foundation
What it looks like to let God own your business
Transitioning from health care insurance to financial services
The difference between working with God and letting God work through you
Taking risks in Kingdom business
Depending on God when you don’t know what you’re doing
Investments that make an impact through business
Weighing “return first” and “impact first” investing
Using charitable capital through a donor advised fund
The beauty of collective giving
Thinking through investing versus giving
How to leverage all that you have to be a part of what God’s doing

QUOTES TO REMEMBER

“There’s only one way to be strategic, that is to operate in the spiritual realm. Otherwise, you are just reactive and tactical.”
“The eternal perspective is ultimately the one that saves you.”
“For God to work through you, you have to be dead.”
“When you involve God in your business and make it His business and say, ‘I’m just here to work for You,’ then you actually complicate it to a large extent because you had better make sure that you know what the Shareholder wants.”
“God is more interested in the character of the individuals that are involved in the company than about the results at the end of the day.”
“We are called to take risks for the Kingdom.”
“The best decisions I’ve ever made were based on what I did not know.”
“Collaboration is everyone exchanging their personal dreams for one larger dream.”

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