Richard Willis completed degrees in accounting and commerce at the University of Stellenbosch and Cape Town and served articles at Deloitte and Touche in Cape Town, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1994.

Richard was transferred to Deloitte & Touche in Bermuda on a two year contract to work in the insurance and reinsurance industry that Bermuda is well known for. Richard then transferred to an affiliate of Deloitte & Touche called Rawlinson & Hunter, a global professional tax and financial advisory business for high net-worth individuals, based in the British Virgin Islands for five years.

It was there that Richard and Clive met, establishing a joint venture of international investment funds for Melville Douglas International.

In 2000, Richard returned to South Africa to join Melville Douglas, a private client asset management business for high net-worth individuals, to run the offshore business. Richard assumed numerous roles within Melville Douglas and Standard Private Bank, which acquired Melville Douglas in 2001, and went on to fulfill the role of Chief Operating Officer of Standard Private Bank.

Later in 2006 Richard joined Virgin Money, a startup consumer lending business and part of the Virgin Global empire, as Financial Director. Richard fulfilled a key role in building the Virgin Money balance sheet of credit card assets worth in excess of R1 billion and a market share of 2% within a year of start up. Richard left Virgin Money in October 2007 to rejoin Clive Douglas at Douglas Investments as Chief Operating Officer. Richard was very active in developing the PGM Investment Programme with Anglo American Platinum Limited, and currently sits on the Board of Directors and Portfolio Committees of a number of listed companies.

B Comm Accounting – University of Stellenbosch – 1988-1990

Post Graduate Diploma in Accounting – University of Cape Town – 1991

Articles – Deloitte – 1992 – 1994

CA (SA) - 1995

Financial Services, Wealth and Investment Management, Private Equity

Private Client Portfolio Management, Wealth Planning, Private Equity, Finance, Risk and Compliance