THE TEAM
Your Optomise Partners.
Behind Optomise is a team with deep experience across alternative investments, real estate, private equity, fintech, and corporate finance. People used to building, buying, selling, financing, and scaling. This mix of perspectives is what turns capital into opportunity, and opportunity into growth.
Gadi Cohen
Managing Director I B.Bus.Sci CA(SA)
Gadi brings deep commercial insight and a strong focus on creating real-world outcomes through well-structured capital. He has raised over R600 million in equity from individual investors and facilitated 30+ portfolio investments.
His track record includes standout South African real estate developments such as The Rockefeller (Cape Town), The Voco (Rosebank) and The Apollo (Sunninghill), together representing 1,200+ units across award-winning projects.
With in-depth understanding of South Africa’s private credit market, Gadi’s helped channel sustainable funding to a wide range of SMEs. He combines business development, product innovation and tax structuring expertise to build solutions that work.
Namir Waisberg
Executive Director | Actuary CFA
With experience across M&A, private equity, real estate and venture capital, Namir brings strategy and execution to every engagement. As the co-founder of StorageWorx and the CEO of Willis Burton Capital Partners, he approaches each deal with a founder’s mindset, creating opportunities that are commercially grounded, balanced, and designed to work for all parties.
Namir scaled StorageWorx into a leading self-storage platform with 2,500+ units across 15 prime locations throughout South Africa, before it was acquired by a JSE-listed REIT. Earlier in his career, he was an Investment Banker at Investec Bank.
He has also served in key industry roles, including as a former board member of CFA South Africa, and he currently sits on the FTSE/JSE Index Committee.
Mark Collie
Executive Director I B.Com
Mark brings fintech innovation, operational leadership and deal experience, acquired through founding, scaling and successfully exiting multiple businesses. He’s a co-founder of Airvantage, a fintech provider of mobile financial and value-added services for mobile network operators, which was acquired by JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms in 2018.
Mark founded Icon South Africa in partnership with Icon UK, which was appointed to design, produce and install signage and branding for the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 and FIFA World Cup 2010.
Mark served as Operations Director of Wideopen Platform, SA’s leader in large-format outdoor advertising, which was acquired by Primedia Limited. He’s also worked in corporate finance and private equity with the Buffet Investment Group, bringing strong commercial judgement to the table.
Michael Roffey
Executive Director I B.Com CA(SA)
Michael brings a strong blend of structured financial thinking and hands-on fintech execution, with experience across private equity, real estate, telecommunications and innovation. He has spent more than 15 years building solutions that expand access to finance through mobile and device-led platforms.
Michael pioneered cellular micro-lending and device financing in South Africa, and together with partners co-founded the country’s largest independent cellular retail credit and handset finance businesses, both later acquired by JSE-listed companies in 2013 and 2017.
Today, his products and services are available in 15+ countries across three continents, reflecting a track record of taking practical financial innovation to scale.
Yonni Palay
Chief Technology Officer | BSc (Eng), MBA
With a BSc in Information Engineering and an MBA specialising in the management of technology and information, Yonni combines technical depth with commercial perspective to build scalable fintech platforms.
Previously, Yonni served as Software Development Team Lead at Wtax (VAT IT Group), where he led distributed teams across multiple continents and delivered systems that improved operational performance at scale.
As he leads the design and development of the Optomise technology platform, Yonni’s expertise in software architecture, systems design and technology leadership creates seamless, efficient experiences for investors, partners and clients.
“SMEs are the bedrock of economic resilience; when they thrive sustainably, the entire global market stands on solid ground.”
Optomise Solutions
Optomise helps businesses and investors unlock capital faster, smarter, and with less friction.
Supply Chain Finance
A buyer wants to hold onto cash for longer, keeping liquidity available for what comes next. A supplier wants cash now - not in 30 days - to pay staff, take on the next order, or invest in capacity.
Using innovative tech that makes invoice settlement fast, cost-effective and seamless, Optomise gives buyers and suppliers extra time with their cash.
Alternative Investments
There is a demand by investors for access to private investment opportunities, uncorrelated to the traditional market, with asymmetric risk-return profiles that aim to deliver stronger returns.
Optomise sources, structures, and manages private investments that connect investors to carefully selected ventures, while directing capital to businesses ready to scale.