Warren Koopman, CIO at Apros

By the end of our interview, Warren Koopman is wriggling with impatience and fighting the urge to email his bosses.

He’s been talking about his plan to launch a startup focusing on AI as a joint venture between himself and the holding company Alternative Prosperity (Apros), where he’s the CIO. He only submitted the business plan a few days earlier, but he’s dying to hear their response. “Let’s just hope this AI thing takes off,” he says. “We’d see a profit within the first year of 5% and I think the revenue for five years hits the R70mn mark; that’s a huge amount.”