The billionaire behind Steyn City 

The South African insurance magnate and founder of Steyn City, Douw Steyn, has built his empire from the ground up.  

Steyn ranked as the 58th wealthiest person residing in the United Kingdom (UK) on the Sunday Times Rich list for 2024, with a net worth of £3 billion (R71.49 billion). 

Even before making his billions, he has always been committed to being the best at whatever he sets his mind to. 

Douw Gerbrand Steyn was born in Brits in 1952 and went to school in Linden, Johannesburg. 

Although he was born into one of the oldest and most prominent Afrikaner families, his parents were not well off. 

As a schoolboy, he already showed signs of resourcefulness. He devoted himself to practising magic tricks, which he performed for money he saved for his studies. 

Even years later, he would entertain friends and business acquaintances with his tricks. 

He attended Rand University (now the University of Johannesburg) and Potchefstroom but never completed his studies. Steyn was much more dedicated to his train conductor job, which he took up during university holidays. 

He had worked out that overtime was calculated incorrectly and that, by working 24 hours a day, he could earn more than a lawyer. As a result, he soon became accustomed to sleeping on train benches. 

When he did not graduate, he pursued a two-year business administration course in Germany, for which he received a bursary. 

Upon completing the course, he returned home and started working for his father’s estate agency in Melville. 

While working as an estate agent, he became interested in a new insurance product and began selling policies door to door. 

However, he could not obtain a license for insurance brokering since the registrar believed there were already too many insurance companies. 

This spurred Steyn’s decision to move to California, where he founded an insurance company called Calamerica. 

He returned to South Africa when he heard that a company, Crusader, was for sale because it was bankrupt, with whopping debts of R300 million.

In 1984, he was finally granted his license after convincing the registrar that he would save the company. 

The company was his after reaching a settlement agreement with the company and making a personal investment of R50. 

He changed the name to Auto & General, merged it with the brokerage and started recapitalising the business. It was disruptive from the start, and Steyn took an innovative approach to management. 

He introduced telemarketing to South Africa and pioneered paperless insurance in the country. It was also the first company in South Africa to replace stop orders with debit orders. 

Steyn received pushback from directors who didn’t think his ideas would work. However, before long, the company had become a market leader in short-term insurance. 

Shortly after the 1990s, he expanded the business overseas, and in 1992, he replicated his model in the UK with Budget Insurance, which later became BGL Group.

The business was not without its setbacks, though. In 1987, Steyn befriended prominent members of the ANC, which resulted in the company losing a third of its policyholders. 

After Mandela was released from prison, Steyn agreed to let him reside in his luxury residence in Sandhurst, which would later become the Saxon Hotel. 

During his stay here, Mandela worked on his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, and the pair became good friends. 

Steyn City

Steyn’s businesses continued to flourish, and the billionaire took on new ventures, including launching Budget Life in the UK, converting his residence into Saxon Hotel, and opening Shambala, one of the largest private nature reserves in the country. 

However, the development of the luxury estate, Steyn City, has been his biggest investment so far.

It was first launched in 2015 and drew R6.5 billion in infrastructure investment, which also supported infrastructure for the greater region, including roads, water, and sewerage.

Steyn explained that the project began with a tract of land that the director of Steyn City Properties, Giuseppe Plumari, first acquired, bordering Dainfern and privately owned land to the north.

“I acquired the remaining portions to make up the current 2,000 acres of the estate.”

“Giuseppe and I share the same vision – to create a lifestyle estate unlike any other in South Africa built on the foundation of quality of life. A country estate offering country living but with all amenities conveniently within reach.” 

He said that too much time is wasted in cities sitting in traffic and commuting between home, work, schools and the shops.

“We want to bring all these elements of daily life into one estate and give residents back the precious commodity of time in a secure, upmarket environment.”

Acknowledged by New World Wealth as one of the top ten residential lifestyle estates globally, the average listing price of properties currently for sale ranges from R2.45 million to R22.24 million.

The estate features luxury amenities that include a golf course, an equestrian centre and a helistop. 

“I could have invested in a luxury residence in Europe or in the States, but instead, I chose to invest in South Africa. This is indicative of the confidence I have in our country and the success of Steyn City,” Steyn said. 

“Unfortunately, many successful South African business people who built their fortunes here went on to disinvest in the economy. I see things differently.”

“I’ve always wanted to invest further in my country. The spirit of Ubuntu is unique and unparalleled anywhere else in the world I’ve lived or visited.