Let’s be real: When you think about finance, you don’t usually picture a guy with sun-bleached hair and a surfboard. But that’s exactly how Charles Savage, CEO of Purple Group, started out.
Charles didn’t always have big plans to revolutionize investing. In fact, his dream was simple—become an accountant, travel the world, and surf as much as possible. The plan? Get a degree, work wherever, and chase waves around the globe. "I wanted to be an accountant who surfed around the world," Charles says, looking back at his younger self. The goal was pretty straightforward: balance the books by day, hit the waves by night.
So, that’s exactly what he did. After getting his degree, he traveled from South Africa to Indonesia, Australia, Hawaii, the U.S. West Coast, Spain, and Portugal, surfing the world’s best beaches. Life was good. But amidst the sun and surf, Charles stumbled across something that would change his path forever—the internet.
Trading Waves for Websites
While traveling and living the surf life, Charles came across the internet for the very first time. Remember, this was the late '90s, when the internet was still a mystery to most people. For Charles, it was a game-changer.
By chance, Charles reconnected with an old friend who had started a web design business. Seeing someone so passionate about their work made Charles rethink his own career path. Sure, surfing was fun, but accounting? Not so much. “I was really enjoying the surfing part, but accounting? I was particularly bad at it and didn’t enjoy it at all,” he says with a smile. So, in 1999, he made a bold move. He traded in his surfboard (temporarily) and jumped headfirst into the world of tech.
Charles began building, selling, and marketing websites during the rise of the dotcom boom. It was an exciting time, but also one full of uncertainty. The bubble eventually burst in 2001, bringing many early internet ventures crashing down. But for Charles, one industry stood out among the chaos: financial services.
Purple Group: Making Investing Easy for Everyone
After surviving the dotcom crash, Charles turned his attention to something bigger—changing how people invest. His vision? Make it easy, affordable, and accessible for anyone to buy shares, whether in local markets or international ones. The idea was simple: investing shouldn’t be just for the wealthy or the experts. It should be for everyone.
“We thought if you built the platform, the customers would come,” Charles explains. But, as with most things in life, it wasn’t that easy. Creating a platform was one thing; building an ecosystem that brought in customers and made them feel confident about investing was another. It took years of work, dedication, and refining the platform to get it right.
But Charles stuck with it. He knew that the financial industry was ripe for disruption and that the internet was the key. Today, Purple Group, through its platform EasyEquities, allows everyday South Africans to invest in their future—no complicated jargon and just easy access to the markets.
What Surfing Taught Him About Business
So how does a guy who just wanted to surf end up running a fintech company? Charles says it’s all about the lessons he learned from his time on the waves. Surfing teaches you patience, resilience, and the ability to adapt when things don’t go your way—all crucial skills when running a business, especially in an unpredictable industry like fintech.
His time traveling the world also gave him a unique perspective on life and business. “That journey gave me a wonderful global perspective,” Charles shares. It taught him to think beyond borders, to dream bigger, and to see the potential for change, no matter where he was.
Much like reading the ocean and knowing when to catch the perfect wave, Charles knew when it was time to jump into fintech and take his company to the next level.
The Future
Charles’s journey is an example of how passion and adaptability can lead you to unexpected and amazing places. From his days as a surf-obsessed accountant to his role now as the CEO of one of South Africa’s leading fintech companies, he’s proven that sometimes, the best paths are the ones you don’t plan for.
Today, Charles is still riding the wave of fintech, pushing Purple Group to make investing accessible for everyone. His story reminds us that no matter where you start—even if it’s on a surfboard—if you keep your eyes open to new opportunities, you can end up doing something truly impactful.
To learn more about Charle's story, tune in to Season 5 of Good Things Happen.
Good Things Happen is a podcast from Citi that addresses some of the greatest challenges facing the investing world and asks how we can come together to solve them. The sharpest minds from finance and beyond join hosts Jorian Murray and Alex Miller to debate some of the biggest questions of our time.