A bit about Loet
Email Loet de Swart at midnight and there is a damn good chance that he will respond immediately. The 40+-year-old Chief Executive Officer of Always Active Technologies lives the company name, and he’s a Blackberry fiend. Loet founded the company in 2001 with Rob Fisher and Greg Mahlknecht.
Loet was born in Holland. His father was a property developer before he retired. His mother was a housewife and his father’s right hand in business. Loet went to school at Thomas More College in Kloof, Durban.
He says he gets up in the morning for his three girls: Michelle (wife); their daughters Alexandra and Izabella.
Loet’s most defining moment was falling in love and starting a family. He says settling down has been a brilliant anchor.
When Loet left school he tried his hand at a few things, including running a few successful businesses and a spell in the police force as his National Service obligation, which he says was an awesome experience.
“I ended up travelling the world and working in various business environments which offered some great experiences.” Loet worked in the Middle East for a while, including for ABN Amro Bank as a researcher and for the Kahlifa family (the Royal Family of Bahrain) putting together joint venture projects.
“I came back to SA for a visit, met Michelle, settled down, started AAT, had two children and never looked back.” Loet says that if he had his life over again, was 18-years-old and had the choice of studying whatever he fancied, wherever he wanted, he wouldn’t! “I have the greatest respect for anyone who has studied and would encourage any young person to buckle down and get a degree / diploma. But personally I tried it and found I was too restless and did not see the logic behind studying. I’m not suggesting this is universally right, but it was right for me.
“If a magic fairy waved a wand I would choose a mentor like Richard Branson and work for him for three or four years. I would see this as the best degree anyone could ask for.”
Loet says the IT landscape is changing faster now than it ever has.
“In my opinion this is due to the mobile device and the adoption not only of the device but how the device is used and information is consumed.. AAT aims to leverage our current ‘tools’ in the mobile space (SMS, MMS, USSD, LBS, GPRS, 3G) and mapping to deliver user friendly, accessible, everywhere mobile applications.”
He believes three words best describe the people who work at AAT: motivated, disciplined and happy.
“We like to employ people who are able to manage themselves and their projects so that are not required to micro-manage or police anyone. “I would say that the ethos at AAT is one of a relaxed environment where our people are given all the opportunity to build a future for themselves and performance is rewarded.”
Loet says his best job is the one he’s doing now. The worst was as a student packing magazines in Europe.
When he met his partners, AAT Chairman Rob Fisher and CTO Greg Mahlknecht, he knew he had met the ultimate: “Internet PIONEER” and “Coder Extraordinaire” The trio hasn’t looked back.
Loet says that if AAT continues to do as well as it has been then he expects to be doing pretty much the same thing. “That is, spending quality time with my family and dedicating time to working on sharpening our strategy for an ever changing landscape.”
If AAT could partner with any company in the world to do anything, Loet says he would want it to be with the likes of Facebook, Apple, Google or even better a local company that “gets” the idea of how information is going to be consumed by users on their mobile devices where social, location and relevance all play a role.
Here is a sample of questions and answers with Loet:
Q - You’re a Blackberry fiend. What’s the best thing about the device and what’s the worst?
A - The Blackberry does everything I do frequently VERY well (mail, address book, calendar, notepad etc) and the keyboard simply can’t be beaten but the current UI is a bit tired and they need to move over to the new QNX operating system ASAP.
Q - If you were at a dinner party with Gandhi, Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Marie Antoinette, Mother Theresa, and all three Charlie’s Angels, who would you like to sit next to and who do you think would behave badly?
A - I would like Madiba (Nelson Mandela) on my right, Gandhi on my left and the three Angels on the opposite side of the table. I recon if anyone got out of hand it would be Bill sitting next to the Angels.
Q - Where is the most comfortable place you have ever slept?
A - In my own bed.
Q - When you are working out at gym do you pretend to lift heavier weights when a pretty girl walks past?
A - There are girls at the gym? (-:
Q - Do you think Bill Gates carries a wallet?
A - He may advocate the whole paperless office thing but I am sure he still carries a wallet.
Q - Follow the sequence and guess what comes next: Internet, mobile telephony, and X. What is X?
A - X is where mobile technology cannibalizes other technology (or more to the point the methodology or way things are done) and we live in a world where the mobile device is the remote control of our lives (in a good way for the most part). All of us (even low income earners) will do their mail, banking, online shopping, SMS, web searches, Instant Messaging (BBM, Whatsapp and Google Talk), buying airtime, checking statements and everything you can possibly think of on a single mobile device (oh, and obviously a bit of voice thrown in).
Loet is a founding member of AAT and has been with the company since August 2001.
Loet has been with AAT since August 2001.