Meet The Team
Anton Muller
CEO
Anton Müller started out in 1998 as an Agriculturist in the service of the IDC owned 1000ha pistachio project. The challenges encountered by growing unknown crops and the climatic challenges surrounding the production thereof led him to do his MSc in the dormancy and pruning of pistachios. He has since been involved as a technical consultant of apple, pear, almond, pecan, walnut and pistachio orchards both local and abroad. At present Anton is a private consultant regarding horticultural practices, irrigation and pests, and diseases.
Ferdie Ungerer
COO
ferdie@pistachionutcompany.com
Ferdie Ungerer grew up on a table grape farm in De Doorns, where his passion for farming started. He studied BSc Horticulture at the University of Stellenbosch that led to a Master’s degree in Horticulture on the Production of “Triumph” Persimmon in South Africa. He served as technical manager for the Sharon Fruits of South Africa Growers Group for 5 years where after he joined Redhill Superplant Nursery (Pty) Ltd as technical director and shareholder growing pome and stone fruit trees for the deciduous fruit growers of Southern Africa. Ferdie has also started the company Hortafrique (Pty) Ltd that specialises in growing alternative crops such as Pecan Nut-, Persimmon-, Kiwi-, and Pistachio Nut trees.
Henk L. Venter
CFO
Henk is a Chartered Accountant with 27 years of experience, which includes eleven years in audit, accounting, and consulting firms and sixteen years in the private sector. He has extensive executive experience in agriculture and exposure to global markets. He served
on the board of directors for Kromco (Pty) Ltd for eight years who is one of the leading deciduous fruit Companies in South Africa. He represents the financial interest of all stakeholders and promotes collaboration and integration to achieve maximum sustainable growth. He has strong analytical skills and enjoys building financial models to assist in making critical long-term strategic decisions. Henk holds a BCompt Hons Accounting degree and a Masters of Business Administration. He completed his dissertation on the influence of capital structure on the financial
performance of non-financial companies listed on the FTSE250 index. He is also a member of the Chartered Public and Financial Accountant Institute (UK), Chartered
Accountants World Wide Institute, Chartered Institute of Government Finance and Risk Officers, Certified Financial Officers, and the tax practitioner’s board and completed a post graduate certificate in Import and export management.
David Muller
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
After graduating from the University of Stellenbosch with a degree in B.A. Value and Policy Studies, David work at various tech companies around Stellenbosch, after which he and a partner from Naspers took over Cybercellar.com through an MBO and grew revenue 10-fold over 5 years into South Africa’s largest liquor e-commerce business. They attracted investment from leading venture capitalists in South Africa and in 2017 he sold his stake to return to their family farm in the Northern Cape to take over operations. Their family is one of only two growers of pistachios in South Africa and has been successfully producing pistachios for the last 5 years. David currently serves as the inaugural chairman of the South Africa Pistachio Growers Association.