The team consists of individuals with impressive academic credentials. Intelligence, energy, integrity and a passion for investing are the special ingredients required to work at Aylett & Co. We invest our own assets alongside our clients’ in our funds. Our success is therefore closely aligned with that of our clients.

Aylett & Co. has provided an environment for these characteristics to flourish. We have handpicked a team that supports and practices our investment ethos backed up by exceptional client focus and a robust operational infrastructure.

“Ours is a highly privileged environment – we work with people we really like, doing a job we love, entrusted with managing investor capital and for that we are entitled to participate in an incredibly generous reward structure. We invest our own assets in Aylett & Co. managed unit trusts. Out-performance therefore rewards us in both our personal capacity and in our career capacity.”

— Walter Aylett, CEO

Walter Aylett, (CA) SA

  • Walter founded Aylett & Co. in mid-2005 and began managing assets soon thereafter. This followed his time at Coronation Fund Managers, for whom he worked for 7 years, first as head of research and then as portfolio manager. He excelled at managing several of their key pension funds and achieved recognition in the retail markets with the success of the Optimum Growth Fund. Walter managed this worldwide flexible fund from its inception and earned several Raging Bull awards over the years.

    Prior to that, Walter was at Syfrets Managed Assets for 4 years, where he had the privilege of jointly managing the highly rated Prime Select Fund with the well-respected Tim Allsop. Earlier experience in the London financial industry had established a career path for Walter, which he has followed ever since. He is regarded as an independent thinker with an investment approach driven by strong conviction and a clear set of principles and values.

Justin Ritchie, CFA, CA(SA)

  • After completing his Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting at UCT, Justin completed his articles and qualified as a Chartered Accountant at Deloitte in Cape Town, specialising in financial services. After qualifying, he worked in the hedge fund audit industry in the United States. Justin joined Aylett & Co. in 2010. He became a shareholder in 2017 and a director in 2023. In 2021, Justin took responsibility for co-managing the equity portfolios.

Dagon Sachs, CFA

  • After working for Hewitson & Kontominas for 3 years, Dagon moved from Johannesburg to Cape Town to join Walter in starting Aylett & Co. in 2005. After initially setting up the operations of the business, he then joined the investment team. He became a director and shareholder in 2009. In 2021, Dagon took over responsibility for co-managing the asset allocation portfolios.

Ryann Dean, CFA, CA(SA)

  • Ryann obtained his Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting at UCT, completing his articles and qualifying as a Chartered Accountant at KPMG in Cape Town, specialising in financial services and the valuation of financial instruments. After qualifying he worked at Coronation Fund Managers for 5 years on the global equity team as an investment analyst. Ryann joined Aylett & Co. in 2020 as a global equity analyst.

Murray Moore, CFA

  • Murray completed his Bachelor of Commerce Degree at Stellenbosch University and graduated cum laude. He followed this with an Honours Degree in Financial Analysis. Having always known he wanted to be an investment analyst, he passed all the CFA examinations in three consecutive years. In between studying for these exams, he completed internships at various asset managers, including Aylett & Co., which he joined in 2019 as an analyst.

Ruwan Pienaar

  • Ruwan completed his Bachelor of Commerce Degree at Stellenbosch University, majoring in statistics and investments. He completed his Honours Degree in Financial Analysis at UCT. He then completed a six-month internship as an analyst at Denker Capital.

    He joined Aylett & Co. in January 2024 as a trainee analyst and was promoted to an analyst in 2025.

Jan Nel, CFA

  • Jan completed his Bachelor of Commerce Degree, followed by an Honours Degree in Financial Analysis, both at Stellenbosch University. After spending a decade in Hong Kong where he worked at a hedge fund analysing Asian equities and then at Morningstar covering Asian funds, he returned to South Africa and joined a UK-based debt fund as an investment manager. Jan joined Aylett & Co. in November 2022 as an analyst.

Wes Cadle

  • Wes completed his Bachelor of Commerce Honours degree in financial management at Stellenbosch University and subsequently joined Aylett & Co. in January 2020. He fulfils the role of research assistant and trader in the investment team and is an integral part of their daily administrative tasks. He has completed CFA level 2.

Bert Ellmann, CA(SA)

  • After completing his Bachelors of Business Science Honours Degree in Finance and Accounting at UCT, Bert qualified as a Chartered Accountant at Deloitte in Cape Town, specialising in the financial services industry. Post articles, Bert was seconded to New York, where he focused on the audit of hedge funds.

    After returning from New York, Bert took up the role of assistant vice president at State Street where he gained advanced knowledge of both the regulatory and technical aspects of the asset management industry. Bert joined Aylett & Co. in 2018 as head of operations.

Megan Peters

  • Megan completed her Senior Paralegal Diploma through The South African School of Paralegal Studies in 2015, achieving an overall distinction for the course.

    She graduated from the Independent Institute of Education with a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in 2020, specialising in strategic management. Megan joined Aylett & Co. in 2015 as a business assistant and is currently a fund accountant focusing on the administration of our funds.

James Whitaker, CA(SA)

  • James completed his Bachelor of Accounting Honours Degree at Stellenbosch University in 2020.

    He then completed his articles at Ernst and Young, audited companies across various industries and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He joined Aylett & Co. in February 2024 as a fund accountant and has passed the CFA level 1 examination.

Kyle Dutton, MBA

  • Kyle completed his Business Science Degree at UCT, majoring in Finance and Economics, after which he worked for Northern Trust in Stockholm for two years. Venturing back to Johannesburg, he joined Lentus Asset Management, where he gained experience in private client investments. His passion for sport saw him start a business to manage the wealth of athletes, but the Covid pandemic forced the closure of the company. He subsequently completed his MBA at UCT’s Graduate School of Business and worked as the product owner of an investment-backed lending product with Singular Systems for three years.

    In April 2024, Kyle joined Aylett & Co. to head up the business development function.

Kimon Aylett

  • Kimon completed his Bachelor of Commerce in Management Sciences at Stellenbosch University. He then pursued an Honours Degree in Strategic Brand Management at Vega School.

    His passion for the world of digital marketing resulted in the start of his digital agency, blackswan & co DIGITAL. His marketing efforts at Aylett & Co. assist with brand management, strategic content execution & holistic strategic marketing.

Aaliah Kathrada

  • Aaliah graduated from Stellenbosch University with a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Economic Sciences with additional majors in investment and financial management.

    Driven by her enthusiasm for research in the investment industry, she is currently pursuing an Honours qualification at UCT, specialising in the economic analysis of financial markets.

    She commenced her role as a Business Development Assistant at Aylett & Co. in February 2024.

Dinos Aylett

  • Dinos completed his Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Strategic Brand Management at Vega University. He gained valuable work experience by completing a six-month internship at blackswan & co DIGITAL. He also worked part-time at Aylett & Co. for five months in 2023.

    As of January 2024, Dinos assumed the role of office administrator at Aylett & Co.

Our Shareholders

Aylett & Co. is independently owned and managed and has made a commitment to its staff to provide them with future shareholding opportunities. Dagon Sachs became a shareholder in 2009, and Justin Ritchie in 2017.

In conjunction to staff shareholdings, Aylett & Co. is proud of the esteemed external individuals who have seen value in Walter’s vision right from the start and have taken minority stakes in the company.Risk for us is the Permanent Loss of Capital.

Lady Mary Hatch is first generation Irish, and is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin where she did an Arts Degree followed by a higher diploma in education. Lady Hatch has been an external shareholder of Aylett & Co. since the company was founded in 2004. She owns a home in Cape Town and travels regularly to South Africa.