Polo Letaka

Polo Leteka is a highly accomplished and experienced entrepreneur and private equity investor. She is the Chairman and Founder of IDF Capital – a South African based entrepreneurial financier and advisory firm. Through IDF Capital, Polo has contributed towards changeling investments into women-owned SMEs across South Africa. In 2015, she co-founded AlitheiaIDF to continue investing in high growth businesses across Sub-Saharan Africa that are women-owned and led.

Polo is an accountant by training and has varied experience in both the Public and Private sectors of South Africa which includes accounting and auditing, corporate finance, investment banking, public policy formulation, venture capital and private equity in the SME sector. At a fairly young age, Polo was tasked with leading the process of developing South Africa’s first-ever Codes of Good Practice on Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment which is a Government policy seeking to transform the South African economic landscape to be more reflective of its population demographics. As a result of this groundbreaking work which has changed how Corporate South Africa interacts with the rest of the economy, she is considered a thought leader in areas of economic transformation and development.

Polo is an accomplished public speaker, contributor to thought leadership articles on transformation and entrepreneurship. She was also part of South Africa’s version of the Dragons Den show and is also a co-author of a book called “…..and for all these reasons, I’M IN…..”, which seeks to assist entrepreneurs to become investor-ready.

Polo is the current President of the Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals (ABSIP).