From Junkyard Dreams to JSE Success: The WeBuyCars Story

In a testament to entrepreneurship and the power of turning a passion into a thriving business, brothers Faan and Dirk van der Walt founded WeBuyCars, South Africa's leading car marketplace. What started as a young love for cars and a determination to improve their family's vehicular woes has grown into an empire with a staggering market capitalization of over R10 billion.

Gone are the days of tinkering with their family's old car under the South African sun in Bronkhorstspruit. Faan and Dirk took these formative experiences and built on them, educationally and professionally. While Faan learned the ropes of business through personal ventures in motorbike trading during high school, Dirk acquired valuable marketing knowledge, laying the groundwork for what would become a formidable partnership.

The seeds of WeBuyCars were sown with Faan using his and Tanja's earnings from teaching in the UK as start-up capital in 2001. Simultaneously, Dirk's marketing acumen started to shape the strategic direction of their joint endeavor. Despite initial resistance to the digital wave, they established a website and claimed the WeBuyCars name, a decision that would lead to their ubiquity in the South African automotive market.

Over the years, Faan and Dirk's business acumen, as well as their complementary skill sets, drove the company's growth. They learned the importance of delegation, which became abundantly clear when they appointed their first buyers in 2012—a decision that sparked significant expansion and led to a national presence with buyers in all the major towns across South Africa.

WeBuyCars' success story punctuated by significant milestones, such as the opening of The Car Supermarket in Midstream, Africa's largest car showroom, and embracing the digital era with a redesigned website in 2020. International expansion followed in 2022, with operations commencing in Morocco, and the journey reached new heights with a listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).

This South African success story is no overnight phenomenon but the result of two decades of hard work, perseverance, and visionary thinking. With 2,750 employees and 84 branches, Faan and Dirk's venture serves as inspiring proof of how far ambition and the drive for betterment can take you—a true symbol of South African entrepreneurial spirit.