Goitse Konopi

Originally from Wikipedia · Est. Oct 2025

Goitse Konopi is a South African technology entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Suppple Group Plc. He previously co-founded GovChat, South Africa's citizen to government engagement platform and the medical [...] company South Grown.

Early life

Goitse Konopi was born on 12 June 1991 in Pretoria, South Africa. He grew up in Hartbeespoort Dam, North West province near Pretoria and attended Pretoria Boys High School. His early exposure to the internet and technology through his parents' internet café in the late 1990s influenced his later career in technology.

Education

Goitse Konopi studied at the University of Pretoria, graduating in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Political Science. He completed his postgraduate Honours Degree in Social Science (Development Studies) in 2016.

Career

Government and policy

Goitse Konopi began his career in government, working as a ministerial staffer at South Africa's National Planning Commission for Trevor Manuel from 2011 to 2012. He later served as a researcher in the Presidency from 2013 to 2016. In 2013, he briefly worked as a consultant to the World Bank on the Independent Panel Review Report on Ease of Doing Business Report. During Trevor Manuel's tenure, he was also a researcher for the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations, chaired by Pascal Lamy.

In 2015, Goitse Konopi was appointed by Deputy Minister Buti Manamela to chair the National Youth Service Task Team, leading business, labour, youth formations, and government stakeholders to develop South Africa's youth policy framework as per legislation.

South Grown

In 2017, Goitse Konopi founded South Grown, a company producing medical [...] and cannabidiol products.

GovChat

In 2015, Goitse Konopi co-founded GovChat with Eldrid Jordaan, South Africa's official citizen-to-government engagement platform. The service facilitated over 600 million messages annually, enabling social grant applications, service issue reporting (potholes, refuse removal), and government communication via WhatsApp and web. It received venture capital from JSE-listed Capital Appreciation.

COVID-19 contributions

During the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa, GovChat processed Social Relief of Distress (R350) grant applications, distributing R66 billion ($3.2 billion) to 10-13.5 million users, delivered test result notifications, and streamlined disability grant applications all provided free to reduce queues for vulnerable populations.

In late 2022, GovChat faced a dispute with Meta over alleged WhatsApp terms violations, leading to Competition Commission legal action against Meta. Konopi resigned as Chief Data Officer amid these challenges.

Suppple Group Plc

In 2022, Goitse Konopi co-founded Suppple Group Plc (pronounced "triple P") with Eldrid Jordaan, specializing in AI-driven public-private partnerships for governance, healthcare, education, and economic analysis. Key initiatives include:

  • AI models for healthcare: Symptom checkers and patient record summarizers
  • Sophia: AI tutor addressing South Africa's functional school shortage
  • GS1 partnership: Anti-counterfeit barcode technology across 115 countries

Suppple listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange in May 2024 with £200 million ($264 million) market capitalization, monetizing through anonymized data insights rather than direct government fees.

Investments

Goitse Konopi and family are shareholders of Konopi Capital Management (South Africa), Boldlink Capital SA (South Africa), and Konopi Global Investments PLC (U.K.). Through these companies, he holds over 47,576,140 Class A shares, approximately 47.57% of the equity, and 8,000,000 Class B Super voting shares in Suppple Group Plc.

Personal life

Goitse Konopi married Thina Makhathini, whom he met at the University of Pretoria.

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