About | Property Frontier

Our Company is about more than just the obvious

Living passionately

We are doing this because we have found our passion
and our software should make it easier to live yours.

Making a lasting impact

To create a business that makes money, and more
significantly, employs others, and then gives a product to
a customer that improves their life; it is our greatest
challenge, our greatest opportunity, and the greatest gift
that we can give.

Doing work that will outlive us

Our aim is to create a business that improves your life in
such a way that you can have the resources and time to
contribute to the lives of those around you.

"Setting individuals free on all levels to
discover their passion and through that
impact their community and the world."
Marnus Weststrate, Ph.D (Eng)
Co-founder of 88Pockets

Our Software is built on rock solid principles

Everything should be simple and intuitive to use

Our products are intuitive. You'll pick them up in seconds or
minutes, not hours, days or weeks. We don't sell you training
because you don't need it.

High quality software doesn't have to cost you a lot

We believe everyone is entitled to the best quality software.
Our prices were designed for everyone and are the same no
matter who you are.

The basics will never go out of style

We'll never overlook what really matters. We build useful
software that does just what you need and nothing you don't.

"We believe in keeping things
simplistic, beautiful and affordable."
Ben Fourie
Co-founder of 88Pockets

Meet the leadership team

Ben Fourie

Ben Fourie is co‑founder of 88Pockets.com. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant at Deloitte in 2010 where he gained extensive international business exposure as part of his Deloitte portfolio. Ben is also a qualified Executive Coach and works with some of the top business leaders in South Africa. He is passionate about investing and bought his first property at the age of 21.

Marnus Weststrate

Marnus Weststrate is co‑founder of 88pockets.com. He graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering in 2007, and received his Ph.D. (Eng) in Microelectronic engineering in 2011 at the age of 26. During this time he has authored or co‑authored nine peer‑reviewed journal and conference publications, and defended his work at various international conferences.

He worked at Denel Dynamics, a division of Denel (Pty) Ltd., in the fields of microelectronics and software engineering for 17 months until he started working at 88pockets full‑time in July 2011. He has also served on the managing boards of various non-profit organisations and ministries. Marnus is passionate about offering strategic leadership, developing people and optimizing systems.

Here are some major milestones along our journey.

Aug 2008

Newco Holdings is founded by Ben Fourie,
Marnus Weststrate and Nic Klopper.

We advise and assist people in becoming successful property investors by helping them set up tax effective investment structures, sourcing the right investment properties, obtaining suitable finance, and doing monthly property management.

Aug 2008

Oct 2008

Marnus starts part-time development on an online property
admin system to assist Newco in doing property portfolio
management for it's investors.

4D Financial Consulting approaches Newco for an online property portfolio management solution for their clients.

Sept 2009

Oct 2009

Development of 88Pockets version 1 is started. The goal:
An online property investment management solution that
connects property investors and service providers.

We identify our core business, purpose and passion: The
development of scalable automated systems that make
a lasting impact.

April 2010

June 2010

We abandon property portfolio management services
for clients and focus solely on the development of the
88Pockets property management application.

Completion of 88Pockets version 1.

Aug 2010

Oct 2010

Major scalability and user functionality issues
identified in 88Pockets version 1.

Ben and Marnus start development on 88pockets version 2.
The focus: Visual appeal, usability, scalability and a
flexible code base.

Nov 2010

Dec 2010

Ben qualifies as a Chartered Accountant at Deloitte.

A demo of the 88Pockets version 2 design is tested with
property investors as potential users.

March 2011

June 2011

Ben starts working for Newco full-time as a financial
consultant in order to fund the development of
88Pockets version 2.

Marnus leaves his position as software engineer at Denel
Dynamics to join Newco full-time in the development of
88Pockets version 2.

July 2011

Sept 2011

Marnus obtains his Ph.D (Eng) in Microelectronic
Engineering from the University of Pretoria.

Development on the 88Pockets application version 2 is completed.

March 2012

April 2012

88Pockets version 2 is beta tested by selected property
investors.

The name of the business is changed from Newco to 88Pockets.
88Pockets version 3 is redesigned to create the All-in-one property investing software: Property Frontier

May 2012