Winning The Away Game

Honorata Nel spent eleven years chasing a South African pole vault title. She left corporate and built a business so she could train, then moved her family from Pretoria to Cape Town, New York and Amsterdam. Only after all that did she realise the achievement was never going to give her what she expected. In this episode she tells Justinus Adriaanse and Flip van der Merwe how a denied green card, a job hunt into a pandemic and two years of trying to do it all forced her to rethink what winning means. This is for driven professionals and South Africans abroad who perform hard in every part of their lives and are quietly wondering what it costs them. Hon is candid about the trade she made, a step back in title in exchange for presence with her kids, and about why serving others gave her more energy, not less. CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 02:20 The 1995 World Cup Through Immigrant Eyes 04:30 A Squiggly Career Built Around Training 07:54 The Letter That Ended New York 12:55 Made in Poland, Born in South Africa 17:08 Eleven Years to a National Title 21:22 What Now After the Gold? 22:51 The Book That Changed Her Definition of Winning 28:35 Why New York Was Only Meant to Be Two Years 30:27 Having a Baby Far From Home 32:27 From Performance to Presence 37:57 Two Years to Crack 40:12 A Reset Through Serving Others 43:52 Helping South Africa From Abroad 46:13 Why the Dutch Are Hard to Crack Winning The Away Game is brought to you by The Lekker Network. The Lekker Network brings together South Africa’s top entrepreneurs, executives, innovators, and everyday people from all over the world to connect, engage, support, do business with each other, and create lasting impact. Find out more at https://thelekkernetwork.com/ Listen on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/26fB2unP9Ih6IA3QkjnGQF?si=4b4380f24a144716 Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/winning-the-away-game/id1853818584 Connect with Justinus:https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinusadriaanse/ Connect with Flip:https://www.linkedin.com/in/flipvandermerwe/ Check out our other channels: Website: https://wtagpodcast.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/winning-the-away-game-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wtag_podcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wtag_podcast Winning The Away Game is produced by Jonathan Warncke Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/%F0%9F%8E%99-jonathan-warncke-45b2095/ Ping Productions: https://www.pingproductions.net/

What does starting over look like when you have already built a business across five continents? John McLoughlin founded J2 in South Africa in 2006, working from a shared desk in a Honeydew warehouse. The company now serves more than 800 customers. But when John moved to London in December 2022, breaking into the UK market felt like building a start-up all over again. He says it was “a hundred times harder” than he expected. In this episode of Winning the Away Game, John joins Justinus Adriaanse and Flip van der Merwe to share the personal story behind that business journey. He speaks openly about losing his infant son, undergoing cancer treatment while working to establish J2, and the support his wife Natalie gave him through those years. We also discuss adapting South African directness for a different market, the emotional toll of moving abroad, and why John has built giving back into the way J2 does business. For founders and South Africans abroad, this conversation offers an honest account of what it takes to keep building through difficult circumstances. Subscribe for more conversations with South Africans building businesses and lives around the world. Which part of John’s story stayed with you? Tell us in the comments. Winning the Away Game is produced in collaboration with The Lekker Network, connecting South Africans around the world to support one another, do business and create lasting impact. https://thelekkernetwork.com/ Listen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/26fB2unP9Ih6IA3QkjnGQF Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/winning-the-away-game/id1853818584 Website https://wtagpodcast.com/ Chapters 00:00 You’re not dead yet so fix it 00:27 Meet John McLoughlin 01:46 John’s favourite Springbok memories 04:12 Growing up and learning to adapt 09:42 From a spinning studio to software 13:39 Losing his son and facing cancer 17:00 Starting J2 and the return of cancer 20:28 Natalie’s support through treatment 24:15 Living with the loss of a child 29:16 Resilience and finding a fresh start 32:34 Accepting the past and taking the business leap 35:03 The financial crisis and personal debt 37:15 Why London made sense 38:17 Starting over in the UK market 40:02 The difficulty and emotional cost of moving abroad 42:15 A turning point in a Johannesburg hotel room 45:12 Recognising progress and giving back 47:12 Creating opportunities in South Africa 49:23 How J2’s impact fund works 52:42 The lessons John takes forward Justinus Adriaanse: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinusadriaanse/ Flip van der Merwe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/flipvandermerwe/ Produced by Jonathan Warncke at Ping Productions: https://www.pingproductions.net/

After a tough first year at boarding school, Sean Temple wrote a ten-page letter to Arnold Schwarzenegger — and the signed bodybuilding encyclopaedia that came back set the direction of his life. Decades later, after a career in banking and a humbling encounter with a kettlebell, he opened his own gym in Durban, trained some of the country's leading rugby players and found himself on morning TV, until the business fell apart. In this conversation with Justinus Adriaanse and Flip van der Merwe, Sean takes full accountability for what went wrong: chasing the fame instead of running the business, taking the wrong advice, and discovering too late that he was the brand. This one is for founders who have become the face of their company, and for South Africans abroad who have ever treated a new country as a fresh start. Sean is candid about ego, therapy and honest friends, about why no move will outrun your problems, and about rebuilding into a role leading AI in banking in Copenhagen. CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 01:40 Springbok Memories From 1981 to Today 04:20 Growing Up Across Southern Africa 08:12 The Letter to Arnold Schwarzenegger 12:19 Road Cycling and Learning to Enjoy the Suffering 16:39 London and the South African Work Ethic 19:14 Humbled by a Kettlebell 24:13 Building a Gym and Training Rugby Stars 26:56 Where It Went Wrong 31:17 The 5am Drive That Changed Everything 33:25 Ego, Resilience and Starting From Zero 38:59 You Can't Outrun Your Problems 42:11 Copenhagen, AI and Life Among the Danes 48:31 Building a South Africa That Works for Everyone 53:30 Looking Ahead to Australia 2027 Winning The Away Game is brought to you by The Lekker Network. The Lekker Network brings together South Africa’s top entrepreneurs, executives, innovators, and everyday people from all over the world to connect, engage, support, do business with each other, and create lasting impact. Find out more at https://thelekkernetwork.com/ Listen on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/26fB2unP9Ih6IA3QkjnGQF?si=4b4380f24a144716 Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/winning-the-away-game/id1853818584 Connect with Justinus:https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinusadriaanse/ Connect with Flip:https://www.linkedin.com/in/flipvandermerwe/ Check out our other channels: Website: https://wtagpodcast.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/winning-the-away-game-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wtag_podcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wtag_podcast Winning The Away Game is produced by Jonathan Warncke Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/%F0%9F%8E%99-jonathan-warncke-45b2095/ Ping Productions: https://www.pingproductions.net/

Kemp Swanepoel is the CFO of Ford Motor Company in Canada, and his career turns on a day he didn't have to show up: a finance guy who volunteered to smash car windows at a product demo for Volvo, and met the executives who would later call him out of the blue. In this episode he takes Justinus Adriaanse and Flip van der Merwe from seven schools before the age of ten, to walking away from the audit route, to turning down Sweden and Japan and betting everything on Canada. This is for South Africans abroad, and anyone weighing the move, who want an honest account of what relocation really costs a family: the slow build of self-doubt, the friendships that fade, and a culture that makes spending far too easy. Kemp shares the simple decision ritual he and his wife return to whenever they question the move, how he leads a large team by taking the pressure off them, and why he believes South Africans abroad should refuse to assimilate. CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 01:37 The Anthem in the Lounge 03:56 Faith, Family and Fitness 05:57 Seven Schools and an Ironman 09:29 Love, Audit and a First CFO Job 1 4:13 Smashing Windows for Volvo 17:11 How Constant Change Shaped Him 20:37 Betting Everything on Canada 25:00 The List That Ends the Blame Game 28:30 Reasons, Seasons and Lifetimes 30:43 Staying True in a Spending Culture 33:23 Friendships, Trust and Letting Go 38:05 Efficiency and Rising the Tide 43:07 From Volvo to Ford 46:37 Building a South Africa That Works Winning The Away Game is brought to you by The Lekker Network. The Lekker Network brings together South Africa’s top entrepreneurs, executives, innovators, and everyday people from all over the world to connect, engage, support, do business with each other, and create lasting impact. Find out more at https://thelekkernetwork.com/ Listen on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/26fB2unP9Ih6IA3QkjnGQF?si=4b4380f24a144716 Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/winning-the-away-game/id1853818584 Connect with Justinus:https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinusadriaanse/ Connect with Flip:https://www.linkedin.com/in/flipvandermerwe/ Check out our other channels: Website: https://wtagpodcast.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/winning-the-away-game-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wtag_podcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wtag_podcast Winning The Away Game is produced by Jonathan Warncke Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/%F0%9F%8E%99-jonathan-warncke-45b2095/ Ping Productions: https://www.pingproductions.net/

Lazola Tutani grew up in the Eastern Cape raised by his mother, worked weekend night shifts at a petrol station to pay for the half of his engineering degree his bursary didn't cover, and now runs a 245-person business unit for Continental in Sumter, South Carolina — where he is the only African and the only foreigner in the building. In this episode he tells Justinus Adriaanse and Flip van der Merwe what it actually takes to earn authority over people whose culture isn't yours, why he deliberately studied American college football and joined a local church before he tried to drive change, and what two years in Hanover taught him about the difference between people who seem cold and people who are only warm on the surface. This is for operators leading teams abroad, South Africans weighing up a move, and anyone who has had to rebuild credibility from zero in a new country. He is also unusually direct about growing up without a father, and about what he is deliberately doing differently with his own son and daughter. And when asked how you fix a country, his answer is smaller and harder than you expect. CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 04:17 The Coach Who Straightened Him Up 08:17 Breaking the Academic Barrier 11:41 Growing Up Without a Father 14:08 Night Shifts to Fund the Degree 16:08 Brotherhood and the Eastern Cape 17:38 From the Factory Floor to Hanover 19:03 Adapting to Germany 21:41 Germany vs America 24:18 Leading 245 Americans 26:50 Sport and Church as the Way In 32:16 Bafana Bafana in Los Angeles 35:24 Ironman as Practice for Work 41:04 Building a Country That Works for Everyone 47:58 The Weight of 2027 Winning The Away Game is brought to you by The Lekker Network. The Lekker Network brings together South Africa's top entrepreneurs, executives, innovators, and everyday people from all over the world to connect, engage, support, do business with each other, and create lasting impact. Find out more at https://thelekkernetwork.com/ Listen on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/26fB2unP9Ih6IA3QkjnGQF?si=4b4380f24a144716 Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/winning-the-away-game/id1853818584 Connect with Justinus:https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinusadriaanse/ Connect with Flip:https://www.linkedin.com/in/flipvandermerwe/ Check out our other channels: Website: https://wtagpodcast.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/winning-the-away-game-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wtag_podcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wtag_podcast Winning The Away Game is produced by Jonathan Warncke Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/%F0%9F%8E%99-jonathan-warncke-45b2095/ Ping Productions: https://www.pingproductions.net/