Francois Kuttel of the Oceana Group has his hand firmly on the tiller of the country’s biggest fishing group.
Francois Kuttel knows fishing. He’s hauled bulging fish nets, steered trawlers through the best and worst of conditions, “graduated” to processing and packaging and is now, finally, head of SA’s largest fishing enterprise, the Oceana Group Limited.
Kuttel hasn’t exactly chosen the easiest of working experiences, but they’ve always revolved around the fishing industry. His father, who left a career as a lawyer in favour of a wooden boat and a fishing rod in 1962, started Atlantic Fishing which became one of SA’s most successful fishing enterprises of the 1980s.
As a child, Kuttle spent his free time around the fishing harbours of the Cape, attended school at Bishops and later went to Eton for a year to complete his A-levels. By the time his family emigrated to the U.S., Kuttel was well prepped to assist his father in growing an Alaskan fishing venture. Instead, at his father’s urging, Kuttel reluctantly went to the University of San Diego to study for his Bachelor of Accountancy, which he completed in 1991.
