Riyaad Cruywagen, Webber Wentzel
Advisors | MEA | Legal | Pathfinder | Due diligence
Riyaad Cruywagen, Deputy Managing Partner at Webber Wentzel's Cape Town office, shares how balance, resilience and technology come together in a career built on corporate law. He explains how Ansarada gives him visibility over due diligence, protects client confidentiality, and supports the dealmaking community he came up in. Watch his story.
For Riyaad Cruywagen, a partner at Webber Wentzel specialising in corporate law and Deputy Managing Partner of its Cape Town office, ambition only works with a counterweight. "I think in life you have to have balance," he says. "There's always some target you're trying to reach." For Riyaad, that balance comes from staying close to the ocean — the thing that tells him when to take a break, and without which, he admits he would struggle.
That same grounded approach shapes how Riyaad describes his firm. Webber Wentzel was established in the 1800s, giving it deep roots and some of South Africa's most established client relationships — but Riyaad is equally focused on the new clients and new players entering the market. "If you're looking for a law firm with technical ability, great lawyers, and great relationships with regulators and stakeholders in the country, this is why you would choose us," he says.
Running due diligence is where Ansarada earns its place in Riyaad's workflow. Knowing what percentage of documents has been reviewed, by whom, and how far a process has progressed gives him real-time visibility over every deal. "It helps you reduce doing the things that you don't like to do," he explains, "but more importantly, it covers off key things that are important to your clients" — confidentiality, the ability to work from anywhere, protection against data breaches, and controlled read-and-write access.
Riyaad is also a longtime supporter of Ansarada's sponsorship of DealMakers South Africa, having attended his first event at 25. "You come to DealMakers and you're like, this is the industry, this is what I'm a part of, this is what I'm pushing towards," he says. What Riyaad values most is the breadth of that investment — in both experienced and up-and-coming dealmakers alike. "That investment is beneficial to the whole community, and that's what I love."
"Ansarada helps you reduce the things you don't like to do, but more importantly, it covers off the things that are important to your clients."
Riyaad Cruywagen is a Pathfinder.
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