Between 1997 and early 2000, more than 70 IT, telecoms, and Internet companies rushed onto the Venture Capital, Development Capital, Telecoms and Information Technology sectors of the JSE Securities Exchange. For two or three years, it seemed as though nearly anyone could become a tech mogul worth hundreds of millions of rand.

Clive Roberts, a 26 year-old wunderkind from Durban, listed his distribution company on the JSE in 1997. At that time, MMW Technology Holdings boasted a turnover of R19 million and a profit of R1.2 million. By 1998, the group had grown profit by 303 percent to R4.6m, on a turnover up 600 percent to R133m. MMW listed through a private placement of 6.8 million shares at 50c each, which climbed to a high of R6.50 in 1998.

Roberts was the toast of the town, finding himself profiled in You magazine as an example of South Africa`s youthful technology millionaires. But, by late 2000, the group was no more, its core businesses sold off to rival distribution group Siltek, and the rest of it unwound.