Dr. Richard Nel remembers as if it happened yesterday. The initial opening of business for Gate Investment Group was the product of a history of dedication and a future of wealth and success. It had been long in the making, dating to a time when he was a young polo player who dazzled audiences with his skill and speed. He had grown a love for the sport at the age of eight, when his grandfather first taught him. From then on, he was tied to the sport and became quite good at it. That career would come to an abrupt end, though, when his parents suffered financial hardship and young Richard had to give up his horse.

It was then that Richard came to realize the costs involved with enjoying the finer things in life, like being able to navigate your own horse across freshly cut blades of grass and participate in league competitions. He then made a mental choice to one day get back to back to that sort of lifestyle and started to ponder up ways as to how to get there.

And when he was old enough, he moved to Pretoria in search of that dream. He enrolled in college and received his MBA as well as a doctorate, while making valuable connections and building a reputation for himself as a smart, well-natured businessman who would one day do well as a part of South Africa’s economic growth.

In 1997, that dream finally started to come to fruition. For years he had been building the idea of a special-risk investment firm that could help businesses of many sizes grow through careful evaluations and detailed, personalized solutions that cut costs as well as drive growth. It was a project long in the making that has come with great return for Dr. Richard Nel.

From then on, the amounts of success in Dr. Nel’s life only grew. He went on to start his own publication, Wealth Report Magazine, which is under the watch of CEO and former Miss South Africa Claudia Henkel. And while he may not actively compete in polo anymore, Dr. Richard Nel makes sure to appear at the sport’s most high-profile events.