Board · Interim executive · Operations

You built the company. I help you build it to scale.

I scaled a venture-backed space company from 35 to 126 people, and I research sustainable protein at Stellenbosch. I do strategy, operations and governance for founders, boards and investors building at the edge of technology and science.

I leave your company stronger, not dependent.

Get in touch → See my work LinkedIn ↗
Proof, in numbers

Two decades building the operations behind deep technology.

126
People led as Group COO of a venture-backed space company, grown from 35, across four offices in two countries.
$4.9M
Annual camera sales, up from $27k in roughly two years, as I built the operating model behind them.
R20M
Annual revenue of a non-profit grown from R370k as its founding chairperson, with the governance to sustain it.
R1.97M
A build-versus-buy decision I quantified through a 36-month total-cost-of-ownership analysis.
13,500
Person emergency operations plan I authored for a remote event, covering 18 incident types.
20+ yrs
In technology and operations, as engineer, founder, board chair and Group COO, now advising through Khenti.

These figures are from real engagements. I have left out client-confidential details.

Adriaan Wessels, operations leader and bioprocess researcher Adriaan Wessels · Cape Town
MBA, University of Cape Town, First Class
BSc Engineering (Electrical), UCT, First Class
BSc Computer Science, UCT
MEng Bioprocess Engineering, Stellenbosch, in progress
The person behind Khenti

Khenti Consulting is Adriaan Wessels. I bring boardroom judgement and bench-level rigour to the same problem.

I trained as an engineer and computer scientist, did an MBA, and have spent over twenty years where business meets technology. I founded my first software company in 1998, while finishing my engineering degree, and I have founded and run companies ever since. Along the way I have built software, led group-wide programmes for The Foschini Group, driven operational improvement for BHP Billiton, chaired a non-profit board, and most recently run a venture-backed space company as Group COO and divisional CEO. I have lived the decisions I now advise on, and I have built the governance, structure and systems that let ambitious companies scale.

I also do research into sustainable protein, toward a research MEng in Bioprocess Engineering at Stellenbosch. It keeps me fluent in what deep-tech and life-science founders are actually building, and not only their cap tables. More on that below ↓

“People, process and technology, roughly in that order.”

Bioprocess research

At the bench, as well as in the boardroom.

Alongside Khenti, I am doing a research MEng in Bioprocess Engineering at Stellenbosch. The work uses hydrogen-oxidising bacteria to turn CO₂ and renewable hydrogen into sustainable, land-free protein, engineered for warm climates. The aim is single-cell protein that can compete with fishmeal for aquaculture feed, made with a thermophilic microbe so the reactors can run air-cooled rather than refrigerated, and produced where the protein gap is widest, in sub-Saharan Africa. I select the organisms, set up the bioreactor, model the process economics, and write the safety case. It is the same evidence discipline I bring to a board, applied at the bench.

One person who can move from a bioprospecting enrichment run to a CAPEX sensitivity model to a board-level go/no-go.

For deep-tech, climate-tech and biotech founders, that means I can read the engineering and the model myself, without needing them translated first.

What I do

Three ways to put senior operating experience to work.

These are areas of judgement, not a fixed list of services. Start with one well-scoped piece of work, and add more only where it earns its place.

Sit in the seat

I embed as a COO or CTO, run delivery, and build the operating model, then hand it back in better shape than I found it. An interim leader who has held the seat.

Also · fractional operations leadership · programme & product delivery

Build the operating system

The governance, decision-rights and structure that let a company scale. That covers a board-level Delegation of Authority, organisation design, and the risk and resilience frameworks behind it.

Also · org design & HR architecture · risk, resilience & emergency operations

Choose the right systems

Software and systems selection, technology strategy, and build-vs-buy decisions modelled to the full total cost of ownership, in a form that holds up in front of a board. Backed by an engineer's read of what is being chosen.

Also · strategy facilitation · operational assessment · investor-readiness review

Selected work

Selected engagements: problem, approach, result.

Across deep-tech, financial services, software and mission-led organisations. Where a client is confidential, I describe them by sector.

Dragonfly AerospaceSouth Africa COO → Group COO & Lunar CEO

From a 35-person startup to a satellite in orbit

35 → 126people, two countries
$27k → $4.9Mcamera sales
$11.3Mpeak budget
ISO 9001certified in Ukraine
DART · EOS-SAT-1flight heritage
The full case

Problem: a venture-backed new-space company with limited governance and HR, and no international structure, had to scale fast through COVID, load-shedding and the invasion of Ukraine, and stand up a lunar business unit from zero.

Approach: I joined six months into the company, as South Africa COO, then Group COO and Lunar CEO. I helped design the group structure and operating processes, set up the international companies and structures in Portugal and the UK, drove ERP and ISO 9001, and authored the board-approved Delegation of Authority. I also built the lunar business unit from zero: its business plan and financial model, pitches to the Portuguese and Luxembourg space agencies, and a place in the Technoport incubator in Luxembourg.

Result: the company grew from 35 to 126 people across two countries. Camera sales grew from $27k to $4.9M. ISO 9001 certification was achieved in Ukraine, with South Africa through its first audit, and the SA and Ukraine entities merged. During my tenure, the EOS-SAT-1 earth-observation satellite reached orbit, and a Dragonfly camera flew on NASA's DART asteroid-impact mission.

AfrikaBurnFirst Chairperson · Head of Emergency Services

From R370k to R20M, with governance and safety built to scale

R370k → R20Mannual revenue
13,500attendees
0 → 25paid staff, +70 crew
150+trained in mediation
The full case

Problem: a grassroots, volunteer-run event with minimal revenue and ad-hoc governance had to professionalise, and run an event in a remote desert with no nearby emergency services.

Approach: as the first Chairperson of the board and a director across multiple terms, and earlier as Head of Emergency Services, I introduced board governance, wrote the first financial policy, and built an ICS-aligned Emergency Operations Plan covering 18 incident types.

Result: annual revenue grew from R370k to R20M and attendance to 13,500. The organisation went from zero paid staff to 25 employees and 70 seasonal crew, and trained more than 150 people in mediation.

A software product agencyStrategy facilitation

Three days that gave the company a shared strategy

3-day offsitedesigned and solo-facilitated
Shared strategyroot-cause diagnosis
The full case

Problem: leadership had no shared strategy. Unpredictable demand against fixed staff caused cycles of overwork and bench time, which wore down morale and a multi-year profit goal.

Approach: I designed and solo-facilitated a 3-day offsite on Rumelt's “Kernel of Good Strategy,” layering in Porter, SWOT/TOWS and the Galbraith Star Model, with pre-work interviews and a detailed facilitator's guide.

Result: the team settled on a root-cause diagnosis it had never put into words, and agreed a guiding policy, concrete actions, and a measurable four-year goal. The feedback singled out the preparation and the live adaptability.

A microfinance lenderOperational assessment

Governance to let a growing loan book scale

Branch → boardDelegation of Authority
Led to a retainerfortnightly CEO advisory
The full case

Problem: a 20-year-old lender was hitting its scaling limits. It had a single director, no board, no delegation of authority, and undocumented procedures, with decisions over-concentrated at the CEO level.

Approach: a three-phase assessment, covering document review, multi-branch on-site work and executive interviews, producing a prioritised report. A bespoke National Delegation of Authority followed as the first retained deliverable.

Result: delivered the assessment and a full Delegation of Authority spanning branch to board. The diagnostic led directly into an ongoing fortnightly CEO advisory retainer.

An XR (AR/VR) studioFractional Operations Manager

Pulled two slipping projects back on track, and mapped the operation behind them

2 projectsback on track
11 functionsdiagnosed and mapped
New workhelped pitch
The full case

Problem: a VR/AR studio had outgrown its setup: several live client projects but no dedicated operations lead, no management or project cadences, a weak quoting process, and unclear roles. Its two biggest projects were quietly slipping for want of structure and engaged technical leadership. The contract began just as South Africa entered its 2020 lockdown.

Approach: I ran operations and the live client projects, and got the two slipping projects back on track with proper structure and cadence. I produced a business-improvement analysis across 11 functions, from product to compliance, and stood up the studio's remote setup: a work-from-home policy, remote tooling and accounts, and asynchronous communication norms. I also helped pitch for new work.

Result: the two projects were back on track, and the studio had a documented operating model and a prioritised improvement roadmap, with its client work kept moving through the lockdown. I handed over an organisation with working cadences, clearer roles, and a quoting and finance process it could run without me.

A national research firmTechnology advisory

The R1.97M build-versus-buy call

R1.97Mbuild-vs-buy gap, over 36 months
Buy, not buildthe recommendation
The full case

Problem: the firm was running its field data on a bespoke platform built and maintained by a single developer on retainer, a costly key-person dependency, with no clear basis for whether to keep building it or buy something proven.

Approach: I advised on build versus buy, modelling the full 36-month cost of a one-developer custom build against a proven, supported product, alongside their product roadmap, technology selection and the change management to land the decision.

Result: the 36-month total-cost-of-ownership model put the gap between building and buying at about R1.97M. On that basis I recommended buying a proven product rather than continuing the single-developer custom build, which spared them the cost and the key-person risk, and gave leadership a clear basis for the call.

Deep-tech foundersInvestor-readiness review

Reading the science and the pitch, before the investors do

Science + modelread together, not translated
Pitch gapsfound before investors do
The full case

Problem: two science-led founders, one in climate-tech and one in deep-tech, were heading into raises with pitches that had real technology but gaps an investor would catch: missed competitors, an unclear read of how far the technology had actually progressed, and financial models that did not hold up.

Approach: I reviewed each pitch the way an investor would, but with an engineer's read of the science. I named the competitors they had missed, pressed on technology-readiness and scale-up risk, tested the financial model, and pointed to a credible first market to win.

Result: each founder went back with a sharper, more honest pitch: a clear competitive picture, a defensible account of where the technology really is, and a funding ask that matched the plan.

In their words

Prepared, neutral, calm under pressure, and no ego.

“
In my next business, Adriaan will be COO.

CEO · software product company

“
One of my go-to people to this day.

Retail Systems Director · JSE-listed retail group

“
He frames hard decisions in a way that is generous, pragmatic and not personal. He even wins over the ego-driven artistic and creative characters.

Managing Director · large non-profit

“
An excellent listener and a servant leader, never change!

Anonymous peer · 360-degree review, space company

Real comments from professional references and a 360-degree review, quoted anonymously.

Built & led operations at
Dragonfly Aerospace/AfrikaBurn
Worked with & for, across more than twenty years
The Foschini Group/Sanlam/BHP Billiton/Xstrata/SAB/Pick n Pay/Peace Parks Foundation
How I work

Easy to start, and sized to fit the problem.

This is a small practice, kept deliberately lean. You get a senior operations leader working on the problem directly, rather than a team of juniors, and a commercial model built to lower your risk.

Master agreement + discrete work orders Phase-gated proposals Rates by proposal

Done it, not just advised

Recommendations from someone who has had to carry them out, and live with them, in the COO and CEO seat.

Neutral & incentive-free

I have no vested interest beyond doing the best job I can. No vendor ties, no preferred outcome.

The right amount of work

Lean and focused on the few things that move the goal. The right amount of work, and no more.

Boardroom judgement, bench-level rigour

An engineer, scientist and MBA who moves easily between the boardroom and the build.

A network behind the practice

The practice is lean, but the network behind it is deep. I bring in trusted specialists for larger jobs, and refer work that sits outside my expertise to the right person.

The hieroglyph for Khenti, a stand of water-jars
About the name

Khenti is the ancient Egyptian for “foremost,” the one at the front of its domain. The mark on this site is simply that word written out, the hieroglyph for khnt, a stand of water-jars. Khenti was also a name of Thoth, the Egyptian god of writing, measurement and calculation.

Let's talk

It's worth a conversation.

The first conversation is a frank, no-obligation look at whether I can help. If I'm not the right fit, I can usually point you to who is.

Get in touch → Connect on LinkedIn ↗
Open to

Non-executive director and board-advisory seats, interim COO/CEO mandates, and fractional operations leadership, alongside scoped advisory engagements.

Cape Town, South Africa [email protected] Remote & on-site