Danny Verissimo
Danny started his professional working career in the banking division of Macsteel International South Africa (MISA). MISA being the exclusive export arm for Arcelor Mittal South Africa’s blue water exports, also part of the Macsteel group which are the single biggest steel merchants In South Africa. He was specifically responsible for opening /checking and monitoring of all incoming and outgoing Letter of Credit contracts (L/C’s) pertaining to MISA’s steel trading deals .
With a sound working knowledge of the payment instruments used in international trade, Danny then moved to the trading desk at MISA as a junior trader on the West African desk . Using his language skill set (Portuguese / Basic French) he traded both long and flat steel products from various mills globally into French speaking West Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. Being a semi-professional Rugby player whilst at MISA , Danny got the opportunity to play rugby as a professional in Portugal where he spent one season at Benfica Rugby Club in Lisbon , where after injury forced him back to Johannesburg.
On his return , his desire to get back into steel trading in Africa lead him to join BSI Steel as a trader where he was responsible for developing the export trading of South African steel into Mozambique. With BSI Steel being a major steel merchant in South Africa, he grew his experience from back to back blue water trading (At MISA) to cross boarder trading of South African material. On the back of his market development and trading, BSI opened two branch in Mozambique.
Danny then took an opportunity to get back into International trading where he joined Manuchar South Africa (part of Manuchar NV - Antwerp ) as the Commercial Manager of the steel trading division for Southern Africa. His primary task was to establish and develop the steel trading division/business for Manuchar in the SADC region (Angola /Mozambique /Zambia /Zimbabwe /Namibia /Botswana ). In this role he identified the opportunities and focussed on trading of long products from South Africa /Turkey (Rebar/Wire Rod) and Importing of flat products (GI/PPGI) ex China. Being fluent in Portuguese, Danny was also responsible to the trading of raw materials (bulk powders) for the detergent industries of Mozambique and Angola.
Danny has since started his own trading business – Azul Steel Pty Ltd where he is the Managing Director. Azul Steel’s main focus being the trading of various steel and chemical products within the SADC region. With his established regional networks and knowledge in Southern Africa, Danny also provides consulting services to various South African companies and multinationals wanting to gain access to the high growth markets the region has to offer.
Danny holds a B com Honours Economics Degree from the University of Johannesburg where he majored in International Trade and Finance. He has also completed his intermediate and advanced Portuguese language course at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits).
Danny believes in work-life balance and as such is an avid mountain biker, does Crossfit and runs various half-marathons (21kms) in South Africa /Africa. He also loves traveling and is a massive rugby fan.