Pieter Wasserfall is a qualified actuary, entrepreneur, and strategic thinker with close to two decades of experience in financial services and global consulting. After working for Accenture across Africa, Europe, and North America, Pieter’s vision shifted to solving one of South Africa’s most entrenched problems: the cycle of debt trapping low-income workers. In 2012, he founded Picsa, a financial services company whose vision is to see the lives of low-income workers in South Africa flourish.
‘It all started with a payslip’
“In 2010 or 2011, our domestic worker asked me for a payslip. I found it strange because our relationship was very informal, but I went ahead and created one for her,” Pieter recalls. “The next day, she came to work absolutely ecstatic. She told me she had just qualified for R15 000 in goods from a retailer in Cape Town. She got a bed, a fridge, a TV, and a hi-fi. These were all things she had wanted for years.”
Pieter recalls her excitement quickly turning to panic. “She soon realised that she was going to be paying back between 60% and 70% of her salary just to cover the repayments, as the retailer had done no proper affordability check. Our domestic worker was illiterate and barely understood the terms of the agreement.”
Pieter drove her back to the store and paid off her debt himself. “I told her, this is a lesson we need to learn together.”
That experience stayed with him. “I remember walking in the mountains and asking God, ‘What can we do about this?’ I felt the Lord lay a clear challenge on my heart. He asked me, ‘How many actuaries are there, with resources, a heart for people, and a desire to make a difference? You’ve been prepared for this.’”
Pieter then made a bold move: he resigned from his job, cashed in his pension, and began a personal experiment. He gathered a group of 13 farmworkers, helped them settle their debts, and set out to see how quickly they could become debt-free and start saving.
A broken system and a new vision
“What I found during my experiment and subsequent research was devastating,” says Pieter. “Most people didn’t even know how much they owed. Many were paying most of their income to furniture retailers or loan sharks. There were no savings products on the market for them unless they could commit to saving R500 a month. And even then, their money would barely keep up with inflation.”
With no access to credible financial products, Pieter learned that, oftentimes, low-income workers relied on unsecured lending practices to make ends meet. He adds, “As people earned more, they didn’t save more, they just simply took on more debt. It wasn’t an income problem. It was a behaviour and access problem.”
Picsa was designed to fix that.
“We built a product that allowed people to save as little as R10 or R20 per month, and beat inflation over time.”
Pieter Wasserfall
Facing mistrust and misunderstanding
“We were entering a space where people had previously been badly burnt by lies masked as truth,” Pieter explains. “Many had signed up for products thinking they were saving for their retirement, but most of what they paid went toward disguised funeral cover.”
To overcome the trust gap, Picsa changed its approach. “We decided to partner with employers as a trust relationship with their employees already existed.” But, even that wasn’t simple. “Many employers were struggling themselves, especially farmers. I’m a farmer myself, and I completely get it. They felt like they were already doing all they could by paying wages. Asking them to support their employees with an additional programme just felt like too much for some of them.”
The story of Attie
“One of the first clients I sat down with was a man named Attie,” Pieter shares. “His employer was a good friend of mine and told me that Attie was drowning in debt, but wouldn’t talk about it. He was one of my friend’s top employees, and he wanted to help him. I met with Attie and asked about his financial situation, and found that he was in complete denial about how much he owed.”
After Pieter showed him a credit report linked to his ID number, Attie burst into tears. “It was shame,” Pieter says. “He wanted people to think he was successful. Every time he bought something new, people admired him. But it was all built on debt.”
Pieter paid off Attie’s debts using personal funds and set up a repayment plan. By settling the debt upfront, Pieter reduced the interest rate on Attie’s loans from over 60% per year to just 10%, making it possible for Attie to become debt-free within 18 months and start saving.
Says Pieter, “For me, that experience demonstrated how desperately people need guidance and dignity regarding their finances.”
“Picsa is here to help people build assets, not just avoid debt.”
Pieter Wasserfall
Making it easy for employers
“We knew employers cared deeply about their workers. They just didn’t have the capacity to take on something new,” Pieter explains. “So we made it easy. Picsa offers an effortless solution for employers. We integrate seamlessly with payroll, manage all administration, and engage directly with employees. And because employees recognise the value, they cover the cost themselves, and not the employer.
“If your employees are constantly stressed about debt, it affects their performance in the workplace. Our goal is to lift that burden.”
Pieter Wasserfall
The numbers behind the impact
“I had a look at our stats in February and March this year,” Pieter says. “We currently have 10,000 active clients who are saving more than R6 million every month. The total outstanding debt among our clients, with Picsa, is just under R2 million.”
That means the average Picsa client is saving three times more than they owe.
Says Pieter, “That’s when I knew: what we’re doing is working.”
Changing habits
“Picsa is a cycle-breaker,” Pieter states. “I believe the habits we’re helping build now will shape not just individuals, but families and communities for generations to come. Even if the true impact only becomes clear in the lives of our clients’ grandchildren and great-grandchildren, it’s worth it. We just have to be faithful with what’s in front of us now.”
Leadership lessons and personal convictions
“Founding Picsa has taught me that it’s not the stars that keep things going, it’s the pillars. And by stars, I don’t mean the most qualified people on paper, I mean the ones who shine bright for a time and then move on. It’s the pillars, the steady, committed people, who stay through the tough seasons. That’s who we’ve built this business with.”
His view of leadership has also shifted. “It’s not about being the smartest or the most impressive on the surface. It’s about showing up, staying the course, and doing what’s right—even when it’s hard.”
Thoughts on stewardship
“I believe nothing we have truly belongs to us. We’re just stewards of what we’ve been entrusted with,” Pieter says. “That’s how we see our work at Picsa. We are stewards of our clients’ financial futures. And that’s a responsibility we take seriously.”
With a heart for people and a strategy for change, Pieter Wasserfall and the Picsa team are rewriting the financial story of South Africa’s low-income workforce, one worker at a time.
Partner with Picsa to end the low-income debt cycle in South Africa and empower your employees with real financial tools.