From Cape Town to Canada: A Global Executive Journey with Steve Felder - EP 66
The Relocated South African | Emigration storiesPlay episode
Show notes
Steve Felder is a South African global executive who has lived and worked across five continents over 25 years — from Cape Town to Joburg, Pittsburgh to Tel Aviv, Nairobi to Mumbai, Copenhagen to Montreal.
He built his career in shipping and logistics with Maersk and Safmarine, leading businesses across Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, before making the leap into entrepreneurship.
Today he runs a cybersecurity venture in Canada, sits on several boards, and is still very much a South African at heart.
In this conversation, Steve shares an extraordinary story of relentless reinvention, the trade-offs of a global life, raising third culture kids, and what it really takes to thrive when you keep starting over.
Timestamps
00:00 – Introduction: Meet Steve Felder, Montreal-based global executive
01:18 – Growing up in Cape Town, dropping out of UCT, and the early move to Joburg
02:29 – First attempt to move to Canada; Sweets from Heaven and running US stores
04:20 – Back to South Africa: Jetline and African Bank
06:30 – Joining Maersk/Safmarine — entering shipping with no industry experience
08:00 – Chief Commercial Officer for Africa; traveling the continent
09:50 – Moving to Israel (2008) as MD; life in Tel Aviv, son born on Freedom Day
12:30 – East Africa (2012): Running Maersk across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and beyond
15:00 – Mumbai (2017): Leading South Asia; COVID lockdown in a 20-million-person city
18:40 – Family splits between India and Copenhagen during the pandemic
21:30 – Life today: sabbatical, pickleball, cybersecurity venture, boards and advising
25:45 – Comparing countries: Kenya as the favourite
27:40 – Settling in across relocations — and why Canada was the hardest landing
32:00 – The importance of a strong family unit when relocating repeatedly
33:40 – India: "Expats cry twice — once when you arrive, once when you leave"
34:00 – How the kids identify: third culture kids who say "South Africa" even though they've never lived there
36:40 – Red tape around the world: Kenya easy, India brutal, UAE astonishing
41:09 – When did Steve realise he wasn't going back?
44:45 – Are South Africans more adaptable? The can-do attitude
48:21 – Living in Israel: perspective on the conflict from someone who was there
51:21 – Advice to a young South African: stay or go?
53:38 – Closing reflections and farewell
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