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Company Overview


Ultimately the objective of infrastructure is to connect the world, its cities,

its people, business, in an efficient and organised way. So if we build new infrastructure

for the future, or re-building our existing infrastructure, it needs to serve a future world

where everything will need power and connectivity, electric vehicles need a range of

charging stations, where power is generated from wind or solar plants located

in non-traditional areas, we need to get smart about this.


Copyright © 2021 Mertrac Infraco (Pty) Ltd.

All Rights Reserved.


The world is fast entering an era where a complete rethink of how we build, upfrade or overhaul all of our infrastructure. In time this will become a top priority for all nations.

Optitrac® was developed and patented by Mertrac Infraco in 19 countries to date. Mertrac is a wholly owned private company incorporated in the Republic of South Africa.

The company is lead by Stephen van der Merwe and Johan Nel as two South African entrepreneurs with significant experience in telecoms, technology and several other industries.

Stephen has served in executive positions in South Africa for more than seventeen years. His career spans a combined nineteen years in the Telecommunications and IT industry and eighteen years in financial positions. These included line and operational functions ranging from and including sales (corporate, wholesale and dealer channels), marketing, finance, procurement, HR, training and events, property management to company secretarial.

He has extensive senior leadership experience in telecommunications, non-ferrous metal manufacturing, automotive manufacturing and distribution, telecoms, technology and commercial deal structuring, retail distribution, metal refinery/smelting, and auditing (standard and forensic).

Stephen was also the Non-executive Chairman of Telemasters Holdings (Pty) Ltd, an innovative IT and telecommunications company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).

Johan is a Mechanical Engineer who also completed his MBA degree in the United States. He is an entrepreneur and former management consultant with significant experience in driving commercial strategy for technology centered businesses and the development of new technologies and next generation business and operating models. He has also has significant international experience and has developed a keen interest in the role of clean technologies and circular economics.

His background includes steel manufacturing, fleet management, maintenance, logistics, fibre networks, mobile telecoms, financial services, remote monitoring systems, mobile payments, intelligent transport, smart infrastructure, and energy storage for future renewable energy applications. He also lead the initiation, design, build, and commissioning of the first fully integrated cellular system deployed on the Gautrain. The project was a first in Africa.


The complete transformation of automotive industry and power sector to clean and renewable power sources have massive implications for how infrastructure needs to be transformed. Optitrac® was created out of the vision of using discontinued, outdated, or new rail servitudes for the acceleration of infrastructure development across traditional industry silos.