Kishan

Co-Founder, School Operations, Swimming Instructor

Nowadays Kishan is a qualified learn to swim instructor, and through pulling knowledge and experience from the startup and business world, he’s focused on building a world-class learn to swim facility with the processes and services to match.

He started swimming when he was 8 years old, after it was recommended by a family friend that swimming may be a way for his younger brother to cure his asthma, and he tagged along to those swimming lessons…and felt left out.

Once he got in the water Kishan showed plenty talent, and through hard work, dedication and proper coaching was able to take on the sport of swimming as a major influence in his younger years.

At primary school level he went unbeaten in many school age-group events, having chosen to specialise in the freestyle events while joining a swimming club and training daily.

In his teen years, swim-training became a primary focus, as he broke Western Province records in long distance freestyle; holding the 800m Open Men’s Freestyle record at the age of only 16, and also qualifying for Senior National Championships that year.

This also saw him making multiple Junior Springbok teams, both locally and abroad; Australia, Brazil, France – World School Gymnasiade, 2002.

Surf lifesaving became a second love for Kishan, with the unpredictable nature of the ocean offering endless fun on the competitive racing side. He made many Nippers, Junior and Senior Provincial lifesaving teams, also often captaining those teams.

He represented False Bay Surf Lifesaving Club at World Rescue Lifesaving Championships in Italy in 2004 and Australia in 2006.

His highlight was competing at World Games (Olympics for non-Olympic sports) Germany in 2005, having made the Senior National Lifesaving team.

Coming from a competitive surf lifesaving background, he was also a formidable open-water long distance swimmer, oftentimes medaling at events like the Midmar 5km, Fish Hoek Mile and Clifton Coldwater swims.

After school, Kishan spent a year at the High Performance Centre at Pretoria University (TUKS), and moving away from a competitive swimming career to study an undergrad in Sport Science at Stellenbosch University, while still representing the University at Intervarsity level.

After sports, Kishan studied Enterprise Management at University of Cape Town, thereafter joining the local startup space in Cape Town founding multiple startup companies across various technology industries.

He also got involved with leadership positions at lifesaving: Chairman of False Bay Surf Lifesaving Club, Vice-Chair at Lifesaving Cape Town, as well as Selector and Team Manager of the provincial lifesaving team.

With a love for swimming still deep in his bones, Kishan has taken on the challenge of managing Stars Swimming School, and with it, the opportunity to continue a family-run passion-project.