Who Owns Optimi College?

The institution at the heart of Optimi College began in 2007 as Curro College, a distance learning venture established in partnership with the Curro School Group. The Curro partners sold their shares in 2008, and the institution continued as College SA.

College SA grew through the 2010s into a multi-school distance learning college offering more than 100 accredited and non-accredited qualifications and short courses to adult learners. In 2016, majority shareholding passed to the JSE-listed RECM and Calibre Limited, and the college relocated from Bellville South to Tygervalley.

In 2019, Optimi acquired College SA as its entry into the TVET market. The acquisition gave the group a distance learning platform that complemented its existing Impaq home education and Media Works adult education businesses.

In 2021, the college division expanded again with the acquisition of IT Academy, a South African IT training institution founded in 2008 that offered industry-endorsed and accredited technology courses. The two institutions were consolidated under the Optimi College divisional brand.

Under the Optimi Group rebrand, the parent corporate name changed from FutureLearn to Optimi, and the college segment became one of four divisions: Optimi Home, Optimi Workplace, Optimi Classroom, and Optimi College. The operating brands retained their identities inside the division.