Founder & CEO
Marianka Victor
Connector, mixer and mover. Marianka sees possibility in spaces others walk past, and makes the connections that realise it. She studied brand communication, and believes property needs more creativity, not less.
About Ancora
Next-generation retail property specialists
We are the retail property and leasing strategists behind 23 centres across Southern Africa, and a business proudly owned and led by women.
How it started
One woman, one decision, and a company reimagined
Ancora traces back to Finlay Mall Leasing, itself born out of a property firm established more than thirty years ago. In 2017, having been appointed its Managing Director, Marianka Victor did something few operators ever do: she acquired the company she was running, and rebuilt it into Ancora Group.
From the start, Ancora blazed new trails, expanding national retail footprints into rural and secondary markets that others overlooked. Together with its roots in Finlay Mall Leasing, the team has developed and managed over 937,000m² of retail space, and built a deep instinct for the tenant mix and centre design that make a development actually work.
Today Ancora is a portfolio of 23 retail properties worth R3.8bn, serving a client base that ranges from private individuals to listed developers and landlords, and it is still led by the same belief: that great retail is built one relationship, one town, one tile at a time.
Regional Experts
Building a legacy of excellence
Partnering with us means joining a team with decades of combined experience across the South African retail landscape and beyond. Our expertise spans community centres, regional malls, filling station sites and mixed-use precincts, always with an eye on long-term returns.
Our portfolio includes award-winning developments designed for both everyday convenience and investment growth. We offer end-to-end solutions — from feasibility and tenant mix through to leasing, project management and handover.
23
Retail properties
382k
m² under management
R3.8bn
Asset value
6
Industry awards
Our Executives
A powerful mixture of women
Director
Meryl Bessesar
Meryl organises, plans and directs the operations of Ancora, untangling the most complex deals and structures. Her ability to build relationships has carved many of Ancora's most successful partnerships.
Leasing Team
Wynand De Sousa
Leasing
Nicole Da Silva
Leasing
Viani Saunders
Leasing
Kata Pitjeng
Leasing
The Ancora Group
Everything we build makes someone else an owner
Ancora is not one business with a charity attached. It is one idea, expressed four ways. Centres make traders, listings make access, coffee carts make franchisees, and the Foundation makes careers.
Ancora Group
Retail development, leasing and strategy. It creates traders, tenants, jobs and communities.
Retail Listings
A free retail-property search platform, giving small retailers the same access to space the nationals have.
Mine Artisan Coffee
An off-grid mobile coffee business that turns baristas into entrepreneurs who hire and train their own teams.
The Ancora Foundation
Mentoring graduates and previously disadvantaged individuals into an industry that has rarely made room for them.
100%
Female ownership
100%
Female board
77%
Female employees
18
Interns placed