Built around staying.
ClearPeak is a business consulting firm. We help business owners and leadership teams see where the business is today, get clear on the vision of where they want it to be, and build the path between. Our work covers strategy, operations, performance, sales and growth, people and culture, and AI, where we have unusually deep specialist capability.
Two friends. One conviction. A firm built on partnership.
ClearPeak started as a conversation between two friends. We saw a gap. Business owners were working harder than ever, but the strategic and operational support that bigger businesses take for granted was not reaching them. We wanted to change that.
Ruan is co-founder and director of a high-end aluminium business, and started wondering what AI could really do inside a real operating business. He went deep, worked out how to apply it practically, and built it into his own workflows. What became clear was that AI was not a theoretical tool for the future. It was already changing what was possible for a business right now, in ways most owners had not yet seen.
He wanted to share what he had learnt. The thinking was simple: if it could make a real difference in our business, it could make a real difference in a lot of other businesses too. He approached Chrisna with an idea: build a firm that could train business owners and their teams on AI and help them implement it properly, in real workflows and real operating conditions. Something that actually works inside a business, not something that only sounds good on paper.
That was the start of ClearPeak. Because we are business owners ourselves, we have always looked at AI through a business lens rather than a technology one. The question we ask is not “what can AI do?” but “where does it actually make commercial sense inside this business?” That mindset is what turned ClearPeak into something broader than an AI firm. Ruan has started, built, and operated businesses across seven industries including charity, medical, engineering, farming, food, construction, and consulting, in different countries and at every level of an organisation. That operator depth naturally shaped where we could be of real value to clients: strategy, operations, performance, growth, and the broader challenges of running a business. ClearPeak grew into what it is now: a business consulting firm with AI implementation and training as one of its specialist practices.
We started this together in 2025, both of us already running other businesses, both of us choosing this because we genuinely believe in it. What we bring is operator depth. We run real businesses today. We know what it feels like to build something, make hard decisions with incomplete information, and stay accountable when the stakes are real.
Two directors. One firm. Real partnership.
Different strengths, complementary perspectives, joint accountability for every engagement.
Ruan
Strategy, performance, and AI
Ruan is the strategic and analytical side of ClearPeak. He sees the bigger picture, builds the path to it, and pushes the work forward.
His core work is financial analysis, strategic thinking, and building businesses from idea to operating company. He spent years in management accounting in the UK, working across charity, engineering, and cross-border businesses. The work involved cash flow, balance sheet, and P&L analysis, plan-to-actual variance reporting, project performance tracking, and writing commentary for executive teams and boards.
Alongside ClearPeak, he co-founded and runs an aluminium business that imports high-end European systems into the South African market. He built it from vision to operating company, including positioning, brand and corporate identity, supplier and import relationships, marketing, sales, financial management, and the operational systems that hold a client-focused custom-design business together. The business is now fully operational with a real client base and a competitive position in the market.
Earlier in his career, he co-founded a fresh-meal delivery business that grew from an idea into the largest operation of its kind in their area within a year, on the back of a brand and a service standard that did not exist in the local market until they introduced it. Before that, he worked on a large commercial farm of over 450 workers, sitting on the management team where he built the quality control framework and designed a stock-taking system for pest-control chemicals that prevented supply gaps the operation could not afford. He studied agricultural management originally, before moving into finance and building from there.
Most consultants have only worked in consulting. Ruan has built businesses from the ground up, run financial analysis at the level executive teams and boards rely on, and managed the full lifecycle of a current operating company. Business owners are not getting advice from someone who has only read about running a business. They are getting it from someone who is doing it now, in real conditions, with real consequences.
Helping businesses refocus on their goals and their vision, then building the path to get them there. Helping owners see what is actually going on, identifying where the real leverage sits, and translating big-picture thinking into practical next steps.
Chrisna de Clerk
Training, implementation, and AI
Chrisna leads training and implementation at ClearPeak. She refines and delivers every training course we put out, runs custom training engagements with client teams, and works hands-on with clients to build the workflows and processes they actually use. She also helps run the business day-to-day.
She is the energy of the firm. The one who keeps momentum and reads the room with clients. She brings a warmth to the work that does not happen naturally in most consulting firms. Clients feel it.
Her background includes co-running a previous business with her husband, alongside several other ventures. When ClearPeak started, she went deep into AI, learned the tools, and built the practical, hands-on capability that lets the firm actually deliver AI implementation and training rather than only talk about it. That specialist depth sits alongside the broader implementation and training work she leads across every engagement.
Making change land. Whether it is AI, a new process, or a different way of working, she is exceptional at working alongside team members to set up the systems that actually fit them, then building the confidence and capability to use them well. That accompanied work is what turns a plan or a training session into something that genuinely changes how a team operates.
Five beliefs that shape every engagement.
These are not slogans. They guide who we work with, how we scope, and how we deliver.
- Belief · 01
The best strategy is the one that gets executed.
A simple plan that gets implemented beats an extravagant plan that sits in a drawer. We would rather build something practical than something extravagant. The work that matters is the work that actually happens.
- Belief · 02
Tools do not change a business. People do.
Whether it is AI, a new system, a new process, or a change in strategy, nothing works until the team can actually run with it. We will never implement something your people cannot carry forward themselves.
- Belief · 03
We do not succeed unless you succeed.
Our measure isn't hours billed or reports delivered. It is whether your business measurably improved.
- Belief · 04
Businesses transform from the inside out.
We do not parachute in with answers. We work alongside you, build capability within your team, and stay until the change is embedded.
- Belief · 05
Clarity comes before strategy.
Strategy is just the path between where you are and where you want to be. Until both are clear, no plan is worth much. We spend the time on clarity because that is where the real work starts.
Curious how this could work for your business?
A conversation with a director about your business, what is on your mind, and where we might be able to help.
Everything you share with us is treated as confidential.