Christo Davel is the founder and CEO of new financial management service, 22seven. After launching the pilot test, 22seven is now available to the public for free, while final tweaking is taking place. It will then have a subscription fee of R70 a month. So can it change your financial life? Heavy Chef chatted to Christo about the challenges they are facing, their strategy and why money management is so important. Read Further
Eran Eyal has a strong track record behind his name in the entrepreneurial world. He is the co-founder of Evly, the world’s first crowdsourcing social network; as well as co-founder and CEO of design at Springleap, a crowdsourcing company aimed at empowering designers and making great merchandise. He is also a tech presenter on Cape Talk. Eran recently got the opportunity to share his wisdom at Tedx. Heavy Chef caught up with Eran to chat about crowdsourcing and when it is necessary for a business to change their strategy. Read Further
Richard Millington is the founder and mastermind behind the globally successful online community consultancy, FeverBee. He helps clients understand the best practices for creating thriving online communities and build invaluable communities of their own. The FeverBee blog is ranked in the top 10 UK marketing blogs and is well-known for its influence in helping organizations around the world improve their community efforts. Richard is also the author of Online Community Manifesto, aimed at creating a change in our approach to building communities. He has also worked closely with Seth Godin on various community projects. Read Further
World Wide Creative is fortunate to have Louis Janse van Rensburg on their team. Manager of the Johannesburg branch, Louis is highly passionate about the entrepreneurial cause. He has been involved with many successful online projects including Virgin Mobile, The Thabo Mbeki Foundation, Honda South Africa and Exclusive Books. Louis has also been involved with numerous bloggers such as Jay Naidoo. Heavy Chef got the chance to hear what he has learnt from working closely with successful bloggers. Read Further
After graduating from Cambridge University, Will Critchlow founded Distilled in 2005 with business partner, Duncan Morris. Starting out in web development, the focus soon migrated towards SEO and PPC, when Will’s brother, Tom, joined the team. In 2010 they joined forces with SEOmoz to create on of the most successful SEO organisations in the world. Distilled now have offices in London, New York and Seattle offering internet marketing services, especially SEO, to businesses of all sizes, up to Fortune 500 brands. Heavy Chef was fortunate enough to get some insight from Will this week. Read Further
Heavy Chef got the opportunity to speak with Glenn Roberts, the founder and lead developer of Siyelo. Glenn has 12 years of professional software development experience and has consulted with several leading technology companies such as Accenture, Ericsson, Hutchison ‘3′, and Tele2. His experience is in architecting, developing, and deploying scalable business applications; including revenue-assurance systems, web-applications, and Internet business. Siyelo is an expert web consultancy, specializing in building bespoke web applications and websites. Read Further
Anny Mouton is the MD and the driving force of Ogilvy Namibia. Her career highlights include launching Saatchi Namibia in 1990, founding partner and creative director of Ogilvy Namibia from 1996-1998 and MD of Ogilvy from 1998-2007. She was the co-founder and director of Business School of Excellence and since 2009 Anny is back in the managing director’s seat at Ogilvy. Heavy Chef had the privilege of speaking to her about advertising in emerging countries, and acquired some lessons from her experiences in the advertising industry. Read Further
Giovanni Ghignone is the engaging voice behind the Virgin Active SA brand. With his role as social media manager, he is in charge of interaction between the Virgin Active community, as well as providing clarity, information and monitoring the brand. Gio does this exceptionally well, so Heavy Chef decided to have an in-depth conversation with Gio about being the face behind a brand name, and keeping a brand strong and active. Read Further
Mike Saunders is the CEO of DigitLab, a well-known business that focuses on digital strategy, design and development, research and training. Mike also provides training, presentations, consulting, social media, social business and networking, email marketing, and is an avid blogger. Along with his array of offerings, Mike was also voted one of the top 20 people of follow o Twitter in South Africa. Heavy Chef caught p with him to learn about his success and specialty role as a keynote speaker. Read Further
Nicholas Haralambous is the CEO and co-founder of Motribe.com, a platform that allows users to manage their own mobile social communities. He started off as a journalist, but quickly moved from print media to the online space. He has worked with the Sunday Times and Financial Mail. Nic is also the head of the mobile division at Mail & Guardian, and the General Manager at Zoopy.com. He also adds product manager of Vodacom SA’s mobile and social networking division to his resumé. With such success, we thought we would chat to Nic about mobile and the various platforms that are necessary to flourish as a brand. Read Further
Christine da Silva is the Head of Search for Neo@Ogilvy in South Africa. She has extensive experience in the international markets including the Unites States, Europe, The United Kingdom, and South Africa. She has also been at the head of SEO divisions of three well renowned Search Marketing companies, prior to starting her own consultancy, AlterSage. Christine successfully managed AlterSage for four years before it merged with Ogilvy’s Neo division. She took some time to chat with Heavy Chef and share some important elements concerning international marketing. Read Further
Erica Ho is a contributor to Time magazine’s technology blog, Techland, and has also lent her writing talent to AOL and Gizmodo. Erica attended the University of Texas and then moved to San Fransisco to write for Gizmodo. She has been living in Hong Kong for the past two years, and Heavy Chef got a chance to speak with her about her tech experiences there. She also shared her views on the Android vs. Iphone debate. Read Further
With consistent and unique content, Bizcommunity manages to stand above other content based websites in the industry. One of the people behind Bizcommunity’s success is Sindy Peters who is the site’s content manager. Sindy and her dynamic team work hard to keep material flowing through to loyal readers. Heavy Chef spoke to Sindy about content management and working at Bizcommunity. Sindy hails from Kwa-zulu Natal and graduated from UCT in 2005 where she majored in English Literature, Language and Media and Writing. Read Further
Sam Wilson is the multi-talented editor for three of the 24.com websites – Parent24, Women24 and Food24. Heavy Chef got the chance to talk with Sam about running multiple websites while maintaining their distinctive brands. We also get the scoop on her upcoming position at Woolworths as Digital Editor. Read Further
Dave Duarte, a veteran of Heavy Chef Sessions with four sessions under his belt, spoke to us about community building in the last event we held last year. Dave gave us an overview of where we’re at in marketing at the moment, and followed it up with some ‘ninja’ tips for you to use. Don’t miss this – a well worthwhile video. Read Further
As affiliate marketing becomes an increasingly prevalent method in South Africa and other emerging markets, it is essential to understand this type of relationship and how it may benefit you. Heavy Chef chats to Deborah Whitlock of World Wide Creative, to get to grips with affiliate marketing and the possible challenges that come with it. Read Further
Gianluca Fiorelli is an avid SEO blogger and is the author of the popular blog ILoveSEO.net. He recently had the privilege of interviewing Avinash Kaushik – one of the most influential thought leaders on Analytics and celebrated author of ‘Web Analytics: An Hour A Day’ and ‘Analytics 2.0′. Hailed by followers as an idol, a mentor, and even an oracle, his sphere of influence is massive and constantly expanding. He is known for his ability to simplify the complex world of web analytics and make it accessible to all those wanting to include it into their digital marketing strategies. Read Further
Caroline Mytton is the head of Rentokil.com – the world’s largest commercial pest control company. This global brand is present in more than 50 countries, operates in over 28 languages and have been leading experts in their business since the 1920’s. With plenty of experience managing a multinational organisation, Caroline shares some of her valuable knowledge with us at Heavy Chef. Read Further
Our last Heavy Chef event in Joburg last year presented Jennifer Grace from NATIVE and Styli Charalambous from The Daily Maverick who spoke about demystifying online advertising. Read Further
Unlike the rest of the world where internet access is computer based, most people in Africa access the internet on mobile devices, and this allows more mobile opportunities for consumers. One area where growth is predicted is the mobile finance realm. Mobile transactions would simplify the lives of millions of consumers across the African continent. iVeri Payment Technologies is a South African firm that provides mobile transactional technology to merchants and banks across Africa. Mobithinking sat down with iVeri’s CEO Barry Coetzee to get his thoughts on the mobile money revolution and how it will benefit the African continent. Read Further
