I’ve made a conscious decision to stop looking at university assignments as being purely hypothetical, but rather choose to make them more realistic and industry relevant.

It’s such a pleasure being able to collaborate with open-minded, real industry leaders while studying: This past week, Pieter Groenewald and Jarrod Stewart from theSALT assisted me in developing an influencer marketing strategy for my digital marketing assignment.

Having spent time with the team at Nfinity in July and being exposed to the power of micro-influencer marketing, I can’t stress the importance of it enough for brands in today’s world.

It was really inspiring listening to John Sanei at Suits & Sneakers last night. It was my second time hearing John speak about his new book and I can honestly say I was equally as blown away. (By the way, the title isn’t a typo, it’s the name of his book!)

Some of my key takeouts from his presentation:

1. We need to move towards making heartfelt (not just primal and logical) decisions.

2. We need to celebrate and prioritise curiosity.

3. Purpose-led > profit-led (you’ll know you are purpose-led when you have super fans).

4. Data (not oil) is the world’s new most valuable resource.

5. Disruptive leadership traits: be bold, work backwards from the end goal and be forever learners (unlearn, relearn and learn).

Finally: you have the power to wake up tomorrow and say “one day” or “day one”.

Attended with:

Matthew Mercouris

Letlhogonolo Dube

Joshua Jameson

Gianstelvio Radesich

Justin HeunisG

I was really moved by our guest lecture at University of Cape Town today:

Sharron L McPherson (Co-Founder of the Centre of Disruptive Technologies) shared her views on disruption, innovation, collaboration and forward thinking strategies from an African perspective.

Some key takeouts from her lecture:

1. We need African solutions for African problems

2. What’s stopping Africans from creating our own IP?

3. Digitisation means accessing information anytime, anywhere and for free

4. We need managed innovation processes (it’s not good enough to be a 1-hit-wonder)

5. The biggest threat to innovation in Africa is disciplined implementation

6. We need to understand the new economic paradigm and quickly!

7. We need to stop operating in silos, we need to encourage a culture of collaboration

I had the pleasure of attending an insightful talk by Ross Faragher-Thomas, CEO of Virgin Active SA, at a recent Suits and Sneakers event. While we learnt about his journey to becoming the CEO, he also discussed how Virgin Active can remain relevant in a world that is being disrupted by technology.

Importantly, he kept reiterating the need for modern day businesses to shift from profit-led to purpose-led.

This past week I had the privilege of spending time at Nando’s South Africa’s “Central Kitchen” in Johannesburg. I was fortunate enough to spend time with and learn from their marketing team, as well as members of senior management focusing on strategy. Besides their awesome campus, there is a genuine fun and innovative culture that I believe translates into the Nando’s brand that we as South Africans know and love.

It turns out that selling chicken in 24 different countries is a lot more complex than you might think: it’s the people that make the chicken. 🐓

A huge thank you to John Sikiotis, Doug Place, Darren Hampton and the rest of the team!

Two insightful talks I attended in two nights:

1. Suits & Sneakers hosted Marnus Broodryk (entrepreneur and Shark Tank judge) who shared his story about his humble beginnings and highlighted some of the key life/business lessons he’s learnt along the way.

2. Nfinity hosted Justin Spratt 🚗 (Uber’s head of business development in sub-Saharan Africa) who spoke about disruption and the importance of fostering innovation in businesses.

• Marnus has released a book called “90 Rules for Entrepreneurs” which I’ve heard really good reviews on.
• Justin interestingly also touched on Uber’s goal in the South African market: give people no reason to own a second car.

I spent this past week learning from and observing media and marketing legend Ken Varejes’ latest business venture: Nfinity.

An innovative group of businesses who are definitely disrupting the South African market as we know it!

Interestingly, Ken has opted to buy a bunch of small marketing companies which range from an influencer marketing business to an events and promotion business.

Have a look at their website: https://www.nfinity.co.za/

As part of a University assignment, I had a really cool opportunity to present to GetSmarter today about the potential expansion of their business-to-business offerings.

GetSmarter, an online educational platform which was founded by a UCT graduate, was acquired by American company, 2U, for R1.4Bn in 2017.

Our idea that we presented to the team at GetSmarter included developing sector-specific bundle packages of “time-relevant” courses for the workplace called GetCorporate. For example, cyber-security and fin-tech courses for the finance and banking industries.

We also proposed that GetSmarter positions themselves as a skills development spend incentive towards corporates’ BBBEE ratings.

Our group placed 2nd in the class.

Check out their website here: https://www.getsmarter.com/