About Me.
In my heart lies an unshakable belief in making a positive Impact.
I really enjoy working on the cutting-edge.
I also enjoy being surrounded by brilliant people who share a vision for the future.
My experience spans accross technology-based business, startups, Innovation, marketing and sales.
My Background
In my professional journey, I've had the privilege of wearing many hats. I've helped startups focused on space exploration technology gain Investments and helped South African Startups that plan to scale into Europe connect with Irish tech ecosystem. Along the way, I've worked as a business developer in the earliest of stages, and also guided entrepreneurs on how to build their own startups. In corporate, i've helped an organisation innovate for the future, and through marketing i've helped launch products into new markets.
Biography
Early Life
My story begins in a small village in South Africa, and a burning desire to have a positive Impact in the world. That was my superhero complex, I never outgrew It. Every day I spent in my village I was reminded of the power of a community. Growing up, I was always drawn to entrepreneurial pursuits, curious about how great ventures and inventions came to be. As soon as I could grasp the value for money concept, I started my first entrepreneurial venture, striking a deal with my mother to tackle some yard work. As a teenager, I moved into a photography business, a music distribution business.
Sports played an important role in my life. I don't ever remember a time in my life when I didn't play sports.
It was pure fun, but as I grew older it became a platform to push myself beyond my limits and to build my discipline.
In hindsight, sports taught me a lot of important lessons.
For most of my schooling I felt uninspired, It was as if something was missing; I wanted to understand how things connect to real life. So outside of school, I'd read every business book I could get my hands on, or any book that could explain anything about real life. These books Inspired me, but they also made me aware of the world is socially constructed.
Education & Career
I pursued a Business degree at University; it just made sense. My first Job was In client relations, mostly ensuring client satisfaction. Subesquently it hen worked in sales, and nothing in this world could prepare me for the amount of rejection I would face. The learning curve was steep, I have never learned so many lessons in such a short space of time, it was a sink or swim environment. This job developed me on both a personal and professional level. I learned resilience, repeatable systems, performance, self-leadership, and how to sell. This was my real school of business.
After working and studying this built my confidence to pursue an early-stage solar energy venture after, the company failed to take off so I briefly worked on formalising informal business.
My journey then led me to Sweden, a country renowned for its innovation prowess. At Chalmers University, I pursued a master's Focused on the intersection of Technology, Business and Intellectual Property. I immersed myself in the Swedish tech-startup ecosystem. From working in a tech startup, to corporate Innovation and ecosystem building roles, I left no stone unturned. These experiences provided a deep Insights of what it takes to build technology-driven businesses, both on a broad scale and in day-to-day operations.