Young is the CEO of Aida SA. He has gained wide experience in marketing and general management in the financial services and real estate industries, with specialised experience in developing marketing and sales strategies in distribution networks in South Africa and the continent. He also serves as the Council Chairman of AbeSA (Association of Business Executives-SA) a chapter of the UK professional organisation. AbeSA is a statutory body that provides specialised cpd and certification to practicing and aspiring managers and executives. Young is a fellow and Certified General Manager with AbeSA.

Fabio Scala is the Managing Director for BNI - Banco Nacional de Investimento, a joint venture between the Group Caixa Geral de Depósitos (Portugal's largest financial institution) and the Mozambican Treasury. He is responsible for brand and communications management, strategic marketing, business development, proprietary research, advertising, internet, promotions and events, having joined BNI as part of the founding team in February 2011. Previously to his appointment at BNI, Fabio participated in the board of industrial European companies, acted as Marketing advisor to the Hitachi Consulting (PT) and Headed the marketing department attending to over 40 countries at Portugal's largest furniture exporter, TemaHome. He was part of the managing team that took the first Portuguese company to be honored with the Design Managing Europe Award, leading another company to the same award years later. Before his years in Europe, Fabio held several managing positions in the United States, including a leading-role in the pioneering of sportswear and footwear e-commerce. Fabio started off his career as a trainee in the Caixa Economica Federal (the second largest state owned Brazilian bank), later joining the ranks of Young & Rubican creative department in Brazil.

Michael Rubenstein is currently the Head of Marketing at BankservAfrica - the largest automated payments clearing house in Africa. BankservAfrica processes annually over 2 billion payment transactions valued at trillions of Rands. Michael has spent the last 17 years in various marketing roles including a 13 year stint at the SABC (South Africa Broadcasting Corporation) and 4 years to date at BankservAfrica. Michael's passion is around services marketing and B2B marketing with a special interest in building internal brands. Michael has a degree in Communications, a PR diploma, a Management diploma, an honours in strategic marketing and is currently studying for his Masters in strategic marketing. Michael recently climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro – the largest freestanding mountain in the world.

Robin Parker is the Managing Director of Bizcommunity.com. His experience spans across Africa, from journalism to sales and marketing in various forms of media, including print and online. Online experience: general manager and a founding director of iafrica.com; group head of marketing and media for the African Lakes Corporation; and CEO of MiContent mobile media, promotions and marketing. Bizcommunity.com is South Africa's leading online community for the Advertising, Marketing and Media industry. It is the B2B site of choice in South Africa and Africa for anyone wanting to know the who, what, where and why of what's happening in the advertising, marketing, media, retail and related sectors.

Jacquie Muhati is currently the International Brand Manger for Brand Kenya Board. She is responsible for the development of the Kenyan National Brand Internationally. She has spent 9 years of her career in marketing management specializing in marketing strategy development, brand communication & PR, product development and market research in Europe and North America and recently in South Africa. She has been involved in re-branding initiatives in both her previous companies, new product development and new market initiatives as well as managing brand portfolios.

Connie de Lange joined Dimension Data in January 2004 to lead marketing for the Group. She joined the Group Executive in October of the same year. Connie has over 15 years experience in international marketing and communications, new venture start-ups, and change management. Her relationship with Dimension Data dates from 1997 when she moved to South Africa as Marketing Director and a founder of the Dimension Data joint venture Linx Holdings and its subsidiary OmniLink. Prior to joining Dimension Data, Connie had responsibility for global marketing for ADC Telecommunications. Connie was also a Board Director of the ADC Foundation and the Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA). Connie holds an MBA from Northeastern University and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours and Distinction) from Kenyon College.

Pieter joined Eskom 1988 at Matla Power Station as communication officer; in 1992 he was promoted to head office, Megawatt Park as the Generation Division Communication Manager and in 1993 was appointed as the Executive Assistant to the Managing Director.In 2003 he was appointed as the Public Relations Manager for Eskom as part of the Corporate Affairs Division. In 2007 he was appointed as the National Brand Manager (Corporate Communication Manager) in the Corporate Affairs Division as part of the Executive Forum. He is responsible for the leadership of the marketing and external communications function within Eskom including advertising, public relations, media, brand management, sponsorships, social media, promotions, etc. Pieter has a BA Honours degree in Journalism and Public Relations from North West University in, has completed FMP at Unisa, a Public Relations Management Diploma and is an accredited public relations practitioner (APR).

Divan joined FNB Commercial as an intern in 2005 while developing a great passion for B2B marketing. He was then asked to become the Executive Assistant to the Head of Business Banking at the time. The move sparked a great love for banking and more importantly the great role banks play in developing the country and its entrepreneurs. Divan was then asked to join the FNB Commercial marketing unit as a specialist and then took over a diverse portfolio specifically looking after core product marketing as a marketing strategist. The need then arose to care take the marketing division for 4 months when he realized his passion for entrepreneurship would be better utilized by heading up the entrepreneurial development platform BizNetwork on behalf of FNB. Five months later he was asked to head up the marketing function, where he is now the Head of Marketing for Business Banking. The unit serves over 470,000 entrepreneurs in an incredibly competitive market space and prides itself in innovation. Divan currently holds a masters degree in international marketing and is in the process of completing his Doctorate in Business Administration at the University of Johannesburg. His passions are people development, classical and choral music, and challenging the status quo.

Roger Neale-May was the youngest Senior Product Manager in the history of Stellenbosch Winery in South Africa. He now has built upon his early consumer marketing success by developing deep expertise in strategic planning, corporate positioning, brand identity, and a wide range of other marketing and communications programs. Roger works with a variety of global brand name firms from the GlobalFluency office in Cape Town, South Africa.

Dario Debarbieri began his Marketing career in 1990. He studied Law and Economics at the Universidad de Buenos Aires - Throughout his career he held several leadership positions starting as Marketing and Communications manager for what became the largest private pension funds company of Argentina. He then when joined IBM in 1997 was responsible for several strategic projects including the IBM Argentina image recovery plan as Marketing manager and then became Manager of e-business Marketing for IBM Latin America. In 2001 while in New York, he managed the largest web based collateral project while working with the Corporate Marketing Identity and Design team. He also managed the One Voice Marketing project that expanded IBM’s Marketing into 25 countries including the first investment plan for IBM China and India. The project later became the Marketing Management System for all growth markets. In 2003 Dario joined the IBM SWG Team where held leadership positions in IBM USA, IBM Spain and recently IBM Middle East and Africa as Marketing Executive based in “Sunny and Beautiful Johannesburg."

Sabastine Nwajide Okeke is Chairman of Faculty and CEO of MasterMindsHRSG Consulting. He leads the Meetings of the Board and Faculty and provides the Strategic Learning Direction and key training for the group, which is made up of seasoned training professionals. He also serves as the Human Assets Director and Regional Talent Manager for DDB Worldwide Communications, a global professional marketing services firm, reporting to the Group Managing Director/CEO. Sabastine has over 12 years of hands-on management experience in HR, manpower training and development, performance management, organizational development, and corporate and marketing strategy design. Before his current ventures, he held senior management positions at companies such as Maersk, CITC Consulting, and Human Edge, where he created the Executive HR Development Programs Series. Sabastine graduated from Abia State University with a degree in Economics in 1995 and recently completed his Executive MBA at Lagos Business School, Pan-African University. In his free time he enjoys table tennis, reading, writing, meeting people, and teaching.

Melanie Botha is the Marketing & Operations Director at Microsoft South Africa, based in Bryanston.  Prior to joining Microsoft, she was IBM's Europe Sales leader for Large Enterprises covering Germany, UK, Ireland, South Africa, CEMAAS countries and Nordic Countries. Her focus was on all IBM Systems and Technology Products. Her specialties include sales, client relationship management, marketing, business development and academic programme development.

Sabine is the International Marketing Manager for Mix Telematics, a global provider of information and related services for the efficient and effective management of mobile assets. She gained her strategic and analytical skills from the development and execution of marketing and communications strategies in South Africa, Africa, South America and Europe. Previously, Sabine has held marketing management positions at Psitek and ForwardSlash.

With 15 years experience, focusing on the IT market, Natanya Steyn holds the position of Senior Marketing Manager at Oracle South Africa. Prior to that she was the Channel Marketing Manager within Oracle, creating strategies and go-to-market plans with a wide array of Information Technology Partner Companies. Natanya has been responsible for marketing strategy and execution, as well as brand management and leads to business conversion. Before joining Oracle, Natanya spent 4 years at Microsoft, where she was responsible for marketing and communications over a number of the brands. Natanya is passionate about mapping effective marketing plans to business requirements, and being able to measure marketing ROI. She also enjoys helping people to achieve their full potential in their area of choice.

At the last count, 27,332 people have asked Nandi, “How did you get that name?” On that intriquing note, Nandi was born and schooled in Johannesburg and matriculated at Bryanston High. Leaving a startled Toronto behind after a year as an exchange student, she returned and completed a degree, majoring in Zulu and English at Natal University. Nandi joined Sanlam in 2006 as Head: Group Marketing, having relocated from Johannesburg. Previously, she was Managing Director of Ogilvy Johannesburg where her career highlight was being awarded “Agency of the Year” by Financial Mail. Her career spans 18 years in advertising where she worked for agencies such as BBDO, JWT, Leo Burnett and as Managing Director of Red Nail, in the capacities of Research, Account Management and Strategic Planning. Her passion for the development of people led her to freelance for a couple of years. Most of her time was spent traveling Africa and training marketing for Unilever and The Coca-Cola Company. An offer too exciting to turn down led her to join The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) as Director of Communications for the Southern and East African Division, spanning 30 countries. She was elected to represent TCCC on the Cape to Rio Yacht Race. Shortly thereafter the call for adventure was too strong and she joined an Environmental Mission which resulted in 8 months on a yacht, circumnavigating Africa. Her passion in life is sport and has a few “done thats” on her list. These include, Comrades, Two Oceans, Argus Cycle Tour, and Triathlons. She has filled her spare time with a range of ball sports, having played tennis and hockey at a provincial level. The latest frustration is on the golf course. Just for fun she scuba dives and even scraped in as a finalist for the South African Woman to climb Everest. Nandi’s philosophy on life is quite simple – If you’re going to do it, do it well. But Do It!!! Of course, all this still begs the question, how did she get her name?

Sarah-Anne is the Group Marketing and Communications director at Standard Bank. She sits on Group Exco and reports directly to the CEO, Jacko Maree. She originally joined Standard Bank as the Retail Marketing Director in June 2002. Previous to this, Sarah–Anne worked at Cadbury Schweppes and Coca Cola and has a total of 10 years FMCG experience. She has her honours in Economics and completed her MBA at the City of London University.

In her present role as Group CRM and Communications General Manager, Kathryn has been a major player in the transformation of Foschini into a vital and dynamic fashion force. She has also spearheaded building the Donna-Claire brand and the launch and development of two new retail chains - Fashion Express and more recently, Luella. Kathryn began her career as a brand manager at Unilever after graduating from UCT with a Bachelor of Business Science (Honours) degree. She then worked as advertising manager at Sterns and marketing manager at Markhams before taking on the position of Marketing Director of Foschini – a proud achievement for a woman of 35. Kathryn has subsequently started a new department in the Foschini Group, which focuses on CRM, Market Intelligence, Group Marketing Campaigns and Strategic Communication. She is the winner of numerous awards, including the 2007 Top Woman Award for being the Top Business Executive in any Private or Public Sector Company.  She has also written various articles which have been published, most recently in the Brands Encyclopaedia, the Sunday Times Top Brand Survey, Grad X magazine and in the marketing publication ‘Brand.’

Gamal Eldin is a marketing consultant, academician and professional trainer. He is currently Director for The Marketer For Training & Consultancy (TM), the sole specialized professional marketing body in Sudan, founded by him in Feb, 2008. Gamal helped in developing marketing curriculum for a number of Sudanese universities (MBA programs). He is a part-time lecturer for  several marketing subjects (Principles of Marketing, Strategic Marketing, Marketing Management, eMarketing, Marketing Telecommunication Services, Consumer Behavior and International Business) at the Univ. of Medical Science & Technology (UMST), Univ. of Science & Technology (UST), Sudan Univ. for Science & Technology (SUST), Omdurman Islamic Univ. (OIU) and Garden City College for Science & Technology (GCCST). Gamal is also a professional trainer and speaker in forums and seminars. He trained thousands of directors and executives in the field of marketing, business management and leadership. He spent nearly ten years working with DAL Group of Companies moving across its different business units. He also has worked with companies such as Nile Power and Maxim Food Processing, etc. Gamal started his career from scratch as a labor Floor Cleaner, Truck Helper, Assistant Salesman, Salesman, Sales Supervisor, Sales Manager to a Sales and Marketing Manager, Consultant and a lecturer for MBA Programs. He is one of the rare Sudanese professionals and practitioners in the field of sales and marketing to receive international recognition as a Chartered Marketer from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and a Certified Practicing Marketer from the Australian Marketing Institute (AMI).

Paul is the General Manager Marketing at Tongaat Hulett Sugar, and has been with the company since April 2001. Previous to this, Paul worked at Standard Bank Card Division, Kellogg’s, and Epic Foods, and has a total of 20 years FMCG experience. He has a Master of Arts from the University of the Witwatersrand.

Marlien is the Chief Marketing Officer at Werksmans Attorneys, and has been with the firm since August 2010. She is responsible for the firm's marketing strategy, execution and new business development. She is a marketing generalist and has experience in all disciplines of general marketing. Prior to joining Werksmans Attorneys, Marlien was a Senior Marketing Manager at Deloitte. She holds a B.Com Business Management (Honours) degree from the University of Johannesburg.

Louise Hamman is Marketing Director at Ackermans Group. Her career with the retail giant started in 1996 in the marketing department. Fast-forward 15 years and after holding numerous positions within the group, she now sits firmly at the helm of the Ackermans Marketing function, proving that once the retail bug has bitten you cannot stay away. She has been integral to promoting the Ackermans brand, developing and implementing a CRM strategy and continuously driving the creative process behind their value offering.

Gavin Cowley holds the portfolio of Marketing Director of adidas South Africa, having joined the board in 1996. A business highlight has been successfully directing operations for the adidas brand as a global partner of the recent 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa, including presenting best practice and project management to global audiences. He is, in addition, a rugby television commentator with Supersport. Born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa and educated at Grey High School and the University of Port Elizabeth, Gavin is a qualified teacher with a BA degree in Psychology and a diploma in Public Relations. He is also an accredited Chartered Public Relations Professional (CPRP). Gavin has a string of sporting achievements to his name. As a rugby player he was a Springbok reserve, Junior Springbok and represented Eastern Province in 88 matches, many as captain. He also played for SA Barbarians, Gazelles, SA Universities, a SA XV and a World XV. He also captained the Eastern Province cricket team, having played in 120 matches and also played cricket for SA Schools, Natal, Western Province and SA Universities. He also represented Eastern Province in field hockey. Gavin has had vast experience in public speaking and is a naturally entertaining Master of Ceremonies and keynote speaker, the synergies in business and sport being one of his favourite topics. Gavin is the author of the book “Having a Ball” and co-author of the recently published book, “Raise Your Game”.

Neil Hobkirk is the Marketing Director at Appletiser Group, an international soft drink company and fully owned subsidiary of SABMiller plc. He is excited by Appletiser's growth prospects in both developed and new markets. Neil previously managed SABMiller's premium and mainstream beer portfolios. He received his MBA at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria. He grew up, was educated, and still resides in Johannesburg, South Africa with his wife and daughter. He is an avid traveller, reader, and part time golfer and believes in the transformative power of ideas.

Jessecca Perumal joined Avis as GM Marketing in 2008, bringing with her a wealth of financial and marketing experience to the leading car rental company’s marketing division. Her decision to join Avis was reinforced by the Avis brand promise “We Try Harder” that has sustained the brand for over 40 years. After graduating from the University of Natal (Durban) with a Bachelor of Commerce degree (Finance and Business Administration) at the end of 1996, Perumal was recruited by Procter & Gamble (P&G) SA as a financial analyst on the Ace Bleach portfolio. By 1998, she was promoted to internal controls manager for P&G’s South African subsidiary. She was later promoted to senior financial analyst, providing financial support to her marketing counterparts on market leader brands such as Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Oil of Olay, Vicks and Old Spice. It was this exposure to the marketing function that spurred her interest in marketing and she accepted a position at Colgate-Palmolive to oversee and drive the launch of the Palmolive Naturals Shower Care range into the South African Market. By 2001 she was promoted to senior brand manager and given the Fabric Care Category to manage and oversee. In 2002 she was head-hunted by Absa Bank to manage and oversee the Brand Marketing Division. During her stint at Absa, the bank achieved Best Company to Work for the second year running, and Top brand within the Banking Category in the Markinor Survey. In 2004, Perumal took on the role of assistant general manager of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Marketing Division. After restructuring the division, introducing a new brand architecture and corporate identity, and streamlining the agency and product marketing process, she decided to get out of the corporate sector and explore her entrepreneurial side. Perumal started two business ventures, running a beauty salon while providing business and marketing consultancy services to events companies, media agencies, smaller businesses and financial institutes such as Absa. She was approached by Avis to come on board as their marketing general manager in July 2008. Perumal believes she has found her ‘perfect fit’ at Avis, where she identifies with the overriding ‘choose to’ attitude that pervades the company.

Trevor Ormerod is the Group Commercial Executive at Avusa Ltd.  Trevor's 12 years experience as a CEO or CMO for various blue chip companies include positions with Primedia, CNBC Africa, Cinemark, Bop Television and SABC. He held a four-year tenure as Chairman of the Screen Advertising Worldwide Association, continues to serve SAWA as Vice Chairman. In addition he was a Member of the SABC Group Executive Committee and the Media Industry Trust Committee. Currently, Executive Chairman of Primedia Limited's Cinema and Print Division, his reporting officers include the Managing Directors of Cinemark, Primedia Publishing, Primedia@Home and the newly established Strategic Advertising Unit which specialises in Group solutions for Government, NGO's, parastatals, and other major clients. Whilst previously with Primedia, Trevor was head hunted to leverage his BOP TV and SABC television experience to launch fledgling CNBC Africa in June 2007, and, after successfully setting up CNBC Africa in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, Trevor returned to Primedia. Personable and globally connected, Trevor maintains his love of flying with both fixed wing and rotary wing licenses and is a veteran traveller. His ability to engage at all levels has been a key success element particularly in South Africa where the media, marketing, and advertising communities are small and relationships paramount.

Mr. George Andah is the Chief Marketing Officer for Bharti’s Nigeria operations. He is responsible for developing the marketing strategy, enhancing revenues and customer market share, developing innovative products and nurturing the brand in Nigeria. He is the winner of several awards, including being honored as the MTN CMO of the Year in 2007 and the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) Marketing Practitioner of the Year in 2008. Previously George worked as the Chief Marketing Officer for Scancom Ltd., part of the MTN Group. He was a Member of the Scancom Ltd. Executive team responsible for providing strategic marketing direction for the MTN local operation. George was directly responsible for strategic input to annual business plans addressing current and emerging gaps in targeted customer motivations, cascading high level strategic plans into simple operational level executions in order to deliver profitable customer driven value proposition initiatives ahead of competition, and sustaining market leadership. Before his time at Scancom, George was the Marketing Director and Head of Marketing for Guinness Ghana Breweries Ltd. He was a Member of the Diageo Africa Marketing Leadership team responsible for providing strategic marketing direction for Guinness Ghana Breweries, covering capability building and talent development, building and delivering superior & sustainable consumer pull across the stouts, lagers, malts portfolio, and identifying innovation opportunities to access other motivations in order to deliver performance targets, grow brand equity for all GGBL brands and beat competition.

As General Manager: Marketing and Communications at Bridgestone South Africa Retail, Miss McCarthy is responsible for all aspects of below- and above-the-line marketing for the brands Bridgestone South Africa Retail, Supa Quick, Speedy & AutoQuip franchises. Key performance indicators for the position include the development and implementation of marketing and communication plans in line with strategies and objectives of all four brands, and formulation and development of internal and external communication strategies and plans that are specific and relevant in conjunction with sales and marketing objectives. Lynne has 15 years of marketing, brand and PR management experience and is a published author and diligent blogger. She has served both local and international companies, within verticals ranging from IT to retail, on management and Exco level positions.

Llew is the VP – Online Marketing & Products at Clickatell.com, a mobile network aggregator covering over 750 mobile networks in more than 220 countries. He’s responsible for the strategic direction of Clickatell's Online business, as well as the company’s overall Online Marketing, web sales channel and product functions. The Online business unit's area of focus includes the key global Mobile Marketer customer segment, amongst others. Before Clickatell, Llew was CEO and co-Founder of KeyJam.net, a boutique web and mobile business consultancy, as well as co-Founder and Head of Online Marketing at incuBeta.com (now Clicks2Customers.com), a leading online marketing agency on 3 continents. Llew is an Online visionary, winning numerous local and international awards, including the: TT100 "Most Promising Emerging Enterprise" (2005), TT100 "Minister's Award for Overall Excellence" (Small/Medium Enterprises) (2006), Commission Junction (CJ) Leadership in Innovation Award (2006), CJ Horizon Award for Global Vision (2006). He has a Masters degree in Management of Technology & Innovation from the Da Vinci Institute for Technology Management in Johannesburg.

Sumesh Rahavendra is the Head of Marketing for DHL Express Sub Saharan Africa. Mr. Rahavendra’s responsibilities in the Sub Saharan Africa region include Brand, Advertising & Sponsorships, Business Development, Pricing and Public Relations. An experienced sales & marketing executive and a specialist in International shipping, Mr. Rahavendra has lived and worked in Asia, Latin America, Europe and Africa. Prior to his current role, Mr. Rahavendra served as Head of Global sales programs based in Bonn Germany where the group headquarters are located. Mr. Rahavendra is a graduate of University of Madras, India and has completed his executive MBA from IE Business School in Madrid, Spain.

Rui Jardim is the Angola Country Manager for Distell, South Africa's premier producer of fine wines, spirits, liquers and ready-to-drinks. Previously, Rui was the Group Marketing Manager at Freddy Hirsch, a food ingredients company that manufactures and markets spices, sausage casings and equipment within the meat and poultry industries in Africa. Before joining them in April 2009, he worked for the petroleum company BP in various marketing roles including Marketing Manager, Brand & Advertising Manager, Convenience Strategy Manager and Merchandise General Manager in their Africa operations. Prior to his appointment at BP in 1997 he spent seven years at the Seven Eleven Corporation and its subsidiaries where he gained experience in marketing, franchising and general management in the retail, wholesale, property development and professional football industries. He holds a B.Com (Honours) degree from the University of Stellenbosch.

Belinda Godfrey plays an integral role on the EDS executive team, in charge of jointly executing the company's business strategy across merchandising, operations, trends, and marketing. She is responsible for developing and implementing Edgars marketing strategy and oversees the delivery of through-the-line marketing (visual/in-store merchandising, PR, sponsorships, digital, and advertising) for all stores that are part of EDS. She also manages the Edgars Club programme, which includes publishing and distribution of the Club magazine to over one million subscribers.  Her work has led to numerous industry awards including 2010 Assegai award for Organization of the Year for Direct Marketing, the Sunday Times 2010 Best Men's and Women's Retailer, and the Best Fashion Brand Icon Award. Prior to Edcon, Belinda held management positions at MTN, Microsoft South Africa, and Absa Capital.  She received her Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Economics, and Statistics from the University of Cape Town and has also completed Finance, Strategy, and Leadership courses at the London Business School.

Vikash Mathura is the Group Marketing Executive of Ellerine Holdings Limited (EHL), a subsidiary of the JSE Top-40 listed group ABIL (African Bank Investments Limited). EHL operates 10 furniture retail brands (Ellerines; Beares; Furniture City; Wetherlys; Geen & Richards; Dial-a-Bed; Furn City; Savells Fairdeal; Town Talk; Chateau d’Ax) through 1100 stores located in South Africa; Zambia; Botswana and Namibia, and employs in excess of 10 000 staff. Vikash’s career spans over 20 years in Media; FMCG; Retail, and the Fashion Footwear and Apparel industries. He brings a wealth of expertise to EHL from the executive leadership roles that he has held in both marketing and operations. Apart from his experience in Radio; Television; Newspapers; Magazines and Satellite Television, Vikash also spent 06 years at Hendler & Hart (Africa’s second largest manufacturer and distributor of cookware brands), leading their front-end operations and making the group a primary supplier to all major retail and wholesale stores in Southern Africa. He then joined the Skye Group as their Group Marketing Director, and crafted the South African marketing strategy for Converse All Stars’ global centenary celebrations in 2008, a feat that was recognized by Converse-Amsterdam as the most comprehensive marketing plan that they had seen worldwide. Vikash joined EHL in 2009, and is responsible for all aspects of their consolidated marketing function, including: Strategy; Media; PR; CSI; Communications; Direct Marketing; Visual Marketing; Brand Management; Creative Design Studio, and Club. He also leads the cross-marketing initiatives between EHL and their subsidiary entity African Bank. He holds the view that the marketing and operational functions are not mutually exclusive, and that effective marketing leaders are able to demonstrate a grounded understanding of the operational environment. A keen golfer and traveller, Vikash is a Chartered Marketer who also holds a MBA (with Fellowship honors) from Rhodes University.

Mr. Mark Hearne is the Vice president business leader: Marketing & Communications, MasterCard Worldwide, based in South Africa. He is responsible for MasterCard’s marketing and communications function focusing on strengthening the organisation’s brand in the local market and across Africa. Mr. Hearne, previously from Net#work BBDO where he was the advertising strategist for Nedbank, is responsible for developing and executing the overall marketing strategy that will build the MasterCard brand, corporate identity and associated brand preference, across the Africa region. Mr. Hearne has more than 15 years experience in marketing, advertising, media and sales. Prior to joining Net#work BBDO in 2007, he was Head Brand Consultant in the Africa division of the branding and communications group, HKLM, working predominantly in Nigeria and Tanzania on clients ranging from financial services to mobile operators. He has an MBA in Strategic Marketing and Finance from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management in Sydney.

Biren Valodia is 40 years old, with two boys aged 9 and 13. He enjoys music, photography, cycling and running. His career reflects hard work, reliability, competence and confidence underscored by personal commitment and performance. In 1999 he joined Sanlam Health as Senior Manager, Head of Medicine Management. He drove Sanlam Health’s Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) Programme, where he focused primarily on risk management, implementing various business models and leading edge tools that brought sustained profitability and service excellence to all business partners. When Sanlam Health became part of Medscheme Holdings Limited in 2001 he was appointed to Medscheme Integrated Care division, known as Solutio Health Risk Management, as Divisional Director, heading up the Medicine and Disease Management programmes. In addition to his role within Solutio he was appointed to the position of Executive Director of Medscheme (Pty) Ltd as well as Managing Director of Interpharm Data Systems (Pty) Ltd in 2004. In 2005 he was appointed to the board of Aids for Aids (Pty) Ltd. In June 2006 he was appointed to the board of the Hospital Association of South Africa (HASA). In addition, in December 2007 he was appointed to the board of the holding company Medi-Clinic Southern Africa as Executive Director: Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).

Nazeer Suliman is Consumer & Online (C&O) Lead at Microsoft South Africa, where he uses his extensive industry experience to drive sales and marketing across Microsoft’s consumer products, including Windows, Windows Phone, MSN, Windows Live, and Bing. Before joining Microsoft, Suliman spent three years as managing director of Universal McCann (UM), a global media agency. The youngest and only black MD of a foreign-owned media agency in South Africa, his accomplishments include the launch of UM’s digital arm, UM Connect, in 2009. He started his career as a media strategist at advertising giant Ogilvy, and previously worked at the BBC’s Innovation & Learning Department in the UK and for media agencies Notabene and MindShare, where he developed communication channel plans for brands like Nike, Nestle and FNB. He also worked as head of media management for the mobile company Cell C. Suliman is married, with two young children. In his spare time, he enjoys travelling and spending time with his family.

Simon Camerer has been appointed Chief Marketing & Sales Officer at DStv operator Multichoice. He previously served as the Group Executive Head of Marketing and Commercial Sales at Cell C, where he is credited with leading the mobile operator's successful rebranding after it launched its third-generation mobile network in 2010. Prior to joining Cell C, Simon served as Marketing Director for the Walt Disney Company in Europe, as well as having held other Senior International Marketing and Strategy positions at Anderson Consulting (now Accenture) and Saatchi and Saatchi Advertising. Simon obtained a BA at Stellenbosch and an MBA at Thunderbird – The American Graduate School of International Management.

Greg Garden is the Divisional Executive of Group Marketing for Nedbank. In this capacity, he is Chief Brand Officer and is responsible for group marketing strategy development, co-ordination and alignment, advertising, sponsorships, cause marketing, market research, and marketing measurement and ROI. He has been with Nedbank for 10 years. Previously, Greg spent a decade in the advertising industry with Ogilvy and Leo Burnett, culminating in 3 years as Managing Director of Sonnenberg Murphy Leo Burnett, then one of South Afric’s top five agencies. He was Group Communications Head for IBM South Africa, and a lecturer in Communications and Media Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. He has written for a range of publications, done freelance voice work, and been a television and film analyst and critic. Greg is currently Chairman of The Sports Trust, an NGO which assists sports development in under-privileged communities. Greg is also a director the WWF Green Trust, a community based conservation and climate change agency. He is a long distance runner and has completed 14 ultra marathons and over 25 marathons. He is passionate about the environment, birding, wine and cooking, and music.

Bogosi Matsheka is currently the Manager of Marketing Innovation for Pernod-Ricard Sub-Saharan Africa, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was previously the Regional Business Manager for the Jaguar and Land Rover brands in Sub-Saharan Africa, joining the automotive leader in 2004 as Product Manager and eventually becoming Marketing Manager for the brand in South Africa. In his 9-year career in the automotive industry, Bogosi has also worked on the Ford, Mazda and Nissan brands. Bogosi's key competencies are in the fields of Brand Management and Innovation, Business Management, Product Portfolio Management, Product Development, Communication Strategy, Consumer Insight, Launch Planning and Execution.

As CMO, Singh's primary responsibility is to deliver on the Tourism Growth Strategy. This entails: fine-tuning the Marketing Growth Strategy for EXCO and board approval; developing marketing plans; leading the portfolio and country teams in their execution of plans as approved by the board; being ultimately accountable to the COO for the execution of plans; and being responsible for all affairs regarding the Marketing Business Unit. She is also responsible for sustaining brand growth globally by enhancing the use of research in developing brand communications and ensuring that Corporate Identity guidelines remain consistent. Singh formerly held the post of Portfolio Manager for Europe and in this position was responsible for marketing outbound travel from Europe. The position involved strategic planning, budgeting, supervising overseas staff and managing creative output from agencies for the Europe portfolio which is a core portfolio for tourism growth. Her experience has led to a great knowledge about South Africa and its people. She has always been committed to making a better life for all and her work is inspired by her commitment. Roshene Singh has a master’s degree in Adult Education from Wits University and is in possession of a BA, BEd and HDE qualification. She has also attended various short term marketing and communication courses.

Happy Ntshingila has been appointed as SuperSport's new CEO, effective April 1st, 2012. He will report to the MultiChoice South Africa Group CEO. Happy was previously the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for Absa and was responsible for the leadership of the Marketing and Communications cluster, including Group Customer Experience, PR & Communications, Group Marketing and Group Corporate and Public Affairs. He was also responsible for the governance of the Barclays brand on the African continent. Happy started his career with Unilever, moving on to IBM, Tiger Oats, Ogilvy & Mather and Vodacom. In 1991 Happy co-founded HerdBuoys, the first black-owned advertising agency in South Africa. Happy is conversant in 7 of South Africa's 11 official languages.

Nadia is responsible for the overall success of Symantec’s consumer business unit (Norton). She holds a regional role responsible for Emerging Markets (Eastern Europe, Russia, Southern Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa) within Europe, Middle East and Africa. She leads all elements of the marketing mix by building and executing country marketing strategies for all sales channels (Retail, Online, Distribution, OEM & ISP) and drives the orchestration across the entire region. She is a member of both the EMEA and Emerging Markets leadership team. Prior to joining Symantec, Nadia was the Director of Central Marketing Group for Microsoft South Africa. Before this she was the Country Category Manager for Hewlett-Packard responsible for the Personal Systems Group and Marketing Manager for Danone responsible for the South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa operations. She started her career with The Gillette Company where she spent 6 years and held various management functions based in Johannesburg and later a regional role responsible for Middle East and Africa, based in Dubai. Nadia holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Port Elizabeth and a Masters in Business Administration from Bond University.

Parag Sen is a Senior International Management Executive and a turn-around and emerging market specialist with 15+ years of experience in Sales, Marketing & General Management across Telecom, Banking & Advertising industries. He is currently the Chief Marketing Officer for Visafone Communications, the largest CDMA operator in Africa with more than 6 million subscribers and a turnover in excess of US $500 million.  Based in Lagos, Nigeria, he heads the complete marketing function for the company, leading a team of 35 sales and marketing professionals. Prior to Visafone, Parag was Marketing Director at Afghan Wireless, overseeing product and brand management, U&R, VAS and customer service functions.  Here he achieved a 22% increase in revenue and saw the subscriber base grow by 35%. Parag received his MBA in Marketing and International Business from SCMS, Cochin with First Class in 1997. He also completed an Advanced Management Programme from IIM, Ahmedabad in 2002.

Vodacom’s Managing Executive of Marketing, Enzo Scarcella, has brought a wealth of marketing experience and dynamism to his portfolio. Joining Vodacom in 2008, he has been responsible for launching the Player 23 campaign, complete with its unique integrated online elements which added to the campaign’s overwhelming success with South African consumers. Over the past year Vodacom’s “We’ve been having it”, “The Internet is ‘maklik’’ and “Fame” campaigns were also born under Scarcella’s guidance – demonstrating the power of the Internet and raking in several awards for creativity and insight into the power of consumer dialogue. Enzo is no stranger to juggling billion-figure marketing budgets and his career spans over fifteen years of prestigious accounts and brands. Before his appointment at Vodacom, Enzo worked in various Brand and Marketing positions including the television broadcasting and clothing retail industries, amongst which he fulfilled the roles of Strategy and Marketing Executive at Edcon and Marketing Director at M-Net from 2004 to 2008. During this time he not only developed a bespoke Edcon way of Marketing, but also launched an innovative TV show that has shifted brand perception amongst younger consumers. At M-Net he extended the M-Net brand into movie channels and re-positioned M-Net’s Channel O which has gone on to be a market leader within its competitive set. Prior to that Enzo Scarcella spent eight years at the South African Breweries (SAB), where he held various positions and was responsible for SAB’s flagship portfolio, the legendary Castle Equity. He also worked for Guinness in the United Kingdom. After completing high school at Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, Enzo spent four years at Harvard University, graduating with a BA Hons in 1994. He also holds an EDP diploma in marketing from Kellogg School of Management, Chicago, IL., USA.

Santie Botha joined MTN Group in 2003. Prior to this, she was group executive at Absa Bank. She was awarded Young Business Person of the Year 1998 and Marketer of the Year in 2002. Preceding her appointment at Absa in 1996, Botha worked for Unilever, a company she joined in 1987 as a marketing graduate. She worked for Unilever in various marketing and sales roles both in Durban (four years) and London, UK (six years) culminating in her position as commercial sales director of VdB Foodservice, UK, before returning to SA in 1996. Botha serves on the board of Tiger Brands Limited.

Humphries joined Neotel in 2009. She brings with her a wealth of experience from her previous roles across emerging markets including strategic planning and related go-to-market executions.  She is a marketing and business development strategist, implementer and achiever, experienced in creating practical and effective communication strategies utilizing a broad range of marketing techniques. Humphries has an established track record of success with implementation of both internal and external marketing and communication strategies and equipping international co-workers with best practices to integrate and execute against business goals. Humphries is knowledgeable in all marketing techniques and brand management needed to create a comprehensive strategy to accomplish organization goals effectively and efficiently. Before joining Neotel, she was the Head of Marketing for Nakheel, the largest development company in the world, responsible for projects such as The World, The Universe and the highly acclaimed 'The Palms' in Dubai. Humphries also held the position of Head of Marketing Strategy, Planning and Operations for Motorola in South East Asia, Middle East, India and Africa and was responsible for the phenomenal growth of the Motorola brand over many emerging markets including Africa. Humphries has a number of degrees culminating in being part of the inaugural MBA class at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).  She is currently in the process of completing a Doctorate in Business Administration.