Allison Cooper - Allison Cooper launched specialist writing and publicity agency Allycats Public Relations (www.allycats.co.za) in 2008. Her 15-year career spans publicity generation, journalism and freelance writing across numerous industries.
Angela Quintal - Angela Quintal is a news junkie with a passion for newspapers and good coffee. In November 2011 she became the editor of The Witness in Pietermaritzburg after two years of editing The Mercury in Durban.
Anice Hassim - Anice Hassim is CEO and head strategist of immedia (www.immedia.co.za), a digital consultancy pioneering South Africa's app development industry and is currently the architect of a number of highly-successful and unique digital strategies for major brands in broadcast media, IT, retail and other segments. Contact Anice on tel +27 (0)31 566 8000, email him at and follow him on Twitter at @anicehassim..
Bradley Maseko - Bradley Maseko is the founder and youth market strategist at Brandedyouth Insights (www.brandedyouth.co.za). He provides brands and advertising agencies with qualitative information on the youth market.
Caren Olsen - Caren Olsen is programme manager for Metro FM (www.metrofm.co.za). She has been in the radio industry for over 13 years.
Carole Kimutai - Carole Kimutai is a writer and editor based in Nairobi, Kenya. She is currently an MA student in New Media at the University of Leicester, UK..
Chris Moerdyk: @chrismoerdyk - Chris Moerdyk was head of strategic planning and public affairs for BMW South Africa and spent 16 years in the creative and client service departments of ad agencies, ending up as resident director of Lindsay Smithers-FCB in KwaZulu-Natal. Chris was recently listed in a Markinor survey as one of South Africa's top 10 marketing thought leaders.
Dawn Rowlands - Dawn Rowlands is the CEO of Aegis Media South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. She has over 20 years of experience in the media industry and has most notably been a shareholder founding partner of Nota Bene, a strategy agency in South Africa, and is also the founder of Posterscope SA.
Donna Rachelson - Donna Rachelson, a branding and marketing innovator, is focused on South Africa's client service based businesses. She is the founder of Branding & Marketing YOU - a company that specialises in personal branding and marketing - and the author of the best-selling book of the same name.
Donna can be contacted on .
Duncan McLeod: @mcleodd - Award-wining Duncan McLeod is the founder and editor of wwwTechCentral.co.za, South Africa's latest technology news site offering breaking news, in-depth analysis and opinion that launched in September 2009 (follow @TechCentral on Twitter). Before that, he was associate editor at the Financial Mail/FM.
Dustin Chick - Dustin Chick is head of strategy for Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. His experience includes the development of the reputation management strategy for Brand South Africa and successful campaigns for the World Economic Forum and the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Gregory Gondwe: @Kalipochi - Gregory Gondwe is a Malawian journalist who has bagged close to fifteen years of working experience who started writing in 1993. He is currently regional editor and bureau chief for Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS).
John Boe - American John Boe presents a wide variety of motivational and sales-oriented keynotes and seminar programs for sales meetings and conventions. John is a recognised sales trainer and business motivational speaker with an impeccable track record in the meeting industry.
Karen Ashwin - Karen Ashwin is the founder and MD of The Event Production Company www.theeventcompany.co.za), South Africa's event pioneer. Karen is considered one of the industry's leading personalities and has a more than 17-year track record, The Event Production Company having conceptualised and executed most of South Africa's largest and most innovative events.
Lana Hindmarch - Lana Hindmarch has 12 years' experience in the marketing industry, with specialities in inbound marketing, visual communication, digital marketing, integrated advertising, presentation development and public relations.
She is currently the MD of HolyCow (www.holycow.co.za), an interactive agency offering traditional and online services. Lana has held this position since 2008 which has involved driving and implementing the company's growth strategy.
Lisa Dawson Biggs - Lisa Biggs' career spans over 17 years; she is currently business unit director: Cape Town for Redline ([[www.fcbredline.co.za), a division of Draftfcb South Africa. Major achievements while at Redline include securing the Metropolitan PR account across all six divisions.
Marcela Ospina - Anthropologist Marcela Ospina Salcedo (www.marcelaospina.com) specialises in helping brands understand consumers from a cultural viewpoint. By using ethnography and drawing from neuropsychological principles, she advises on developing marketing plans, launching new products, and innovating communications strategies.
Matt Rose - Matt Rose, an avid trend watcher with a passion for the people of South Africa, is a strategic planner at Publicis Groupe Johannesburg, specialising in market research, shopper marketing and behavioural psychology. He brings a grounded yet often controversial approach to uncovering consumer insights.
Mike Abel - Mike Abel is chief executive partner of M&C Saatchi Abel, which he launched in South Africa in February 2010. He is the former COO of Ogilvy South Africa and CEO of M&C Saatchi Australia.
Naseem Javed - Naseem Javed, recognised as a world authority on corporate image and global name identities, is a harsh critic of casual and accidental naming. He is a dynamic speaker on corporate image and branding issues, and is also the author of Naming for Power.
Oresti Patricios - Oresti Patricios, CEO of the OrnicoGroup (www.ornico.co.za), has been in the media information business for over 25 years. He has an MBA from the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) and a huge body of brand knowledge and experience, which he brings to the brand intelligence offered by the company.
Peter Stewart - Peter Stewart is the MD of award-winning digital conversion agency Clickthinking/iProspect (www.clickthinking.com), which he founded in 1999. In 2011, the company was acquired by Aegis Media (www.aegismedia.co.za) and is now part of the iProspect network.
Theresa Mallinson - Theresa Mallinson has lived and worked as an itinerant writer, subeditor and sometimes teacher, plying her trade in such exotic destinations as Vaduz, Dubai, and Cape Town. But that's all changed since she became a journalist at the Daily Maverick (www.thedailymaverick.co.za) and managing editor at Free African Media.
Thomas Oosthuizen - Thomas Oosthuizen is a marketing and brand strategist (www.drthomasbrand.co.za) who focuses on helping clients achieve greater marketing and brand success by spending less, for which he has devised his own methodologies. He has consulted widely to major companies across Africa and the Middle East and holds a doctorate in marketing communications.
Tiffany Markman - Tiffany Markman (www.tiffanymarkman.co.za) is a highly opinionated freelance copywriter, copy editor and writing trainer who has worked for over 180 clients in South Africa and across the world. She is an EMPOWERDEX-certified EME who hates misplaced apostrophes and dangling modifiers but loves pizza and pina coladas.
Travis Spence - Travis Spence is senior strategist at Hello World Agency (www.helloworldagency.com), a full-service strategic creative ideas agency. A Vega honours graduate, Travis joined the agency in 2006 and has worked on a diverse portfolio of brands.
Vanessa Clark - Vanessa Clark divides her time between heading up marketing at Mobiflock (www.mobiflock.com) and freelance copywriting and journalism at Twokats Communications (www.twokats.com). She was a London-based tech journalist in the last century.
Walter Pike - Walter Pike (@walterpike), the founder of PiKE | New Marketing (www.pike.co.za), consults to agencies and brands in learning how to build brands and businesses in the connected world. He founded and runs the Digital Academy (www.digitalacademy.co.za) to equip people to be successful in this world..
Walter Wafula - Walter Wafula is a seasoned journalist who has reported for the Daily Monitor newspaper in Kampala-Uganda. He is also a contributor on Bizcommunity.com website.
Angola
Botswana
Malawi
Mozambique
Namibia
South Africa
Zimbabwe
Cote D'Ivoire
Ghana
Nigeria
Kenya
Uganda
Tanzania
Mauritius
Seychelles
Algeria
Egypt
Morocco
Zambia
