Flying in the face of all reason

In fact, it was at that very time - when most IT people had lost their jobs and when no one quite believed in the medium as the big kahuna anymore - that Lingham decided to start working on getting an Internet company going. It was a decision that flew in the face of all reason.

"I never listen to anyone because I always think I know better," says Lingham with a wry smile. This time he did.

Today his company incuBeta, which he co-founded with his wife Charlene Troskie in 2003, is a multimillion dollar outfit.

The online marketing company is based in Cape Town - but has offices around the globe. It has 50 employees and virtually no fixed assets - its collective intellectual capital and world-class technology drive it.

It is one of the top five performance search engine marketers in the world, as determined by Commission Junction (the world's largest performance marketing network) and boasts clients like eBay and Travelocity. It is also one of Google's biggest clients in the southern Hemisphere.

Online potential

incuBeta's market is purely international. The company, explains Lingham, optimises your website, sends you highly targeted visitors and increases your conversion rates. "We're a company that links sellers to purchasers using the search engines as a medium."

Lingham is a much-sought after speaker at international conferences. He frequently meets with representatives at Google at Yahoo's offices in Silicon Valley and his blog at www.vinnylingham.com has an avid international following.

"I'm glad I didn't listen to what everyone was saying. A lot of people have been caught with their pants down. Internet gurus from pre-dot.bomb days are only emerging now from inside their bunkers and now they're way behind."

He says the South African community still has "no balls" to invest online - "they just don't get it. They don't have the online mentality yet. In the '90s we were in the top 10 countries as far as the Internet went; now we're nowhere close.

"A lot of companies are missing big opportunities because they just can't see the potential - they don't know the international market potential. Granted there are only four million online in South Africa but globally there is close to 945 million users. The Internet is one of the biggest economies in the world. Many companies assume they can't grow simply because they just don't know better. They're still too afraid to put money into the Internet."

Locally Lingham points a finger at Telkom - claiming it as one of the reasons that South Africa is so far behind the rest of the world.

Economically viable

Sadly, he says, people look at Africa only as social responsibility not as economically viable, mainly because "of governments who insist on monopolies. How Telkom was allowed to abuse the consumer to the point it has is mind-boggling. It has damaged South African economy. Look at India - 20% of its economy is built on technology. It is ridiculous that we are so far behind".

"There is also an absurd use of talent in here. The infrastructure also doesn't allow hosting but new cables are finally being laid. Up to now we've missed the boat but hopefully we'll catch up.

"I applaud companies like the 24.com guys for trying to build something, beyond just the South African Internet. They have invested in successful Chinese Internet companies as well - the Internet is global and they believe in the Internet."

"But I think we're going to have to wait maybe five years here before we start seeing some movement. I hope I'm wrong, but South Africans are smart, we'll catch up."

Lingham predicts that South Africa will take "baby steps" over the next five years and that it will need a lot of support from Government. "There has to be incremental change. The talent is here - the biggest problem is making the connection.

"There are, however, local small businesses with savvy who are connected, like gambling and travel - actually half the world's online gambling operations back-offices are based in SA."

With Web 2.0 - the resurgence of the Internet as profitable - companies like Yahoo and Google are making a lot of money.

"South Africa I'm afraid is still at Web 1.0 - there isn't a critical mass in the country and South Africa needs to embrace international sites to find what they need."

And the future: "I'd like to see an African search engine similar to Europe's Quaero. It's possible. Current offerings in South Africa are little more than outsourced technology from foreign companies being dressed up as a local brand. Having said that, Google stills reigns supreme in this market."

Meanwhile at incuBeta, the team has been working on Synthasite - new technology that will allow a user to design a webpage in just minutes. Watch this space - this website builder is going to be the next big thing, if incuBeta's past successes are anything to judge by.

Oh yes, and has it been mentioned that Lingham is only 27 years old...

• incuBeta is the winner of the 2005 Business Day Technology Top 100 Most Promising Emerging Enterprise Award and a Commission Junction Horizon Award 2004 winner (Clicks2Customers). Lingham has extensive hands on experience in managing multimillion dollar paid search budgets, as well as driving over U$1 million in online revenues to merchants via affiliate and partner programs. incuBeta focuses on Paid Search and Affiliate Marketing technology development.