Ten Young South African Digital Citizens To Watch
There was a time when I could go to any meeting, any engagement, any party, and by default be the youngest person there. It’s not so anymore. I’m getting old and wrinkly and a whole new generation of exciting, entrepreneurial, driven young people are emerging from the woodwork (read university) in South Africa. One of the highlights of my job is getting to meet them on a daily basis.
If I were you, these are the ten young (younger than me), quasi-geeky, success-hungry people I would be inviting over to my company for a cup of coffee If I were you. Soon. Before your competitors get a hold of them. I mean it.
- Carly Ritz
- Christof Appel
- Gregor Rohrig
- Mark Forrester
- Nic Haralambous
- Nikki Friedman
- Rafiq Phillips
- Stefano Sessa
- Tyler Reed
- Uno de Waal
I first met Carly at the Digital Citizen’s Indaba on Blogging last year in Grahamstown. She was in her final year of new media studies and simultaneously took on the task of project managing the entire conference – no mean feat. She was cunningly snatched up by the Sunday Times early this year and is fast moving up the ranks as a significant contributor to the paper’s multimedia profile. Her website: www.rantofnote.blogspot.com.
Remember that guy at school that had everything going for him? He was head boy, good-looking, straight-A’s student, captain of the rugby team, 6 foot plus and to boot, a nice person? No, you probably don’t, because they don’t exist. Nice guys were ugly or smart or both. Good looking dudes were rebels and were more at home behind a 142 km/h cricket ball than a book on World War 2 poetry. Christof makes me sick. He is a globally recognised speaker and corporate consultant. He has met and rubbed shoulders with the likes of Richard Branson and Nelson Mandela. He plays to a scratch handicap and hits a 9 iron 160 meters. He is comfortable behind a computer and with geekery. He has built and sold a business, worked for a top media company and now runs his own business again.
All this at the tender age of, wait for it, 22. His site is at www.christofappel.com.
Also an ex-Rhodes student and by no coincidence also currently making waves at the Sunday Times, Gregor is a loyal, funny, smart human being with a strong creative and design aptitude. He is painfully honest, hard-working and very driven. He’s also the best photographer I know. His site can be found at www.groogle.co.za.
Mark is a designer. But he’s also a business person, a techie and all-round nice person. Mark designed this site for me and is a finalist in this year’s blog awards for 2 sites – his own at www.markforrester.co.za and the absolutely brilliant www.represent.co.za.
If a healthy compliment of facial hair were directly proportionate to age, Nic would be 92. And I would be 6 and a half. Nic is another Rhodes graduate who is pursuing a freelance career and investing a lot of time and energy in some fantastic projects so that he may one day take over the world. My favourite of these projects can be found at www.sarocks.co.za – a blog that highlights the very best of what our beautiful country has to offer and DigSpot, an online social network for students.
If you like to hire individuals that you can train up in the ways and traditions of your organisation, then someone like Nikki is certainly not for you. Abnormally smart, Nikki prides herself in being able to transform cultures and connect with customers in revolutionary ways with a palpable energy and force that rivals that of Yoda himself. She is going to achieve big things. Find her at www.tufra.blogspot.com.
Rafiq has good ideas more often than I fart. Which is often. His main focus with his business partner Miguel dos Santos over the last few years has been iDrive (www.idrive.co.za) but he is also involved in a web development and design company, as well as pouring huge amounts of effort and energy into the open source community. Rafiq is also a loyal, hard-working and artistically gifted being who is always worth connecting with. He’s also cocky, which I like.
Now on the subject of cocky, few can rival Sessa for sheer confidence and opinionated brilliance. He has no problem sharing his informed view of the world at his blog (www.sessa.co.za) and is always an entertaining read. Stefano is holed up at Clickatell right now but I reckon it won’t be long until he gets offers from all over the place.
Tyler’s balls have barely dropped and at only 19 is showing maturity and astuteness beyond his years as he is making a marked impact on the SA blogosphere. He is positioning himself as a sort of young, funky, local Michael Arrington, offering objective and insightful reviews on start-ups and industry developments.
What you may not know about Tyler is that he is (or was) a national 400m champion runner, studying a BCom by correspondence and that he comes from the same school I did – Benoni High. Seems my brilliance has indeed left a legacy. Ha ha. Not only is he preparing for global domination, but he is also able to speak to girls with some degree of confidence. He is the quintessential Gock – a geek jock!!!??? (www.tylerreed.co.za)
Uno blog oor stuff. Ha ha. Uno is another abnormally smart human being who can often be found in the company of the cocky Sessa species. Uno is an uber-geek with a nose for business who I’d love to have in my company if only he’d get his ass up to Jozi.
And that’s about all I have. If you can, get in touch with them and be mesmerized.
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Mike, You are too kind….. and yes, I have a shite load of facial hair. Sorry, it’s a Greek thing!
This is a brilliant review of the geeks on hand Mike. Well done. I’ve personally never seen anything done like this before but I’m sure it’s going to be a fantastic thing for the 10 concerned to put on their CV’s – especially seeing it came from you.
Jeez Mike, now I really feel old! I am older than you …
Hey Mike, Thanks so much for the mention amongst such talented individuals. I’m honoured!
congrats to these peeps – especially carly, gregor and nic! seems our journ days at rhodes are beginning to pay off!
Thanks Mr Saltwag!! :) Ja, Rhodes, the good ol’ days hey, wow, don’t we miss those, going back for grad this year. should be interesting !
Haha, nice one Mike. Thanks for the mention. See you tonight at the 27 Dinner.
An impressive list, nice one Mike for highlighting what is obviously a talented bunch. Looking forward to meeting many of them this evening.
*blush* you have stumped the cock(y) out of me.
Just for the record, Mike, you don’t look old, not yet anyway :)
Thanks for the mention, have to say, this is one of your best posts yet! :P
Nice one Mike, glad to see some NML graduates are in that list!
Mike, thank you very much for the mention! It’s a great boost from someone like you!
Methinks we should start our own little socialnetwork us young bloggers :)
Paul, how must I feel? I’m even older than YOU!
Mike, how about “Ten Wrinkly South African Digital Citizens To Watch”?
Nice one Mike, I just have to comment on one thing:
Why on earth are you assuming Uno would even consider moving from Stellies to JHB?! I mean, c’mon…
Hehe.
Hehe, Martin, that’s so true! I’m primarly based in Cape Town now, but Stellenbosch is still a great place…
To be included on this list really comes as a surprise and a huge honour, so many talented individuals in this country and community – regardless of the age thing! Wish I read this post yesterday before Geekdinner… adds even more insight to my new post ‘So you think you’re good?’. Big up to the keymaker,respect and thanks Mikey
Thanks Mike for calling our website design “brilliant”. It was a lot of blood sweat and tears before we found Marc who did a fantastic job and the best part about it is that we did the whole thing virtually and never actually “spoke” once – Marc was in the UK and we are in Jozi. But I must just point out that the EXCEPTIONALLY AWESOME wallpaper design is by Mzwandile Buthelezi – one of our hottest young talents around – see an interview with him on Represent – just search for Mzwandile, the logo development is by the very talented Adrien from SoulProviders (Represent’s mother company) and Adrien also took and designed the gorgeous photo of Mozi that heads up the homepage. Sharpile!
Good man, Mike. Good man ;)
You missed Rapelang Rabana! Nice list, though a bit marketer heavy… ;0)
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It was a lot of blood sweat and tears before we found Marc who did a fantastic job and the best part about it is that we did the whole thing virtually and never actually “spoke” once – Marc was in the UK and we are in Jozi!
Soon. Before your competitors get a hold of them. I mean it.