The Media Online’s weekly round up of moves in media. Darren Scott exits Hot 91.9FM. Brand Council South Africa selects student council. Silvertree appoints CEO Freddy Caspers as chairman and invests over $15 million into Africa. Embury Institute for Higher Education appoints chief commercial officer. Embury Institute for Higher Education appoints chief operating officer. Irvine Partners wins Geneva Management Group account. Weathermen & Co turn up the heat to celebrate four years. iflix secures $133 million funding. Spintelligent ahead of the curve this year with record performances at its African events
Darren Scott exits Hot 91.9FM\
It is with regret that Hot 91.9FM has announced the departure of breakfast show host, Darren Scott, from the station with immediate effect.
Scott was the initial morning show host on Joburg’s Hottest Breakfast since the station’s inception in November 2014. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Darren Scott for his on-air contribution to Hot 91.9FM, the company said in a statement.
“Joburg’s Hottest Breakfast Show continues with the dynamic team of John Walland, Simon Hill and Andy Leve. We look forward to introducing the new morning show anchor on 03 September 2017”, said Lloyd Madurai, managing director Hot 91.9M.
People moves
Brand Council South Africa selects student council
The Brand Council South Africa recently announced its newly formed Student Council, designed to get a unique, youthful perspective and tap into the thoughts, behaviours and insights of students and added value to members.
The student council also aims to close the gap between businesses and students, by creating an open dialogue to understand what business needs are and what skills students should be developing; provide the next generation coming into the workplace with a voice and a view of what will be expected of them; enable final year and graduate students access to member organisations for internship opportunities; provide member organisation access to best of breed candidates; and provide member organisation access to the student maret for market research and insight purposes.
The new Student Council is:
Kieran Kohler (BCom Strategic Brand Management)
Bernice Mosala (Creative Brand Communication)
Siya Mafanya (Bachelor of Brand Management)
Rob Crawford (Creative Brand Communication)
Zama Makhaza (Strategic Brand Communication)
Matthew Smit (BCom Strategic Brand Management)
Marvin MSipha (BCom Strategic Brand Management)
Juhara Khan (Strategic Brand Communication)
Jayce Davin (Creative Brand Communication)
Sarah McCannaly (Strategic Brand Communication)
Moosa Molibeli (Honours in Strategic Brand Management)
Silvertree appoints CEO Freddy Caspers as chairman and invests over $15 million into Africa
Silvertree has announced the appointment of Freddy Caspers as non-executive chairman of the board. Caspers has been one of the core team members behind the phenomenal success of Reckitt Benckiser (RB), as executive board member and CEO of Emerging Markets. RB, a London-listed global FMCG company, owns brands including Durex, Dettol, Vanish and Finish. Caspers as CEO of Emerging Markets (including Africa) grew sales to $8 billion and profits 16 times.
Silvertree believes the biggest opportunities for tech investment in Africa are in businesses driven by strong teams that are executing simple, proven models. Furthermore, a focus on all three long-term value creation drivers, net revenue growth, margins and cash, allows the group’s operations to reach breakeven much earlier in their life-cycle.
Silvertree recently reached the milestone of over $15 million (approx. R200m) channeled into African consumer-focused technology companies since inception in 2014. The portfolio has achieved an average >200% annual revenue growth, helped by fast-growing companies like car buying site carzar.co.za and meal-kit delivery company ucook.co.za.
Embury Institute for Higher Education appoints chief commercial officer
Dr Naresh Veeran has recently been appointed as chief commercial officer at the Embury Institute for Higher Education (Embury) which is wholly owned by Curro Holdings’ higher education business, Stadio Holdings.
Dr Veeran joins Embury from the Nova Pioneer Education Group, where he was previously marketing director, leading both brand and admissions for their Southern African schools.
During his tenure at Nova Pioneer, he helped reposition the brand as schools for leaders and innovators, while assisting to grow its operation into a multi-campus group with schools in Kenya and Johannesburg.
Dr Veeran is responsible for managing Embury’s commercial ecosystem, especially as the brand’s footprint expands into Gauteng. Entering this new position, he brings with him vast marketing, strategic planning, and media experience having worked with the likes of Old Mutual, the SABC and Media 24.
Embury Institute for Higher Education appoints chief operating officer
Professor Patrick Bean has recently been appointed as COO at the Embury Institute for Higher Education (Embury) which is wholly owned by Curro Holdings’ higher education business, Stadio Holdings.
Prof. Bean joins Embury from the Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth where he spent more than 20 years in various respected roles in the Faculty of Education. As COO, Prof. Bean is responsible for the Academic, Human Resources, Student Support Services and Campuses Management Divisions at all the Embury campuses and for both the contact and distance learning modes of delivery.
His immediate focus is on the academic readiness of the two new Gauteng campuses (Waterfall and Montana) and the new Durban Campus (Musgrave Road) for 2018. His leadership and management passion is the further development of an expansive and holistic student support system that highlights the three core values of the Embury Way: dedication, compassion and integrity.
Business moves
Irvine Partners wins Geneva Management Group account
Irvine Partners has been appointed by the Geneva Management Group (GMG) to manage its public relations in Switzerland, the UK and South Africa.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for us and we are honoured to have been chosen by a multifaceted global financial services provider like GMG, which delivers specialised services and solutions to high net-worth individuals, private bankers, wealth managers, corporations, and investment funds,” says Irvine Partners MD, Jeanine Cameron.
GMG is an independent privately owned company operating in eight countries and more than 50 markets, giving clients the benefit of a global network of experts. The company is renowned for successfully helping its clients to manage their businesses and wealth, and providing expert guidance on structuring and managing capital, wealth and investments.
“Appointing Irvine Partners was based on the agency’s ability to deliver a targeted tactical approach to public relations and its strong understanding of the financial services industry. We look forward to generating great content in the media sphere,” Jonathan Zurel, Group Marketing, Geneva Management Group.
Making moves
Weathermen & Co turn up the heat to celebrate four years
Nambian ad agency Weathermen & Co Advertising is celebrating four years in the business. W&Co – a subsidiary of the Ohtlhaver & List (O&L) Group and The Jupiter Drawing Room Cape Town – marked this milestone for the agency by winning a five-way pitch for the premium advertising contract with the country’s leading mobile telecommunications service provide, Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC), and more recently, First National Bank (FNB), and other brands in the Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) stable.
Managing director, Leon Crous, says, “A few things need to click together to make a business journey a successful one. The business schools simply say that there are three key components. Your numbers need to make sense, you need a compelling story, and you need the right people on the proverbial bus. For W&Co people have always been core to our success. We’re fortunate to have a great team of individuals that are ferociously passionate about what they do and to deliver value to our clients. We have phenomenal support from our business partners and shareholders, and we have great clients that entrusts us with their brands and allow us to do what we do to the best of our ability. It’s in these enduring relationships that we manage to make the numbers happen and create work that allows us to work with a growing number of clients.
Other clients apart from the lucrative deals just signed with MTC and FNB include Total Namibia, Namibia Breweries, Namib Mills, Namibia Dairies, and the O&L Group amongst others.
iflix secures $133 million funding
iflix, the Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) service for emerging markets, has announced it has completed a $133 million funding round as it continues to deliver on its vision of bringing the world’s best entertainment to its audiences.
The funding round, which attracted significant interest from both new investors and existing shareholders, was led by Hearst, one of America’s largest diversified media, information and services companies, and also included additional new investors Singapore-based EDBI and clients of DBS private bank. Existing shareholders Evolution Media, Sky PLC, Catcha Group, Liberty Global, Jungle Ventures and PLDT Inc. also increased their investments.
Over the last 12 months, the service has seen extraordinary growth across all segments of the business, expanding from four markets to 19 across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The company has additionally built deep integrated distribution partnerships with 27 leading telecommunications operators to bundle the iflix service with customers’ mobile and data subscriptions, all sponsored by the telecommunications provider.
During the period, iflix also achieved tremendous growth across subscriber numbers and engagement by 3x and 2x respectively, and recorded some of the highest average active mobile viewing durations of any service in the world at 2.5-2.75 hours per session. The company saw 230 percent growth in year on year revenue, and increased its commitment to localisation.
Spintelligent ahead of the curve this year with record performances at its African events
Spintelligent, the multi-AAXO-award-winning Cape Town-based trade exhibition and conference organiser, had a strong first half of 2017 with all of four of its flagship events: African Utility Week, Agritech Expo Zambia, DRC Mining Week and Eduweek, pulling off record results and an exciting new Property Buyer Show drawing large crowds.
“Exhibition and conference revenues are up year-on-year and attendee numbers are growing exponentially. The demand for face-to-face events as a platform to share knowledge and facilitate trade is increasing and proven to provide African buyers and sellers an improved ROI over traditional marketing medium,” says MD David Ashdown says.
“Winning four major AAXO event industry awards at the beginning of 2017 was immensely rewarding but it has also inspired us to work even harder and not rest on our laurels and the results to date speak for themselves.”
Spintelligent’s publishing division has also been very busy so far this year. “Besides never missing a day to deliver daily headline news, we have published 14 editions of our long-running, leading trade publications ESI-Africa, Mining Review Africa, Metering & Smart Energy International and look forward to another 12 content-rich editions until the New Year.”