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Craig Marais, Inventor and official patent holder of ‘Sockzela’ the Vuvuzela Sock
Craig Marais is an ingenious entrepreneur who is the inventor and official patent holder of the ‘Sockzela’. His idea of branding vuvuzelas was born when the Confederation Cup came along last year and he realised that there was an opportunity in the market as The 2010 World-Cup was approaching. Craig will share his real life story with our entrepreneurs and provide a real life case study with real life lessons.
Gillian Saunders, Head of Grant Thornton Advisory Services
Gillian Saunders Has extensive experience in tourism, hospitality and leisure consulting. She carries out market feasibility studies, financial viability assessments, macro tourism research, economic impact assessments, valuations, tourism strategies, marketing strategies and general tourism related market research. She also assists the FNB Tourism Desk with the market first Tourism Business Index. Gillian will provide the entrepreneurs with an overview of the SA Tourism industry and the industry post the 2010 World Cup.
Nils Heckscher, Representing the Tourism Business Council of South Africa
Nils Heckscher was born and raised in Germany and started his career in 1980 as a page boy in Berlin. Nils currently collaborates on the boards of TOMSA, TBCSA, FEDHASA, Cape Town Tourism, Cape Town Hotel School and The German International School, Cape Town. He is also a member on the board of the charity organisations Hotels Housing Trust and Streetsmart. His passion is South Africa at large and in particular Cape Town and its hospitality and Tourism industry. He will discuss the importance of the Tourism Levy.
Roshene Singh, Chief Marketing Officer of South African Tourism
Roshene Singh is currently employed by South African Tourism as Chief Marketing Officer. Her primary responsibility is to deliver on the Tourism Growth Strategy. This entails fine-tuning the Marketing Growth Strategy for South Africa and developing marketing plans; leading the portfolio and country teams in their execution of plans and being responsible for all affairs regarding the Marketing Business Unit. Roshene will share insights into specific industry best practices and personal experiences.
Dr Felicité Fairer-Wessels, Professor of Tourism at the University of Pretoria
Dr Felicité Fairer-Wessels has a PhD in Information Management and has lectured in diverse fields, from Information Science and since 2003 in Tourism Management respectively at Unisa and the University of Pretoria for nearly 30 years. During this period she also headed research at South African Tourism over the millennium. She now focuses on tourism entrepreneurship, event management and attraction (both tangible and intangible heritage) management. Dr Fairer-Wessels will provide our entrepreneurs with valuable insights into creating sustainable businesses by diversifying revenue streams and opening up new markets.
Lyndsay Jackson, General Manager of GHASA Guest House Association of South
Lyndsay Jackson is currently General Manager of Guest House Accommodation of SA (GHASA), which she has run for over 10 years. She is also a qualified star grading assessor for Tourism Grading Council of SA. Lyndsay will provide our entrepreneurs with best practices in operating a tourism establishment and will share insights into increasing tourism savvy business behavior.
Rob Stokes, CEO and founder of Quirk e-Marketing
Rob Stokes is the CEO and founder of Quirk and is passionate about the world of e-Marketing. Rob studied Business Science at the University of Cape Town and founded Quirk e-Marketing in 1999. He speaks regularly at conferences and gives presentations all around the country on the topic of online marketing, and compiled the Quirk textbook, e-Marketing: The Essential Guide to Online Marketing in 2008. This book has been a phenomenal success worldwide. Rob will share his passion for e-Marketing with our entrepreneurs and also on how it can be utilized as a tool to grow a business. | 
