nuclearpengy - working

Founder and CEO, Brown Jeffery Ventures, February 2015 - Present

I invest in early stage businesses and provide management consulting and mentoring to startups and corporates with a keen focus on product development, systems integration and social media.

Founder and CEO, Brown Jeffery Capital, January 2017 - Present

Working with funders and founders to build sustainable businesses.

Founder and CEO, MyEcommerce, 2008 - Present

MyEcommerce is a niche software solutions company specialising in product management and technical execution.

We partner with businesses, big and small, to architect, build and maintain bespoke solutions to solve unique and challenging problems and have experience working on systems in the FinTech, EdTech and GovTech spaces. We turn ideas into digital reality.

We are privileged to work with clients in cities around South Africa including; George, Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Knysna, Johannesburg, Durban and Nelson Mandela Bay. Internationally, we service clients in Atlanta, Belgium, London, Switzerland, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria.

In my role as CEO, I’m responsible for driving strategy, the management of company finances as well as recruitment and training of staff but I also happily dig into code when I get the chance.

I primarily help our clients with project management, strategic planning, system, user interface and process architecture and often play the role of devil’s advocate, asking the difficult questions that usually include if, but or maybe.

Product and Engineering Manager, Ringier, 2016 - Present

Ringier AG is an international media group based in Switzerland.

Product Manager (Sports Media - Core), Ringier South Africa, July 2024 - Present

I lead the Sports Media team building and maintaining scalable backend and web solutions for our partner brands operating in Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal, Netherlands, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Hungary.

Product Manager (Jobs - Core), Ringier South Africa, January 2021 - June 2024

I led the Jobs Marketplaces team, responsible for building and maintainting job marketplaces operated by our partner companies in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Nigera, Myanmar and Romania.

Product Manager (Jobs - South East Asia), Ringier South Africa, July 2019 - December 2020

I oversaw ongoing development and maintenance of the in-house jobs marketplace platform, working closely with both the in-country team and a remote development team located in India, Armenia, Uzbekistan, and Russia.

Product Manager (Sports Media - AL/ML Solutions), Ringier AG, June 2024 - Present

Designing and implementing artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions leveraging Palantir Foundry and AIP, as well as custom built solutions.

Engineering Manager (Special Projects), Ringier AG, May 2020 - Present

I work on a range of projects, both public-facing and internal, including high-profile websites and internal-use plugins.

Engineering Manager (Content, Blogs and Distribution), Ringier One Africa Media, June 2016 - March 2021

I led a team of developers, building and maintaining WordPress websites, blogs and plugins, supported multiple platform migrations, and was responsible for the architecture and vision for the core blog ecosystem.

In this role, I worked closely with group marketing based out of Berlin, designers based in Kenya and South Africa, the product management and infrastructure teams based in South Africa and Mauritius, and marketing and content teams based in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Senegal.

Co-Founder and Board Member, Garden Route ICT Incubator, November 2011 - Present

I am part of the committee involved in the planning and establishment of the incubator which culminated in the foundation and registration of the incubator in January 2013. We focus on promoting ICT in the region and co-ordinating technology related events.

I assist in the planning and facilitation of innovation driven events, focused on prototyping concepts and getting minimum viable products developed instead of spending a lot of money on typical consultants and research, striving to deliver crowd sourced viable solutions.

I used to run the software development workshops at our electronics club, known as the G3ECS and engage with other non-profits, in order to identify potential strategic alignments.

Chief Product Officer, Hlalani IQ, August 2012 - October 2017

Hlalani IQ is a software as a service company that started out with a special focus on construction project management and supporting emerging contractors.

As with all things digital, it evolved and now provides a broader set of product offerings.

The tooling enables contractors, engineers and property developers to efficiently run projects, reduce risk and report on progress in realtime.

It also provides a set of contextual research tools, for surveys, site audits and cost analysis.

I was responsible for driving product strategy and dreaming about the future and our role in it.

Product Manager, Debt Wise Solutions, November 2008 - January 2012

MyEcommerce co-owned Debt Wise Solutions(Pty) Ltd which we successfully exited in May 2011.

The Debt Wise Solutions program is a debt counselling and payment processing engine designed to operate under the National Credit Act in South Africa. The system was subject to annual forensic audits.

I was responsible for managing all elements of production and the day to day development life cycle. I oversaw the support systems (telephone and email) for clients and internal users; I also did site visits to larger clients, providing support and onsite training.

I recruited and lead an internal team of developers, support agents and technicians as well as multiple outsourced developers, through four major iterations of the program.

I played a strategic role in hardware and software acquisitions for internal use as well as the design and deployment of hosted infrastructure.

In this role I interacted with various national bodies, the National Credit Regulator, the Banking Association of South Africa, National Debt Mediation Association and other industry role players.

Operations Manager, Leading Skills Agency, November 2006 - July 2008

In this role I engaged with the Department of Labour, National Skills Fund and was responsible for financial reporting as well as project management on a pilot programme focused on Community Based Cooperatives providing a range of business development facilitation and mentoring.

The project included the design, development and accreditation of a learning programme.

I presented the following courses:

I also coordinated a regional project in partnership with Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and AfriGIS conducted for the Eden District Municipality.

Sales Manager, H2O Garden Route Mall, June 2006 - October 2006

Sales and ordering stock, stock take and general admin of the shop, and co-ordinating shifts of sales people.

Manager, Juicy Lucy Garden Route Mall, November 2005 - May 2006

Running the restaurant on an operational level and performing basic administration and capturing of income and expenses into administration software system, ordering stock, co-ordinating all shifts of both waitrons and kitchen staff, dealing with customer and staff complaints.

Founder and CEO, Uranium Studio, January 2005 - February 2015

Uranium Studio was a business and web consultancy that provided perspective and connected the dots, helping entrepreneurs and business people think differently and identify the right people to work with.

I helped entrepreneurs with:

I presented workshops:

All web development services are now offered through MyEcommerce and all consulting is now being offered through Brown Jeffery Ventures.

Waiter, Caffe Rossini, January 2005 - October 2005

Sales and Customer Services.

Administrative Executive, ISP Group, December 2004 - April 2005

Sales and customer service, paying of wages, general bookkeeping, deliveries, stock taking, DJing for corporate events, weddings and birthday parties, assisting with the décor at such functions.

Salon Manager, Cascarila Hair Design, July 2004 - November 2004

General HR tasks, coordinating shifts, client support, conflict resolution, product research, marketing and business development.

Sales Assistant, VodaShop, December 2003 - June 2004

Sales and customer assistance in all technical matters. Opening accounts and credit vetting clients. Opening and closing the store and doing cash ups.

Waiter, Upstairs at Harry’s, September 2003 - November 2003

Sales and servicing customers and assistance with stock taking.

Waiter and then head waiter, Caffe Rossini, June 2003 - August 2003

Sales and servicing customers, supervising other waitrons and dealing with cashups etc. and closing the shop.

Waiter, La Cantina - Fancourt, January 2003 - June 2003

Sales and servicing customers.

Waiter, Ocean Basket George, September 2002 - January 2003

Sales and servicing customers.

Waiter and then head waiter, Caffe Rossini, January 2002 - August 2002

Sales and servicing customers, supervising other waitrons and dealing with cashups etc. and closing the shop.

Waiter, Geronimo Spur, December 2001 - January 2002

Sales and Servicing customers, also took part in the SPUR Ten Steps of Service Training Programme.

Entertainer, Geronimo Spur, March 1998 - November 2001

Children supervision and entertainment, basic waitron assistance, preparation of drinks.

Delivery Boy, George Home ads, January 1997 - December 1998

Delivering news papers, once per week to post boxes in a designated area.

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