Meet the entrepreneurs: Inspiring business success

Rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence technologies have fuelled tech stock prices this year as investors cotton on to the massive disruption underway to many aspects of the way we live. But there is also much concern among marketing practitioners that the runaway success of ChatGPT is the start of a radical overhaul of the way marketing is practised - and that many job roles will change and disappear. 

You’re listening to the Edinburgh Napier Marketing Network podcast, with Jackie Cameron and Kat Rezai -- lecturers at The Business School, Edinburgh Napier University. This special edition on marketing in an AI world includes in-depth discussions with amarket research experts Jack Wilson, innovation lead at global market research firm 2VC and his colleague Keith Crane, group research director. Later on the show, you'll hear from: marketing recruitment specialist marketer Ewan Anderson, of Eden Scott a headhunting firm and also Vice-Chair of Communications for the Chartered Institute of Marketing Scotland; and, David Roberts, head of business development at award-wining marketing agency Multiply and a key supporter of students for the Marketing Society Scotland.

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Grace Harding heads the multinational restaurant group Ocean Basket and is also the voice of the Restaurant Collective - the voice of South Africa's restaurateurs. "Since the days of Jesus, people don't want to eat alone," she says of why she is confident restaurant businesses will recover from the global pandemic. She sets out how the industry has changed and lessons learnt to improve business processes. Harding shares her ideas on where the business opportunities lie and she also provides insights into how she has built her own career in a highly competitive sector, in this conversation with freelance business and finance journalist Jackie Cameron - who produced this as part of the BizNews Power Hour, a live radio show that is also streamed worldwide to South Africans with a global mindset. Harding sets out some practical ideas for individuals looking for new business opportunities and explains why women are different in business. [email protected]

Helena Conradie is the outgoing CEO of Satrix, which has billions under management in low-cost passive exchange traded funds. When Conradie took the job at Satrix, her bosses at insurance giant Sanlam were sceptical about the future for ETFs - even though the signs were evident that ETFs were powering up elsewhere in the world. In this candid conversation with financial journalist and radio show host Jackie Cameron, Conradie shares what it has been innovating and disrupting in a sector - and from within a company - that is notoriously chauvinistic and conservative. She provides inspiration for other women who would like to emulate her success and shines a light on the significant obstacles for women in a male-dominated industry.

Zak Calisto transformed the problem of high crime in South Africa - and in particular vehicle theft - into a global multi-billion dollar business with a variety of Software-as-a-service (Saas) applications. The creative entrepreneur built the multinational from scratch, starting with Cartrack and re-configuring the public listing so that it could attract greater attention on the Nasdaq, as Karooooo. The company has attracted much excitement from Wall Street analysts. The humble tech business leader, who is based in Singapore, speaks to award-winning business journalist Jackie Cameron about what's next for Karoooo. You'll notice some interesting parallels in his business philosophy with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos; plus a fascinating story about how the name evolved to include so many 'os'.

#Saas #Karooooo #cartrack #vehicletracking 

This week’s episode of Meet the Entrepreneurs features one of the world's most influential marketing strategists, Faith Popcorn - who has led the way in understanding future trends for the world's most successful brands. She joins host Jackie Cameron from her office in New York. Also joining the Zoom tea party is Jonathan Foster-Pedley, a business school visionary who is forging new ground in Africa at the Henley Business School in Johannesburg. The conversation focuses on why kindness is critical for business success and whether the Covid-19 pandemic has made the world more accepting of the need for kindness. Faith also shares her thoughts on Elon Musk and can't help flirting with Foster-Pedley. The author of The Popcorn Report says it is critically important for brands to demonstrate that they care. Foster-Pedley cautions against toxic kindness and explores how to get kindness right in the business world. Popcorn and Foster-Pedley provide fresh thinking on corporate compassion. If you'd like to feature on this show, which was first aired on BizNews Radio's global channels, or work with Jackie Cameron on your own show - wherever you are in the world - get in touch at [email protected].

Uruguay-born accountancy guru and financial markets entrepreneur Monica Singer had an epiphany when she discovered blockchain. In this episode of Meet the Entrepreneurs, she shares her story of how she became a blockchain evangelist and has been working towards transforming the global digital economy on behalf of ConsenSys - the world's leader in ethereum applications. From her seaside office (you can hear the waves), she speaks to award-winning business and finance journalist Jackie Cameron about her campaign to get business leaders to understand how blockchain works and how it can eliminate fraud, corruption and improve business efficiencies. Singer first made her mark as a disruptive entrepreneur when she played a leading role in transforming Africa's largest financial markets, in South Africa, from the world's worst performer in the world for settlements to global leader. 

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