The One-Eyed Man with Mike Stopforth

Old Mutual is the headline sponsor of this year’s edition of the SingularityU South Africa Summit. In this three-part series, I speak with some of OML's most interesting movers and shakers, understanding how they are moving the needle at the intersection of leadership, technology and impact.

My guest on the final episode of the series is Dhesen Ramsamy, the Group Chief Technology and Data Officer at Old Mutual. Dhesen was appointed as Old Mutual's group CTO in November 2023, and has more than twenty years of digital transformation experience at companies like Woolworths, Nedbank and Unilever. He has led functions in charge of insights, R&D, segmentation, value proposition development, market segmentation, customer experience design, digitisation, and marketing.

He focuses on digital transformation, technology strategy, channel build, customer strategy and experience as disciplines. At Old Mutual Dhesen leads functions responsible for corporate innovation, venture capital and corporate venturing.

In this conversation, we cover the importance of digital literacy in fostering meaningful organisational transformation at scale, and speak about his plans for leveraging OM's scale and scope for bettering financial access and inclusion on the continent. MikeStopforth.com · Connect with Mike on LinkedIn · Follow Mike on Twitter · 48h crisis communication consultancy

Old Mutual is the headline sponsor of this year’s edition of the SingularityU South Africa Summit. In this three-part series, I speak with some of OML's most interesting movers and shakers, understanding how they are moving the needle at the intersection of leadership, technology and impact.

My guest on part 2 of the series is Nobesuthu Ndlovu, the director of SMEs at Old Mutual. Suthu is an intuitive and seasoned executive and entrepreneur with vast strategic and operational experience in the finance and retail sectors. Young and

highly energetic, Nobesuthu also possesses intrinsic wisdom that she garnered when she astutely nurtured her business, Burgundy Fly, from its challenging bootstrap start-up phase right through to when it became a flourishing entity that generated a R31million turnover in the space of a decade.

We talk about the start-up and SME ecosystem in SA and how, under Suthu's guidance, OML has curated a one-stop turnkey solution for start-ups that need administrative support and access to the kind of network and distribution that only an organisation of Old Mutual's scale can offer. Old Mutual SMEgo · MikeStopforth.com · Connect with Mike on LinkedIn · Follow Mike on Twitter · 48h crisis communication consultancy

Old Mutual is the headline sponsor of this year’s edition of the SingularityU South Africa Summit. In this three-part series, I speak with some of OML's most interesting movers and shakers, understanding how they are moving the needle at the intersection of leadership, technology and impact.

My guest on this first Vuyo is a growth-focused CEO with an impressive track record spanning over 25 years, at the forefront of technology and business transformations, innovation and building new businesses across diverse sectors such as banking, telecoms, insurance, and technology. Vuyo is the Managing Director NEXT176 at Old Mutual Limited, leading innovation, partnerships, strategic investments and venture building across Africa for the Old Mutual Group, a position he has held since 01 September 2021.

In this episode, we talk about NEXT176's journey, its early success stories, and its investment and growth philosophy. NEXT176 website · MikeStopforth.com · Connect with Mike on LinkedIn · Follow Mike on Twitter · 48h crisis communication consultancy

My guest for this episode is Nicola van Ast, CMO at Melon Mobile, and co-founder of Growthink Group (where - full disclosure - she is my wonderful wife Anna's business partner).

Nicola is one of the brains behind Melon's bold, cheeky and by all accounts extremely effective takeover of other trusted and loved SA brand's billboards - including Lyft, Veldskoen, Expresso, and Faf de Klerk. We talk about where the idea came from, what it took to bring it to life, and what we can expect from Melon in the weeks and months to come. Nicola's LinkedIn profile · Melon's 14-day trial offer · Growthink Group · MikeStopforth.com · Connect with Mike on LinkedIn · Follow Mike on Twitter · 48h crisis communication consultancy

My guest on this week’s show is Dean Oelschig. I met Dean on Twitter in the early days of social media, where we’d share notes on advertising, rugby, and just about any other topic both cared about, and which we inevitably argued about. We still argue about everything.

Dean is a pure ad man and the founder of Halo Advertising. Halo has built an excellent reputation over the last decade and has done extraordinarily well in recent years, with some truly standout and award-winning, above-the-line creative work.

In this episode, we discuss why creativity matters more now than ever and how advertising agencies can better assist clients in producing brave and meaningful work. We also discuss the problems with purpose-based marketing and Halo’s exciting upcoming conference, Conspicuous, where Mark Ritson will be the keynote speaker.

Enjoy the conversation. Halo's website · Halo's Creative Marketing Newsletter · Connect with Dean on LinkedIn · MikeStopforth.com · Connect with Mike on LinkedIn · Follow Mike on Twitter · 48h crisis communication consultancy

Aasiyah Adams is the inspirational founder of Abaguquli4IR and called herself the Gig Economy Driver. What does that mean?

Well, few people are more passionate about equipping the unemployed, small and informal business owners and traders, and aspirant entrepreneurs with a platform to accelerate or incubate their businesses or ideas for business.

She does this by providing entrepreneurship skills, applications, programs and tools in all functional areas that prepare this critical notch of the South African economy for the Gig Economy.

In this episode, we discuss her background, her interest in digital literacy, the challenges of her work, and making a meaningful impact at scale. Abaguquli 4IR's website · MikeStopforth.com · Connect with Mike on LinkedIn · Follow Mike on Twitter · 48h crisis communication consultancy

Do you truly understand your customers? How seamlessly and effectively are you integrating customer feedback into your operations and strategy? Are you measuring success in CX?

My guest on this week’s show is Michael Renzon. Mike is the CEO & co-Founder of inQuba which is a Customer Journey Management SaaS platform.

Mike has built multiple successful internet, technology, content and Customer Experience. He is an Endeavor Entrepreneur, and honestly one of the most intriguing minds I’ve ever had the pleasure of engaging.

I first met Mike on a ski trip with mates over a decade ago and was struck immediately by his monk-like disposition. He doesn’t speak often, but when he does he has a deeply thoughtful, zen-like impact on the room.

We’ve since collaborated on conferences and shared many deep conversations about work and life so it was only a matter of time before I convinced him to be on the show.

In this episode, we talk about customer experience, how thinking in the field of CX has evolved, and where we can expect it to go in future. inQuba's website · MikeStopforth.com · Connect with Mike on LinkedIn · Follow Mike on Twitter · 48h crisis communication consultancy

It's hard to know where to start on this one. Psychedelic-assisted therapy has been such a revolution in my personal health journey that it's really difficult for me not to sound like a zealot when discussing the topic. Could psychedelics be the revolution the mental health industry so desperately needs? Maybe. Are there dangers to be cautious of? Absolutely. But in my mind, these dangers are no different to those inherent to any of the powerful drugs readily prescribed by thousands of doctors to millions of patients around the world every day.

But don't listen to me, listen to my guest. Not only does he understand this topic intrinsically, but cares perhaps more than anyone I've met about the integrity of the work being done in this field and on the frontier of mental healthcare. Brad Kallenbach is a Clinical Psychologist and co-founder of Equanimity Wellness - Africa’s first psychedelic-assisted therapy centre based right here in Sandton. Brad is also a co-founder of Reach (beta), a mental health tech app that offers real-time, science-based tools for anxiety regulation and emotional mastery. The Equanimity Wellness Centre · MikeStopforth.com · Connect with Mike on LinkedIn · Follow Mike on Twitter · 48h crisis communication consultancy

Do the names League of Legends, Counter-Strike, Dota, Fortnite, and Call of Duty mean anything to you? If not, you could be missing out on something massive.

The global esports market was valued at $1.39 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $3.96 billion in 2023. The global esports audience is expected to reach over 500 million in 2023. Esports and gaming compete with the biggest sponsorship opportunities in traditional sports and many brands have zero idea how to participate.

In SA, the esports and gaming landscape is emergent, vibrant and an exciting unmined possibility for forward-thinking brands. In this episode, I speak to SA esports pioneer Barry Louzada about his vision for what the industry could look like, now and into the future. Mettlestate · MikeStopforth.com · Connect with Mike on LinkedIn · Follow Mike on Twitter · 48h crisis communication consultancy

Today we are talking about mental health. If you follow me or if we follow each other online, you will have noticed that this is a topic that I care deeply about and have spoken about increasingly over the last couple of months and years, and it has been a feature of my entrepreneurial journey. It's been a feature of my life, really.

But I've realized that not only is it helpful for me to talk about it, and to share some of my story, but there's also sort of a widespread stigma around talking about mental health issues, especially amongst men, especially amongst businessmen and I'm really committed to changing some of that stigma and creating spaces where we can talk about some of the stuff that we're struggling with, in the same way that we would talk about all the other topics that are tough to tackle in the business world. My guest today is somebody who also cares specifically about creating new spaces and new spaces at scale, to assist you in whatever capacity you need.

Alon Lits is the founder and CEO of Panda, a revolutionary app dedicated to bringing mental health resources to more people in a more accessible and affordable way. Before Panda, Alon was the country manager for Uber in SA. We talk about his new venture, experience gained from his Uber journey, and more in this inspiring episode. Panda mental health app · MikeStopforth.com · Connect with Mike on LinkedIn · Follow Mike on Twitter · 48h crisis communication consultancy