Part I
Web movement in South Africa is on the up. I have never seen so many people working together to push a country right up into the ‘big boys’ market, and to be honest, I’m proud to be part of such a movement. It is amazing to work with and watch other amazing designer, developers and brain stormers launch ideas, which are truly outstanding, and of course: proudly South Africa. Movements such as Accelerate Cape Town is a fantastic new movement! Accelerate Cape Town (ACT) is a private sector initiative aimed at bringing together stakeholders in the Cape region to develop and implement a long-term vision for sustainable, inclusive economic growth.
Another person playing a wonderful role in the movement of South African web concepts is Mr Eric Edelstein, a self proclaimed capital invester slash entrepreneur, with ideas far greater than the average person can imagine. Eric has been involved in Internet start-up’s for 10years now, being involved in a number of inspiring projects such as: Clicks2Customers, TrafficSynergy, incuBeta and others. Eric spends large amounts of time testing out new Internet Marketing strategies and is passionate about Search Marketing, both SEO and Pay Per Click.
Your Group of Web AddiCT(s); is another group, which is pushing South Africa into a first world web-wise. Rafiq Phillips and Miguel Dos Santos are the web addicts, which bring us all the latest news, usually from a technological point of view. They say that Web AddCT is an acronym for Web, Application Design, Development & Innovation in Cape Town. Good going guys!
Lastly, SA Rocks is a website, run by Nic Haralambous – “SA Rocks is not a website dedicated to blindly praising South Africa. I understand that every country has flaws and I do not deny the flaws of South Africa. I do feel that there are enough people who berate our country and it’s time for people to start acting and thinking positively about South Africa.”
With all these movements in South Africa, it is obvious that South African web gurus are working as hard as possible to bring us up to the same level as the rest of the world!
Great post!
I am busy putting together a list of South African web visionaries, and have opened up the list to the public via a wiki. The list will be published in the upcoming Internet Guide magazine.
If you’d like, please add your suggestions on who should be featured. Thanks,
http://igmag.pbwiki.com
Thanks for the kind words Eve. I was doing my daily browse and just thought that some of these people need to be recognised for their great work with the South African movements.
I will take a look at your link, and add a few links :)
Wow, Thanks so much for the mention! I am so glad that people are reading my blog and jumping on to the shifting mindset that SA DOES ROCK!!! :)
Thanks.
Totally Nic, I believe in giving credit, where credit is due – keep up the good work!
Any particular reason why you left out Stopforth and Duarte?
Ps- SA does Rock
All worthy of the ‘guru’ status you have given them. However, I think the net could be cast a little further, perhaps material for another post …
@Craig – no reason at all. I was surfing around randomly, when the idea of the blog post came to me, so I just chose a few people I know of. Dave and Mike would fit in this list without the blink of an eye!
@Eishman – Absolutely, and I will perhaps spend some time compiling a part II to this post.
Would be interesting to see what other people should be featured in the list.
Who else is worthy?
Thanks for the comments!
Well if you have a look at Eve’s wiki list, it’s pretty comprehensive.
However I would contend that some of the ‘casual’ bloggers in the SA blogosphere have more of an effect than some of those web guru’s. Just judging from Amatomu’s stats bloggers such as Tertia, Peas and … Steve Hoffmeyer have a wider reach. But does the number of people you affect determine your ‘Guru’ status?
Maybe you need to define your Guru criteria first!
That’s a good point Craig, it’s got nothing to do with popularity, but technically popularity and guru status do run hand in hand.
I will give it some more thought, and publish something tomorrow.
tx for the mention Chris
Thanks for the mention Chris, honoured even :)
Not a problem Rafiq!