Barrie Swart Email & Phone Number

City Of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

I serve as the South African Country Manager for dLocal (Nasdaq: DLO). dLocal connects global merchants with billions of emerging market consumers and helps the world's biggest companies, including Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Spotify, Shopify, Nike, adidas, Netflix, Shein, Temu, Tencent and many more, simplify payments and realise their expansion ambitions into the developing world.

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

I served as the Managing Director of SuperSportBet at KingMakers South Africa (holding directorships in both entities). Along with an exceptional team, that was built from the ground up to over 120, I was headhunted as employee #1 to build and launch SuperSportBet.com - a world class online sports and casino betting service in South Africa. I was instrumental in positioning SuperSportBet as a formidable and visible market challenger, in a highly contested industry, in record time. I steered all the building and testing of the platform to ensure market readiness; led the brand conceptualisation and development; secured all the regulatory approvals from the testing labs and the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board; and headed all the above-the-line and below-the-line marketing activities to successfully launch a brand new service in South Africa. All this while concluding exclusive, PSL-endorsed, partnership deals with arguably the two biggest football brands on the continent - Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. Acquisition figures considerably overdelivered on budgeted targets, with registrations on the new platform running deep into 6 figures, since the televised January 2024 launch. In partnership with MultiChoice and SuperSport, SuperSportBet enhances the passion that sports fans have for their favourite games with a world class offering across desktop, mobile web, Android and iOS app.KingMakers is the leading sports and digital entertainment platform company focused on the African continent.

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

Following the acquisition of the eBay Classifieds Group by Adevinta, I joined the world’s largest Online Classifieds Group - continuing in my role at Gumtree South Africa, under new ownership.

Cape Town Area, South Africa

As Head of Operations for this household brand in South Africa, my role at Gumtree essentially entailed creating new “start-ups” in a teen aged tech business. While my mandate expanded to incorporate all the operational aspects of the organisation, I continued to head up the Property, Goods and Jobs divisions as well (further detailed in the role below). My role on the executive leadership team included conceptualizing, scoping and executing on commercial and strategic initiatives for eBay's only venture on the African continent. I was tasked with ensuring that Gumtree optimized its sizable audience and commercialized its position - exceeding growth targets while enabling trade and successful connections for millions of buyers and sellers.

Cape Town Area, South Africa

Headhunted to become only the 3rd full time employee of eBay in Africa, My initial accountability for the Property vertical quickly expanded to a mandate that covered several verticals, including Jobs and Goods, for South Africa's biggest website. I was also approached to join the Commercial Excellence Committee for eBay’s Emerging Markets Division based in Amsterdam as well as the B2C Centre of Excellence headed in Canada. These groups were tasked with optimizing best practice and revenue generating efficiencies across eBay’s biggest growth markets. As part of the leadership team that ran this household brand in South Africa, I was often called on, and volunteered to operate and execute beyond my initial scope. Soon after joining the small executive team I proceeded to build the Property, Goods and Jobs businesses, from scratch, into entities comprising hundreds of key clients with recurring revenues well into seven figures. I built a team comprising in-house and outsourced agents that continued to build on and support the solid subscriber foundation that I laid. My deep understanding of the emerging markets landscape was instrumental in the ongoing development and refinement of ProTool – locally produced middleware that helped “professional” users of Gumtree more optimally manage their businesses on the site, while unlocking a previously untapped revenue source for the group. Most importantly, I was privileged to contribute to how millions of South Africans trade online. Some may just sell their couch but many have their livelihoods relying on Gumtree and being part of shaping the future of online trade in the country, and on the continent, was really fulfilling.

Cape Town Area, South Africa

On my return from China I joined the rapidly expanding team of one of Cape Town's most exciting start ups. As a key director within the small executive, my role was all encompassing with a specific focus on driving the ever growing list of local and multinational clients. My stay was short-lived due to a call up to join Gumtree South Africa (eBay).

Hefei, China

Reported directly to the chairman of the board of the first and only joint venture between foreign investment and a CPC-run (Chinese Communist Party) media company. In this position I led the 72-strong team in one of the biggest media companies in the province of Anhui in China. Duties included budgeting, continuous marketing analysis and compiling strategies that ensured revenue-target acquisition for the team as well as sourcing new, international brands for the various titles in the stable. Also oversaw the group's expansion into online, outdoor, magazine and mobile platforms and other brand extensions. Regular travel to centers such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou was undertaken to create and maintain an ever growing list of client- and agency contacts that were built from the ground up into what is now a substantial and recurring revenue source for the company. Liaison at the highest corporate level was required in reporting to both the Chinese and South African sides of the joint venture. Maintaining and strengthening international business relations between the two countries was a core function of this international placement where Western language and culture remains a very foreign concept. To this end I was entrusted with the arrangements for numerous high-level corporate- and government delegations both in South Africa and in China, including regular and direct engagement with South Africa's Ambassador to China, while advising on appropriate cross-culture protocol. I also represented the joint venture and many of our clients in hundreds of speaking engagements and several dozen media interviews across regional and national press, radio and television.

Cape Town, South Africa

Led the marketing team responsible for retail, advertising and brand awareness activities for the largest and most lucrative division within the Media24 group. Merchandising, POS and management for numerous high-visibility events also formed part of this role, as did negotiation with sponsors and media partners to ensure maximum exposure for events. Further responsibilities included overall budget management for the division across titles as well as the development of a multiplatform presence across online, mobile and MXit. The development and execution of launch- and marketing campaigns for new titles in the stable was an essential function of the position. Five core titles and various brand extensions resided within the portfolio and these included several of the biggest selling magazines in South Africa (including the top 4), namely Huisgenoot, YOU, DRUM, Move! and TVPlus.

Cape Town, South Africa

Designed and implimented Die Burger's "News Room of the Future" in Cape Town and was tasked with leading the drive to create an online presence for the then biggest Afrikaans daily newspaper in South Africa. Led the team that conceptualised and created the paper's first online space: www.dieburger.com

Cape Town, South Africa

Functioned as the head of publicity for the then newly created division to drive increased circulation and revenue streams. This was done through competitions and unique promotional activities. Responsibilities for both brands included the compilation of budgets, event management, all reader competitions [including Pryslyn (Die Burger) and Score! (SON)] and interaction with advertising clients, subscribers and the public at large. Public visibility and contribution to the brand equity of both publications were core functions of the position.

Cape Town, South Africa

Duties included the selling of advertising and later of special edition newspapers to drive circulation. This maintained and strengthened Die Burger’s position as the then biggest daily newspaper in the Western Cape and the biggest Afrikaans daily in South Africa. Careful planning and constant client and departmental liaison were essential to ensure the smooth execution and consistent flow of projects and ultimately the attainment of monthly targets. After joining the three-man team Die Burger experienced record sales with the highest circulation in its 100 year history in some cases.

Cape Town, South Africa

Duties included assisting with the drawing up of media schedules, liaison with media owners as well as assisting the planners and media director in the drafting of client presentations and media recommendations for clients such as Woolworths, adidas, Absolut Vodka, Distell, The V&A Waterfront and SA Rugby. Also tasked with a project to produce a seasonal guide for the agency's biggest client - Woolworths. This required interaction with all departments in the 2002 SA Agency of the Year. Further responsibilities included maintaining the department library and various voucher services. Software programmes such as Telmar, Ad-Ex, and MMS (Multi-Media System) were regularly used and skills in data retrieval and analysis continuously improved. Much knowledge was gained about the industry, target market identification, market research systems as well as the various systems of the media planning department.

Mba, Business And Marketing, Cum Laude, Distinction

Certificate, Strategy Execution, Formal Completion

Strategy Execution is an 8-week online certificate program from Harvard Business School. Strategy Execution equips managers.

Certificate, Digital Marketing, Cum Laude, 81% - Distinction

B-Tech Degree, Marketing, Cum Laude, Distinction

Hsk Level Ii Diploma, Chinese Language Proficiency

The HSK (Level II) assesses test takers’ abilities in the application of everyday Chinese. It is the counterpart of the Level II.