The Open Play Foundation NPC was founded in a collaboration between Remgro Ltd and Stellenbosch Football Club. Our mission is to enable the children of Stellenbosch to discover their potential by revitalising public spaces into safe and accessible recreational platforms where the transformative power of sport, culture, and education can be harnessed through community partnerships.

Afrikaans Rugby Commentator for SuperSport, South Africa

As associate publisher of Media24’s Afrikaans online news brands, I led the commercial team responsible for Netwerk24 and NetNuus.• Netwerk24 is South Africa’s largest subscription-based online news service. I headed a core team of four people responsible for marketing, subscriber growth strategies, product development, and advertising revenue. My biggest project was leading the conceptualization, development and implementation of a new paywall model aimed at accelerating our stagnating subscriber growth rate. Between the launch of the new model in June 2016 and my departure in March 2017, our ‘digital only’ subscriber base grew by 46.1%; our ‘digital + print’ base by 23.3%; and our overall digital subscriber base by 34.14%. We also developed new mobile apps for iOS and Android devices.• NetNuus is a free-to-use mobile news app that we launched in July 2016. It became the South African mobile news app with the highest monthly frequency of return – a measurement of the number of return visits an app generates in a single month (33 for NetNuus), signifying its usefulness as a source of news and entertainment.• Our paywall and app strategies have doubled the total monthly page views generated by our combined Afrikaans news platforms (from 9 million to 18 million), creating exceptional value for digital advertisers.• At the end of March 2017, I left Media24 to pursue three passions: write another book, do TV rugby commentary, and continuous education.

After editing Die Burger newspaper's Real Estate edition for eight months, I accepted a double editorship when offered the reins of Die Burger’s agriculture section. My editorial functions included content planning, writing, editing, page layout, and managing contracted correspondents, commissioning contributions from freelance columnists, and covering major news events for Die Burger’s main pages. I also worked closely with my advertising representative. Our teamwork culminated in her being named Die Burger’s general and niche Marketer of the Year for the 2014-’15 financial year. I left this role at the end of January 2016 to “cross the aisle” from an editorial to a managerial position at Media24’s digital publishing company, 24.com.

Head-hunted to take over Die Burger’s Real Estate section when its editor retired after 38 years. I immediately removed the traditional divide between editorial and advertising personnel. Along with four sales reps we regained focus on our strongest readership and advertising markets with more useful content, including our consumer advice platform, which I jointly created and ran with an advocate of the Cape Bar.

I was the group senior national rugby writer in Pretoria for the major Afrikaans dailies (Beeld, Die Burger and Volksblad) and Rapport, the biggest Afrikaans Sunday paper in South Africa. I reported on and toured abroad with the Springboks. I also reported on the Bulls (Super Rugby), Blue Bulls (Currie Cup) and the South African national sevens side (Blitzbokke, from 2009 till 2013).Twice a month, I was the rotating editor of Johannesburg-based national sports desk for three biggest Afrikaans dailies.

I was the sports editor of Die Burger's Jip supplement, covering youth sports across the Western Cape. I also covered national rugby weeks for the entire group (Die Burger, Beeld, Volksblad, Rapport). In November 2011, I was promoted to senior writer and national group correspondent for Sevens Rugby. The relationships I established here set the foundation for my book, COACH – How South African Sports Leaders Cultivate Excellence (2014).

Die Burger is the flagship newspaper title of Media24, the publishing arm of Naspers. I reported on general news, crime and South Africa’s fourth democratic election.