2022 FEATURED SPEAKERS
Amy Jones
Director at Truter Jones Inc
Amy is a director and one of the founding partners of Truter Jones Inc. She holds a BA LLB from the University of the Witwatersrand (cum laude), was named the top Moot student and was nominated to the Dean’s List. Amy is an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa.
Amy specialises in corporate and commercial law and has extensive experience in company law, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and restructuring, antitrust law, commercial litigation, administrative law and intellectual property law, including franchising, licensing, trade marks and copyright infringement.
Annalisa Naidoo
Product & Business Development Specialist, Bitville Gaming
Ms Annalisa Naidoo has been involved the gambling, betting and gaming industry for more than twenty years at various levels of seniority which has given her in-depth knowledge of the market place. Annalisa's journey has included being a Strategic Consultant for Zonke Monitoring Systems, the General Manager for VSlots, a subsidiary of Tsogo Sun, the Group Business Development Manager for Gold Rush Gaming, Sales Director of Betgames and Vice President Africa for Pragmatic Play. Annalisa's focus has been at the coal face of both retail, land based and Internet gaming operations. She is now regarded as a leading player in the African Market through both her insight into how regulated markets work and her extensive understanding of the African Market as a whole.
Recently Annalisa chose to join the Bitville Gaming Team and brings all of her expertise to compliment the company's leading edge in the gaming industry. As its Product and Business Development Specialist she is growing Bitville Gaming by sourcing unique international products, ensuring that all licencing requirements are adhered to within regulated markets. This ensures a value-added interaction with her clients by implementing these products cost-effectively, efficiently and quickly.
Together with her high level of integrity, these qualities establish Annalisa as a wonderful ambassador for the gaming industry in the widest sense possible.
Christina Thakor-Rankin
Principal Consultant, 1710 Gaming Ltd.
Christina has over 25 years’ experience in the betting, gaming and gambling industry. Starting out in the pre-dotcom era, she has a career spanning land, internet and mobile, cross all aspects of betting and gaming operations, holding senior roles with some of the world’s best-known brands (such as William Hill and Virgin) and responsible for managing multiple business disciplines, functions and teams across a range of channels, products, customers, and jurisdictions, including regulatory compliance and money laundering.
Devon Dalbock
General Manager, GLI Africa
Mr. Devon Dalbock joined GLI Africa in 2016 as General Manager where he is responsible for the operations of GLI's African test laboratory as well as working with clients and regulators across the continent. Mr. Dalbock has over 30 years of business development and management-level experience with organizations ranging from entrepreneurial ventures to multi-national companies, the past 10 years of which have been in the gaming industry. He has held various management roles during his professional career, including Account Manager, Business Unit Manager, Sales Director, Country Manager and Chief Executive Officer. He holds an MBA from Milpark Business School.
Dolan Beuthin
CEO | Co-Founder, BetMonsta
As an owner/CEO/developer, I understand management, marketing and best business practices. I have a wide understanding of the synergy required in our industry in order to merge online, retail & software assets. I have been hands-on throughout the entire process of design, development and implementation of extremely specialised Africa centric software. I am presently CEO and co-founder of BetMonsta. I was the co-founder of BestBest360 and PlayKwik, being an aggregation of various African sports betting businesses.
I have had expansive dealings assisting tax authorities in understanding the tax and regulatory issues regarding the modus operandi of the iGaming Industry.
I understand the complexities of launching betting products in emerging markets and have the first-hand experience in navigating complex financial and regulatory requirements and logistical challenges to create a successful business.
I have invaluable insight into working in various cultures beyond the borders of South Africa. I understand the intricacies of local strategy and execution. This has allowed me to create a network of valuable contacts.
I have been licensed with multiple Gambling Boards in regulated jurisdictions. At present my most exciting venture is as co-developer and co-founder of BetMonsta.
Edoardo Ganetti
Head of SEO, Casumo
I have a background in IT Engineering and a keen interest in Web Marketing.
Since my graduation, I managed several SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) projects both for corporations and for my own businesses. I'm experienced in both off-page (link building, media marketing etc...) strategies and on-page optimisation techniques.
I managed also several PPC campaigns through Google Adwords.
I've used several analytics tools and I'm GAIQ certified (Google Analytics).
Specialties: SEM (Search Engine Marketing), SEO Analysis, Content Management, On Page optimization, Link Building, Google Adwords PPC Campaigns, Project Management Tools.
Tools: Google Analytics, Moz Analytics, MajesticSEO, Linkdetox, ahrefs, SEMRush, Unica, Qlickview.
Emily Asava
Sales & Business Development Manager for Africa, TVBET
Emily Asava has been engaged in the gaming and gambling business since 2019 year. Just in two years, she has become a professional in her field and acquired business development, management, and marketing skills in the igaming industry. She understands the peculiarities of the work of both land-based points and online casinos, Emily began her gaming career as a Marketing Coordinator at a land-based Millionares Casino in Nairobi.
Currently, Emily is a Business Development Manager in Africa at TVBET B2B live-games provider. At TVBET, she actively develops the brand in Africa, increases company awareness, builds connections and new partnerships, and helps local land-based and online casinos and bookmakers to integrate company’s games.
Emily Asava is keen on marketing, sales, market research, business management, and she has a lot of info to share.
Frank Herold
Member of the Board, EMIRAT
Frank Herold joined the Management Board of EMIRAT AG in 2018 and is responsible for Business Development. Before that the 49-year-old sales professional worked as Managing Director and Sales Director for several global and local media companies. EMIRAT AG, founded in 2004 and headquartered in Munich/Germany is an internationally active risk management company. The company designs and financially secures competitions, sports bonus, marketing and sales promotion campaigns. EMIRAT AG cooperates with renowned partner companies worldwide especially on the European and African Continent.
Fundi Sithebe
Chief Executive Officer, 4Racing
Experienced professional with a demonstrated history of working in the aviation and aerospace industry. Skilled in Strategic Consulting, Business Case, Project Portfolio Management, Strategic Planning, and Business Strategy. All rounded professional with a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Admin focused in Business Administration and Management.
James Everett
Sales Director Africa, BetGames
Specialties
• Product management - specializing in the betting and gaming industry, with an exceptional track record across different platforms.
Bloodstock Expert - specializing in acquisition and management of over 85 race horses.
• Management of online and print racing publications.
• Experienced in Sportsbook management, specifically Horseracing.
• Experienced in Project Management.
• A people-centric approach with excellent rapport building & networking skills.
• New business acquisition.
• Results oriented & highly organized.
• Building long lasting & strategic partnerships with all organizations and individuals.
• Ability to relate, negotiate & communicate with anyone.
• Good commercial awareness.
Jesper Ekström
SEO Expert, Raketech
Obsession for SEO and Web Development, with a side interest for Psychology lingering in the background.
Sports have been a big part of my youth, then after a couple of injuries, I came to embrace my inner computer geek. Once I entered the online marketing space, I realized how many struggled communicating with coworkers, failing to set a realistic deadline or inspire for a more proactive and fun work environment.
Which is why I aspire becoming a team leader that understands the marketing spectrum along with the technical bits. Endorsing creativity and a fun work environment that doesn’t hold back on suggesting new ideas.
Lois Bright
Managing Director, Initiate International
"Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs."
As Managing Director for Initiate International & Initiate Immigration as well Founder of Recruit4Languages.com and Director of Language Recruiters, I am responsible for ensuring that the ship is being steered in the right direction and that our brands are continuing to grow within the global markets we are currently operating in, these being:
- IT & Tech
- Digital, Marketing & Communications
- Online & Landbased Gaming, Gambling & Betting
- Foreign Languages
- Immigration Consulting
My primary focus for the recruitment businesses is to ensure we are offering a premium service within the Recruitment, Search & Selection, and RPO markets and to make our business the best place to work for Recruitment professionals. We aim to be the best and attract the best!
Marta Szmidt
Head of SEO, Evolution Gaming
7+ years of expertise in SEO strategy, link building, site audit, content optimization, and project management. Strong background in affiliate marketing and in designing high-quality websites with superior relevancy and web metrics. Known for boosting page performance, implementing data-driven strategic SEO plans, and driving organic site traffic across multiple verticals.
Expertise: | Project Management | Digital Marketing Strategies | Site Audit | On-page SEO | SEO Reporting | Link Building |
Martin Sack
Director, Brainstorm Online (Pty) Ltd
Martin Sack. A technology enthusiast with over many years of experience in global online marketing. Martin Sack has worked both in senior management and consulting roles to various groups in the online gaming industry. With an extensive IT background Martin moved into online poker, in which he managed a well-received poker brand from start-up to exit. He then moved into online casinos, where he was the head of marketing for a group that had multiple global brands. Following a successful stint as General Manager: Sport betting at Sunbet, Martin became the Group Manager: Online Business Development Manager for Sun International. Martin is currently the Director at Brainstorm Online (Pty) Ltd.
Robert Toth
Business Development Manager, Global Bet
Hello, I am Robert Toth, welcome to my LinkedIn profile. You probably arrived here because something I did piqued your interest, so please feel free to have a look around. You can also read a few words about me:
I am passionate in every aspect of my life and I am known to inspire people. People describe me as ambitious, creative, adaptive and always willing to learn new things. I have the ability to see a situation from different perspectives and can get my work done even in the face of difficult obstacles.
Throughout my career I’ve worn numerous different hats as a technologist, manager, marketeer, strategist and sales manager. As a result, I have a unique ability to manage multi-disciplinary projects and navigate complex challenges. Thanks to my communication and social skills, I am just as comfortable presenting to senior executives as I am mediating a conflict between junior team members.
In a nutshell:
• over two decades of experience in IT, Sales, Business Development and Account Management
• for the last 10 years my focus turned to the iGaming industry, where I held various roles mainly within the virtual sports gambling and sports betting sectors
• extensive knowledge of the inner workings of the gaming industry
• highly adaptable, exceptional interpersonal skills and fluent in 4 languages
• strong problem solving skills and ability to deal with multiple tasks simultaneously
• passionate, forward-thinking and can-do attitude
• extraordinary proficiency for making high-quality decisions based on limited information
Self-assessment survey results: https://app.plum.io/profile/toth
Steve Hall
Founder, Jarvie Worldwide
Chartered Director CD(SA), accomplished Operational Professional with a Proven Track Record of successful creation and development of new Business and Product.
Entrepreneur and senior level executive with a Gambling Industry, Product and Business Development background.
Areas of knowledge include Technical Gaming expertise, Marketing and Brand development, Industry Relationship Management, Product and Service Launch and Development, Strategic Direction and Oversight of operational teams.
Previously the Managing Director at Afriticket Systems (Pty) Ltd; award winning transport ticketing, management and oversight services.
Director at MovePlayLearn Foundation; a Johannesburg based non profit organisation created to benefit and develop entrepreneurial youth.
Previously a Non Executive Director at the Gauteng Gambling Board
Lead Innovator at; Jarvie Worldwide Gaming.
Founder at; Pixelock.com
Vadim Aidlin
Head of SEO, Betsson Group
I am a highly regarded, well-qualified, innovative, dedicated, and top-performing marketing professional credited with combining sales, marketing, and business development expertise to deliver substantial revenue growth in highly competitive business markets.
Most recognize me as a collaborative communicator; adept at building strong strategic relationships with peers, management teams, stakeholders, and external vendors and agencies.
Hands-on and managerial experience in SEO (black hat / white hat), PPC (black hat / white hat), SMM, Affiliate marketing, PR, Content Marketing.
William Scott
Director, Warrenside Limited
Over 18 years of experience in the Gaming Industry. A track record of building and developing businesses in over 20 countries. Overseen the profitable deployment of significant capital in M&A, JVs and organic corporate start-ups.
Extensive experience in Strategy, M&A, Corporate Finance, Business Development and Commercial Operations.