Professional Experience

  • People Leadership & Team Operations

    · Leadership· 2012 - Present

    Led people systems across live-event operations, startup execution and multidisciplinary technical teams, with responsibility for hiring, coaching, performance management, team cadence and delivery rhythm under growth pressure.

    • 52 hires across BridgIoT and Plentify, spanning finance, support, operations, hardware, firmware and software roles.
    • 57 team members directly managed or coached across operational, technical, intern and contractor groups.
    • Built practical people-administration routines around contracts, onboarding records, leave policy, employment documentation and contractor/intern coordination.
    • Experience ranges from small tactical teams to large event crews of up to 200 people.
    • Handled structured feedback, performance processes and constrained-period retrenchment involvement with documentation discipline.

  • Hardware Manufacturing & Deployment Scale-Up

    · Operations· 2023 - present

    Scaled Plentify hardware operations from 690 deployed devices to 15,870+ deployed devices (23x+) while supporting a much larger production and procurement pipeline. The work turned engineering handoff, firmware readiness, BOM ownership, supplier RFQs, outsourced manufacturing, in-house assembly scheduling, packaging, logistics, client delivery and installer readiness into a repeatable manufacturing cadence.

    • Took hardware and firmware outputs from engineering teams and converted them into manufacturable, procurable, schedulable production plans.
    • RFQ'd and procured complete BOMs across electronics components, printed material, packaging, boxes and supporting materials for HotBot v2, HotBot v3, WiFi Gateways, Solarbot and LTE dongle shields for HotBot v3.
    • Liaised with outsourced manufacturers on production timing, constraints, quality handover and delivery cadence.
    • Scheduled in-house assembly, packaging, logistics and installer-ready device handover without turning engineering output into an ad hoc scramble.
    • Built and used the production-planning app, after earlier Google Sheets planning, to support scenario planning, stockout visibility, procurement timing, BOM costing and manufacturing cadence.

  • Investment Sourcing & Deal Execution

    · Leadership· 2018 - 2022

    Led CEO-level investment, funding and commercialisation work for BridgIoT, turning post-CSI funding pressure into a formal capital, grant and strategic-partnership process while keeping external counterparties aligned to the company's delivery story.

    • Built investor narrative and diligence-ready materials after the Shoprite CSI funding gap.
    • Managed grant and institutional funding workflows, including submissions, supporting records, progress material and IDC/TIA-facing processes.
    • Advanced strategic conversations and captured deal lessons around timing, counterpart fit and term risk.
    • Structured JV and commercialisation work with Genric and TechITEZ in the SafeHomes context.
    • Supported the Macrocomm investment path and downstream transition into Livewire.

  • Startup Finance, Governance & Company Administration

    · Leadership· 2018 - 2022

    Owned BridgIoT's practical finance, governance and company-administration layer as a hardware startup: budgets, forecasts, supplier-payment process, payroll coordination, accounting handover, annual financial statements, audit support, board packs, board-meeting administration, company secretarial workflows and investment-ready records.

    • Liaised with external accountants on bookkeeping, annual financial statements, management accounts, audit support, completeness packs and supporting records.
    • Built and maintained budgets, expense plans and financial projections used for runway planning, operating decisions and board/investor context.
    • Managed operational finance administration across supplier-payment process, payroll coordination, reimbursements, COIDA/admin returns and supporting documentation.
    • Prepared board and governance material, supported board-meeting administration, maintained director/company records and handled practical company secretarial workflows.
    • Kept finance records usable for funder reporting and diligence without exposing confidential account, salary, valuation or board-pack detail publicly.

  • Device Stock, SIM & Subscription Operations

    · Operations· 2018 - present

    Built and maintained the operating controls around connected-device fleets at BridgIoT and Plentify: hardware stock state, SIM records, recharge/subscription status, device identity data and deployment readiness across installed and install-ready assets.

    • BridgIoT: maintained stock, SIM, recharge, subscription and device-control records around smart water-meter and IoT deployments.
    • Plentify: extended the same discipline into a larger fleet context, connecting device records, connectivity visibility and deployment readiness.
    • Used spreadsheets, Airtable-style records and later custom tooling to reconcile device identity, stock state, connectivity status and field-readiness signals.
    • Helped support and operations teams answer practical questions: what exists, what is active, what is deployed, what is costing money and what needs attention.
    • Turned asset and connectivity records into an operational control layer rather than a collection of disconnected spreadsheets.

  • Schools Water Programme Delivery

    · Operations· 2017 - 2022

    Led programme delivery for BridgIoT's schools potable-water work with Shoprite CSI, WCED, maintenance partners, field contractors, school stakeholders and internal product/engineering teams. The work connected smart-meter hardware, dashboards, alerting, usage baselines, sponsor reporting and targeted maintenance into an operating system for reducing water wastage across hundreds of schools.

    • Helped turn Dropula smart water-meter data into practical operating workflows: baselines, leak and burst alerts, nighttime-flow diagnostics, school dashboards, sponsor reporting and maintenance prioritisation.
    • Coordinated the delivery model across hardware deployment, school onboarding, contractor scheduling, stakeholder communication and budget-aware maintenance decisions.
    • The later 2018 stakeholder report captured 350 schools, roughly 330,000 learners reached, 216M litres saved at that stage, 85% of schools showing day-to-day savings, and first-round maintenance improving usage at 81% of schools.
    • The wider programme later contributed to about 720M litres saved and about R52M in water savings realised.

  • Ground-up OHS: BridgIoT to Plentify

    · Operations· 2018 - Present

    Built occupational health and safety systems from a blank slate twice: first for BridgIoT under investor-visible startup conditions, then for Plentify's mixed warehouse, office, and water-electrical R&D site. In both cases the goal was a working operating system, not a policy file.

    • BridgIoT: built policy, HIRA, inspection, training, emergency, first-aid, fire, incident, SHE-rep, and document-control foundations.
    • Plentify: built H&S plans, legal appointments, competency evidence, risk assessments, safe-work procedures, toolbox talks, emergency preparedness, chemical and contractor controls, inspections, inductions, committee cadence, incident investigation, legal audit, and management review.
    • Converted compliance categories into recurring operating routines that teams could actually follow across warehouse, office, field and R&D environments.