The sme.africa story

Our journey to #WeAreSME

Our founder Marnus Broodryk (well-known author, entrepreneur, investor and TV personality), couldn’t believe how many requests he got from business owners after his time spent as an investor on Shark Tank South Africa.

He knew he could help them, but trying to assist one at a time was an impossible task. After working with and speaking to thousands of business owners, he realized that one thing was clear, their problems were all very similar.

sme.africa was born in 2018 and exists to give established business owners access to quality resources, world-class events and a network to help them grow their businesses. We truly understand their needs and challenges, and we are here to offer solutions that will help save them money and enable growth.

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Meet the sme.africa team

FARREN MARÉ

Meet Farren, our Head of Operations. He’s been here since the very beginning when sme.africa was just an idea. He loves technology and will gladly challenge any of you to a game of Dota 2.

BRYNN POTGIETER

Meet Brynn, our Head Developer. When Brynn isn’t coding, he provides daily office banter and snacks! He is the life of the party and you will see him running around at our events taking photos.

FRANCOIS BERGH

Meet Francois, our Head Backend Developer. When Francois was fresh out of school, he helped our developers in his spare time and when we needed a new developer, his number was on speed dial.

GIDYON LANKERS

Meet Gidyon, our Head of Marketing. He handles our corporate partnerships and when he’s not producing viral content or award-winning podcast shows, you’ll find him sleeping. Sleep and work, that’s Gid.

MARTIN GARNETT-BENNETT

Meet Martin, our Head of Social Media. Martin studied marketing and now looks after all our social media channels. Between Brynn and Martin, there’s never a dull moment in the office.