Managing Director
Monta South Africa
Total years of experience :8 years, 8 Months
Monta South Africa (South African Licensee/Distributor of Dutch "Street Lifestyle" Brand)
Cape Town, South Africa
Managing Director (Cape Town, South Africa) Nov 09 - Current
• Involved in top level negotiations with Monta B.V with regards to the contract and contractual obligations, royalty payments, design and procurement involvement.
• Directly impacted marketing (from development to implementation at "global" and retail levels), sales and distribution efforts country-wide.
• Managed a team of appointed sales people across the country.
• Controlled sourcing, production and importation of goods.
• Pre-selected ranges from international range as well as controlled design specific ranges for South African market.
• Worked closely with the Financial Director in creating and managing financial reports and accounts.
• Created brand and sales strategies in line with international guidelines of the brand and saw through the implementation of the same in the South African marketplace.
• Co-ordinated Monta sponsored events together with companies such as Kia, Red Bull, Hip Hop Dance South Africa, YouTube, etc.
• Ensured precise editorials of events and activities reached publications and television studios such as Sports Trader, ETV, SABC, Kick-Off Magazine, Red Bulletin, etc.
• Oversaw contractual negotiations with sponsored athletes and brand representatives.
Zando (a subsidiary of German-based Rocket Internet)
Cape Town, South Africa
Senior Buyer with view to becoming Category Manager (Cape Town, South Africa) Jan 12 - Current
• Appointed as Senior Buyer to head up the setting up of men's apparel (fashion, casual, sports, formal) with the view to becoming Category/Business Development Manager after 3 - 6 month period.
• Tasked to bring in 200+ brands as soon as possible into the business, which includes but not limited to the following: setting up contact base with brands, agreeing terms and conditions and terms of trade, setting up accounts; developed, evaluated and implemented market research of the South African apparel market into plans and budgets for the apparel spend, going through selection process with respective brands and their ranges, agreeing drop/delivery dates and follow-up admin to ensure timely delivery with logistics.
• Facilitated introductions and led negotiations with Africa's largest mobile telecommunications operator (MTN) with view to aiding the launch of "Zando Mobile" as well as set up talks between ETV (one of the largest local terrestrial television stations/studios) and Zando for various partnership/marketing/advertising purposes.
• Headed up "ad sales" with key suppliers/partners for the launch of the Zando magazine
• Great potential for growth exists, i.e. V.P Purchasing position would be available within 12 - 18 months.
TotalSports, Foschini Group (South African based retail group)
Cape Town, South Africa
Senior Buyer - Menswear, Replica & Accessories (Cape Town, South Africa) Sep 08 - Nov 09
• Involved in buying process from major brands such as Nike, Adidas & Puma as well as the own in-house brand, which includes sourcing from various countries as well as locally in South Africa.
• Built relationships with key suppliers, ensuring quality and price of product staying at optimum levels.
• Streamlined core product in-store to ensure correct level of range across various price ranges.
• Worked closely with management, planning, marketing, operations & design teams to ensure all-round success of product from development stage through to selling through to the customer in-store.
• Overseeing the department as the most senior team member.
• Worked closely with the planner to analyse sales, customer and supplier statistics as well as development of budgets, strategies and forecasts.
• Institutionalised the use of a "critical path" to keep checks in place with suppliers within the department, which is now more widely used.
• For a period of 3-months ran the roles of Senior Buyer and Planner, as the department did not have a planner so I reported to both Buying and Planning Managers/Directors and was as such responsible for both roles.
• Started the TotalSports football team, which Adidas sponsored with kits to play in a weekly friendly league.
Edge 2 Edge (UK and India based fashion agency)
London, United Kingdom
Manager - Merchandising, Sales, PR and Supply Chain (UK and Europe) Nov 05 - April 08
• Aided in restructuring of the company from a traditional clothing wholesaler (importing and selling on speculation) to a broader fashion agency, i.e. design, sourcing, manufacturing, delivery in addition to branding and product launches.
• Defined new sales strategy by shifting sale focus from providing product to single store owners and small chains to retail "UK High Street" store groups and brands in UK and European markets.
• Successfully aided in the launch of the "street soccer" clothing and football brand MONTA through extensive PR campaigns and maintaining high standards of production and delivery schedules.
• Set up strategic alliances with existing and new supply base abroad, i.e. clothing manufacturing units, mainly in Turkey.
• Ensuring sales targets and profit margins were met through constant negotiation with customers and suppliers alike.
• Upkeep of relationships with customer base through regular scheduled office meetings as well as entertaining clients locally and whilst on travel.
• Overseeing critical path and ensuring deadlines are met by using preventative measures with factories, i.e. delays in manufacturing as a percentage would be built in to the lead time, any major influences (both internal and external) are communicated within the office as well as with customers, e.g. flooding in India and earthquakes in Turkey affected production schedules.
• The job function included overseas travel to factories (suppliers) in Hong Kong, China, Pakistan, India and Turkey, to customers in UK and Europe and to fashion shows and PR fashion events around UK, Europe and USA.
• Managed a team of 7 people whose roles included: Design, Sales, QC/QA, Logistics and IT.
Fashion Avenue (UK based designer/branded clothing wholesaler and retailer)
London, United Kingdom
Area Sales and Operations Manager (South East of England) May 04 - Nov 05
• Job function included area sales and retail store monitoring in the South East of England and London.
• Visiting of own retail stores to ensure product visibility was in line with company store policy.
• Ensuring non-owned retail store outlets kept up the brand image through correct positioning of product lines.
• Travelling through the south east of England making sales calls at individual and mini-chain store outlets.
• Managed the order, clearance and shipment of goods.
• Maintained order, delivery and payment status on system using SAGE accounting software and MS Office package.
IFPC Ltd. (UK and Middle-East based investment firm)
London, United Kingdom
Portfolio Manager (London) June 03 - March 04
• Planned and put together property and investment portfolios for prospective clients including the conducting of "due diligence" and overseeing the complete process from "start to end" of selling the investment to the client.
BSc. (Hons) Information Management, 2nd Class Honours (2.2) June 2000 - September 2003 University College London (UCL) - a member university of the University of London, London, United Kingdom Select coursework included: Management, Project Management, Marketing, Accounting, Finance, Economics and IT.
Matriculation with distinction