Day 1 Session 4

Donovan is the Director of ProVeg South Africa, the South African chapter of ProVeg International; a leading international food awareness organisation working to promote plant-based food options across four continents.  Before moving to ProVeg to found their South African chapter, he was the Brand Manager at The Fry Family Food Co. (Fry’s), South Africa’s leading manufacturer of plant-based meat replacements, with distribution to over 30 countries.

Donovan is a passionate advocate for a more conscious lifestyle, and believes in highlighting the health, environmental, economic and ethical benefits of eating a more plant-based diet and moving towards  following a vegan lifestyle. Before becoming involved in the plant-based food arena Donovan held various financial management, accounting, audit and advisory roles.  He had a Bachelor of Business Science with Honours in Finance from UCT, and Honours in Accounting from UNISA.

Johann is a seasoned fast moving consumer goods specialist and has played a key role in developing and launching successful brands in Southern Africa. Johann has 12 years’ experience with The South African Breweries (AB Inbev), functioning in numerous sales roles from Sales Manager, Project manager and Key account manager and ending as National Retail and Wholesale Channel Manager.

Johann joined Clover SA as National Sales Development manager in 2012 and managed the development and structure of the Clover sales force. As Sales development manager, Johann also managed the in-store marketing team which included POS development as well as the Category Management that ensured optimum placement of Clover brands in all major retail groups.

Johann got his first exposure to the meat industry when he joined Cavalier in 2015 as Sales and Marketing executive. The business owns the whole value chain from farms, feedlot and abattoir to a state of the art manufacturing and packaging facility.

Johann holds a B.Comm Marketing degree and a B.Comm (Hons) Marketing degree, both obtained from the University of Pretoria.

George Tomazos is the Chief Operating Officer of AGT Foods Retail and Food Ingredients Division. He is passionate at the food industry and has spent most of his life in the sales and servicing environment within this industry. George joined AGT Foods in 2012 after his business was acquired by AGT Foods.

Marina is a trained chef, foodie and mom dedicated to providing her family tasty, healthy meals.  Marina is a graduate of the Institute for Culinary Education (ICE) in New York City and has a Bachelor Science-Finance from Miami University of Ohio.  Prior to returning to her passion for cooking, Marina worked in operators and research in the financial services industry in New York.

Ryan is a seasoned entrepreneur, CEO and P&L leader with a track record of launching innovative technology and media businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Ryan is a strong customer relationship executive and established key strategic partnerships with premier media and content brands such as Amazon, BBC, Google, Netflix, Roku as well as having a strong network in the African telecom field – including MTN, Vodafone, Telkom, CellC, PCCW & Liquid Telecom.  Ryan has a significant business network across multiple business sectors in South Africa, Australia and the UK.

Ryan holds a BComm in Finance from Bond University, Australia and a Diploma in Marketing and Design from the College of Arts, Central St Martins, London.