Original Careers - OriginalSteps.com

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: Original Careers; Published: 14 February 2011; Last Updated: 19 January 2016

Mary Mzumara bringing focus to business!

"If you don’t deliver – you won’t get the opportunity to innovate."

Where are you currently located on the planet: Johannesburg South Africa

You currently work at Quirk what does Quirk do and what is your role at the company? I’m the Managing Director of Quirk in Johannesburg. My role at Quirk is varied from managing the business which covers financial and HR responsibilities to working with clients on strategies and managing teams. Quirk offers a complete range of digital services from strategy and creative production through to analytics and social media. The Quirk team is made up of 100-plus digital natives (26 in Johannesburg) who deliver results through fresh insights driven by empirical data analysis. (FirstStep.me says that's hectically super cool!)

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: Original Careers; Published: 14 February 2011; Last Updated: 19 January 2016

John Volmink: Producing a film career

"I started my career as an investment banker but I’ve always had a passion for film...I had to have the guts to put my passion to the test. "

Where are you currently located on the planet: Johannesburg, South Africa

What is your business called and what does it do? Diprente Films: We like to think of ourselves, perhaps a little ambitiously, as a ‘boutique’ film studio. We develop, finance and distribute feature films. In 2011, we will be releasing The Adventures of Bhamuza (a kung-fu movie set in Johannesburg), Blitz Patrollie (a buddy cop action movie starring Dave Kau and Joey Rasdien) and will start production on a mockumentary horror set in rural Kwa-Zulu Natal. We also dabble in television production and are the producers of the show ‘Late Night News with Loyiso Gola’ on ETV in South Africa. We are always developing and looking out for interesting, fresh and edgy film scripts and concepts.

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: Original Careers; Published: 26 January 2011; Last Updated: 19 January 2016

By Yashivan Govender,

Bill Harrop: The Intrepid Campaigner

5:30am on a Sunday morning and I am sipping a cup of coffee watching a hot air balloon being setup under African skies. At this stage my mind wonders, I start thinking about the adventures of Phileas Fog to whether or not Pierce Brosnan actually knew how to fly one of these balloons. By the time my mind starts facilitating the thought of Jackie Chan bouncing around the Balloon doing kung fu type kicks, the fiery blaze of the Hot Air Balloon burner begins to roar!

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: Original Careers; Published: 14 February 2011; Last Updated: 20 January 2016

Daniela Wingate: Researching her way forward in business

"...your trust in yourself is the principal factor."

Where are you currently located on the planet: Johannesburg, South Africa

What is your business called and what does it do? The business is called ‘Vula Vula Research Services’. At the moment we are focusing on providing a good, reliable and honest fieldwork force to the research industry. In other words, we conduct the actual interviews for the researchers. We are also setting up an online and mobile survey market research group and trying our best to pioneer some more creative and innovative research and interviewing techniques in South Africa.

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: Original Careers; Published: 09 September 2010; Last Updated: 19 January 2016

FirstStep.me original interview series

“…commitment, dedication and hard work”

Laptop on…check, Skype logged on…check and here we go....you have to love technology, it’s fast, furious and…the number is engaged. Let’s try again, check the number, type it into Skype and engaged again! Quick inspection and I have left out a number, even double checking a telephone number can sometimes go amiss and here I am sitting in the middle of Munich dialing the man who has been tasked with keeping the Auditing profession in South Africa on track. With a blissful Munich sunshine beating down on my desk and with a third telephone number verification, I finally connect to one Bernard Agulhas, I have met Bernard a numerous amount of times and he is always in good spirits, however this time our conversation has now shifted from the subject matter of the auditing profession to his personal career.