Vinny Lingham, founder of world-renowned search engine marketing and technology company, incuBeta, has been named as the Top ICT Young Entrepreneur in Africa.
The 2006 ICT Achievers Awards has been the biggest to date in terms of nominations and finalists from the rest of the continent.
Lingham, aged 27, started incuBeta just three years ago and the company is now recognised as one of the major players in the global search marketing industry.
incuBeta has won awards locally and abroad for its performance in the USA and UK markets and the company has established partnerships with Internet giants such as Google, Yahoo and eBay.
"It's truly an honour to receive an award such as this, and I take pride in being a role model for the rest of my country and continent. This award is also a testament to the exceptional skills and commitment from the people at incuBeta, without which, this award would not have been possible," said Lingham.
The ICT Achievers Awards has seen tremendous growth over its seven years of operation. Its primary focus for 2006 was to include a stronger drive into encouraging more contributions and entries from outside of South Africa and to place an emphasis on women, investment, education, SMME and innovation.
In a message written specifically for the ICT Achievers Awards, President Thabo Mbeki said: "The South African government is particularly proud of the achievements of the ICT sector in this country (South Africa), its vibrancy and its role as a catalyst for the development of a united society."
Lingham's entrepreneurial spirit is testimony to the philosophy of "think local, act global". The young entrepreneur hails from East London in the Eastern Cape. With start-up capital of less than R100 000, he saw an opportunity to be based in Cape Town, create jobs locally but operate in the international Internet business arena. Over 90% of incuBeta's skills, employees and intellectual property are purely home-grown.
"South Africa is not a charity case," says Lingham, "we're a commercial opportunity with great infrastructure ripe for investment."
www.vinnylingham.com is Lingham's personal and company blog and hobby, which to give some indication of his popularity and respect as an industry commentator, receives over 50 000 unique visitors per month. Furthermore, our home-grown online guru is a sought-after speaker at online marketing conferences in the USA. This year he spoke at six of these conferences on topics ranging from the future of online media to search engine marketing.
The ICT Achievers Awards are a great indication of the achievements of the South African ICT to date and as President Mbeki wrote about the awards: "The development of a strong ICT infrastructure for the continent remains an important goal as it is acknowledged as a prerequisite for social and economic progress."
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