Michael Avery has spent two decades making sense of the often-baffling world of financial markets, first under the legendary (and delightfully cantankerous) David Gleason, then as the voice of Classic Business, a show he’s helmed for 13 years, now airing on Fine Music Radio 101.3fm in the Western Cape. He’s the editor of Catalyst, South Africa’s go-to private equity publication, and his Badger column in Business Day has made him both feared and revered for his no-nonsense takes on the political economy. Online, he’s grown Business Talk (hosted on South Africa’s biggest business news site, BusinessTech) to over 6 million views since Covid, proving that people still care about smart business journalism (even if they read it on their phones in bed). Michael bagged the Best Podcast Award at the SA Radio Awards in 2022 for Hot Business on Hot102.7fm, and his latest venture, The Monocle Banking Podcast, is now South Africa’s #1 podcast for banking nerds (and those who pretend to be). Never one to do things by halves, he spearheaded SA’s first-ever Water-Energy-Food nexus event (SAWEF), dabbled in mass newspaper publishing with the now-defunct Second Business (RIP), and harbours a Dionysus devotion to all things wine. At his core, Michael thrives on crafting business content that is in equal parts insightful and engaging, whether for a boardroom full of executives or a podcast listener on their morning commute. He holds a B.A. in Journalismfrom the University of Johannesburg (and, in hindsight, wishes he had taken more accounting electives).