Experience

Steve Whitford began his career in journalism and then moved into PR. This created an excellent foundation in communication and stakeholder management.

He worked with brands such as HTC and Compuware and developed the skills to work directly with executives on the messages they wanted to craft.

From there, Steve helped to establish esports in South Africa. This involved working in a talented tech start-up and building a platform that hosted over 6 000 gamers competing against each other in leagues across multiple titles.

Steve worked hand in hand with large corporates across telco, consumer hardware, and PC and console gaming distribution to lift awareness of gaming across the country. This included working with production companies and a broadcaster to launch an esports league on national television with R1 million in prize money.

From there, Steve consulted across several mobile network operators and broadcasters on their digital transformation journeys, including the implementation of platforms such as Salesforce, as well as their digital platforms and business models.

Steve then worked with a group of consultants at MultiChoice, where he led the rebuilding of MultiChoice’s self-service channels and the deployment of Large Language model AI customer support across:

• Web
• App
• WhatsApp
• USSD

He led teams across strategy, product development, UX and UI, deployment and support, and oversaw the rollout of DStv.com to 50 African countries. He was also the digital lead on MultiChoice’s largest programme – digital transformation.

Mind the gap

On the one hand, Steve has worked in four start-ups with multiple entrepreneurs and armies of consultants, and on the other, he has worked with executives in some of the leading corporates to roll out digital platforms used by tens of millions of people across the African continent.

In both start-ups and corporates, key patterns and challenges emerged around people, processes, technology and tool choices. The process of trying to change an organisation is tricky and has an incredibly low success rate globally.

These key learnings have been incorporated into Th1nk in the areas of people, process, tools and technology – and, most importantly, in the way in which they come together to create an epicentre where highly predictable teams are able to shift the momentum of a business and help it to scale.

Read more stories about us here.