🔒 Boardroom Talk – BizNews’s first webmaster who went back to his roots – and global recognition.

By Alec Hogg

Anniversaries are a great time to reflect. In BizNews’s case, celebrating our 10th birthday this month provided an excellent opportunity to remember the role played over the years by some very special people whose paths crossed ours.

Among them was Jeanette’s sister Maureen’s eldest, our nephew Justin Blake (above right). A marine biologist, Justin broke a bone in his hand when mugged during a beach run shortly before leaving to do his doctorate in the US. That stopped the trip and dropped him into our new website’s orbit at the best possible time.

Justin became BizNews’s first webmaster – literally learning from YouTube videos. As things settled and he was able to take weeks off to tag sharks, he worked remotely, showing us what was possible long before Covid made the concept popular. After five years with BizNews, Justin returned to his first love. He hasn’t looked back.

After moving to Cape Town, he started Rockhopper, an in-person ocean tourism service. Even during the pandemic, he was flat-out sharing virtual shark dives with stay-home Americans. Now he’s receiving international recognition, latest being over the weekend in the FT – click here. Truly uplifting to witness this SA success story so close to home.    

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