GG Alcock
Born white in apartheid South Africa but raised & bred as a Zulu man learning the skills of survival in Africa, GG Alcock was raised in a mud hut in one of the most poverty stricken and violent parts of Kwazulu Natal, Msinga. GG’s activist parents Neil and Creina Alcock raised their two sons in a hut with no running water, electricity or modern conveniences, instead growing up like young Zulu’ boys herding and hunting. Zulu reared and bred, the boys learnt the essence of how to survive in a harsh world – valuable skills that have undoubtedly contributed to GG’s success as an entrepreneur.
GG has been at times a shebeen owner, political activist, community worker and African adventurer. Fluent in Zulu and conversant in most South African ethnic languages GG is the CEO, creative & strategy guru as well as founder of Minanawe Marketing.
Minanawe Marketing develops and runs marketing campaigns built on strong consumer insights and understanding. Minanawe Marketing’s portfolio of work includes the unique Soweto Beach Party, the award winning Perfect Sishebo Reality TV show, and a wide range of experiential marketing campaigns for a range of clients such as Unilever, Parmalat & Tiger Brands.
GG’s book Third World Child, White Born, Zulu Bred tells his story and that of many of his people – a literary journey of a third world tribal society learning to embrace the 20th century first world.
GG’s second book, Kasinomics attempts to cast a light on the invisible matrix at the heart of South Africa’s informal economies and the people who live in them. Living and doing business in African marketplaces requires an ethos uniquely suited to the informal, to the invisible, to the intangible. Kasinomics will take you down those rural pathways, weave between claustrophobic mazes of shacks, browse a muti market, visit a spirit returning ceremony and save money with gogo in a stokvel among many more people and places.
GG is a regular contributor and speaker on a range of topics ranging from motivational to trend talks on entrepreneurship, the informal market, diversity & culture in our society, marketing communications to the mass market and route to market strategies for the informal sector.
Some of GG’s talks and coverage include:
National or international events such as 2016 Cannes Lions Festival “The African Consumer”, 2016 Dubai Lynx Awards “The African Consumer”, 2017 Proudly South African Conference, 2017 Government Jobs Fund National Conference, Annual Marketing Mix Conferences, 2017 Business IQ Inclusive Growth Conference, Sustainability Summit @ JSE, Good Governance Africa Informal Economies.
Business Schools – Unisa Business School, Rhodes Business School, Wits Business School, Regent Business School.
Motivational talks at conferences for among others, Colgate Palmolive, RCL Foods, A2Pay, Commonwealth Bank, Deutshe Bank, Standard Bank International Investor Roadshow, Beiersdorf, Pepsico Africa Middle East Innovation Conference, Lucozade AME Conference, Young Presidents Organisation, Metropolitan Executive Leadership Programme, PEP SA, Shanduka Entrepreneur Seminar, Ask Africa Youth Conference, Coca Cola Supplier Conference.
GG has been featured prominently in a range of media including show, Media Online, Daily Sun KasiBrands, Noseweek cover, Finance Week, The Star, Pretoria News, BizNews, Radio Today, Classic, SAFM, Bruce Whitfield 702 Business, Sunday Times, Sunday Tribune, Natal Mercury, The Witness, Landbou Weekblad, SABC & eTV.