Futurist. Digital

Based: Johannesburg

FutureWorld guru Andy Hadfield is a digital native… and has big dreams for the Internet and for the impacts it is having on our lives and our businesses. An entertaining and compelling presenter, Andy speaks with authority and insight about the new shape of life, work and play in the digital space.

But, importantly, he’s not a “tecchie”! Andy understands the hard realities of business, and delivers pragmatic, realistic “Lessons from the Future” which every business will find valuable. His strategic insight, based on intensive “front-line” experience, underpins his viewpoints.

He has played in every corner of the digital industry, launching his first startup at age 19, while still at the University of Cape Town. getALife (gAL) was essentially a social network before the word was even invented (they were called content portals back then!) The site was a political and community mouthpiece for South African students between 1997 and 2005 – it was covered on every major media platform, including Time Magazine, and has the dubious honour of being sued by Robert Mugabe!

He then spent the next 7 years honing his strategic skills. Firstly with The Virtual Works, working on pioneering projects such as an Enterprise 2.0 employee community for Deloitte, and arguably SA’s first commercial niche social network . Then later at FNB, developing a team that handled digital strategy across the consumer banking segment. This included projects such as corporate crowdsourcing, the bank’s first official FaceBook presence, a major overhaul off FNB and the country’s slickest online sales system for financial products.

Andy is an active speaker on the South African circuit and runs a boutique strategic consultancy and digital advisory.

He delivers the fascinating presentation “Ten Lessons from the Future” with freshness and new vision.