Mike Saunders
Post Grad Degree
KWAZULU-NATAL, SAA love of technology and a heart for people have been the fuel behind Mike Saunders' entrepreneurial journey. An international keynote speaker, digital thought leader and author. He has a unique ability to lead business with a crystal-clear leadership philosophy that encompasses "unlocking potential", "nurturing trust" and "developing narrative."
Mike was recognized on the list of "Top Global Digital Marketing Experts & Influencers in 2019 You Should be Following." Acknowledged by his peers in 2012, as one of the Top 20 South Africans to follow on Twitter. Mike was awarded Special Honours at the New Generation Awards for his contribution to the industry. Over the last few years Mike has won the respect of business by his determined approach to helping people navigate a diverse and complicated world of Digital Business.
As an international keynote speaker Mike is able to engage his audience in an interactive, personal and energizing manner by drawing on his life experiences and personal stories. Mike speaks with authority from over 10 years' experience in the digital industry.
He leaves delegates captivated and inspired about the potential in both technology and people. He has had the privilege of working with some of the most prestigious organisations in the world including Vodafone, Bidvest, Santam, IBM, Toyota, Norton Rose and Exxaro.
Mike delivers customized presentations around the following themes:
• Fourth Industrial Revolution
• Digital
• Marketing Brand and Innovation
• Entrepreneurship
• The Millennial Generation
• Motivation
Entrepreneurial Journey
Mike believes technology helps innovate a new future, accelerates growth potential and scales business. According to Mike, "technology unlocks our future and is a fundamental driver of our success." It's his belief in technology and people that spurred him to founding DigitLab.
DigitLab has grown to be one of South Africa's premier digital marketing agencies and was voted one of South Africa's best Digital Agencies in 2012. Together with their studio services of community management, content creation, SEO, media planning, web and app development, they also offer interactive workshops, digital research tools and employee experience design intervention. They are fully equipped to run educational programmes within businesses to upskill and inspire people about digital. The agency is proud to include a variety of national and international brands on their client list including KPMG, Nedbank, Alexander Forbes, Beiersdorf and City Lodge.
In 2015 Mike launched The Digitlab Academy; to educate marketers and support the academic industry with sound digital strategy education material. A powerful partnership with Vega, School of Branding, saw over 150 people run through the academy in its first quarter. Today The DigitLab Academy educates over 1000 people a year.
Digital Swarm, a nationwide digital community that fuels the growth of the digital marketing industry is another brainchild of Mike's. The swarm hosts quarterly events in Durban and JHB and has attracted speakers from SA's top brands like KFC, AXE and Google.
Presentations
Mike delivers the following presentations and will create custom keynotes in order to meet a clients' needs.
4th Industrial Revolution
Humancentric: How to build people-centered businesses in the 4th Industrial Revolution
Digital
Online Personal Branding: How to leverage the online world to achieve your goals
Digital Lifestyles: Understanding the digital consumer
Succeeding in a Digital World: A look at the disruptive forces in technology and how business can leverage them to succeed
How to go Viral and Other Lies: How to build a meaningful business, product or campaign that attracts the attention of people
The Tech Factor: Understanding how technology drives your business forward
Digital Trends: The latest digital trends to take note of
Marketing Brand and Innovation
Social Media: Beyond the content plan
Entrepreneurship
The Five Year Mark: Lessons learnt chasing a dream
Millennials
Building a Millennial Culture: Personal experiences building a business with millennials
The Millennial Persona: Millennial Archetypes and how to speak to them
Motivational
Love Your Work: How to own your work and love every minute of it
Author
In 2016, Mike released his first book The Five Year Mark. The Five Year Mark imparts the lessons he has learnt while establishing his businesses and is an inspirational, clear and practical template for entrepreneurs looking for success. In 2019, Mike published his second book Renowned. Your guide to building a powerful personal brand online. His latest book Humancentric unpacks how to do business in a Fourth Industrial Revolution.
A love of technology and a heart for people have been the fuel behind Mike Saunders' entrepreneurial journey. An international keynote speaker, digital thought leader and author. He has a unique ability to lead business with a crystal-clear leadership philosophy that encompasses "unlocking potential", "nurturing trust" and "developing narrative."
Mike was recognized on the list of "Top Global Digital Marketing Experts & Influencers in 2019 You Should be Following." Acknowledged by his peers in 2012, as one of the Top 20 South Africans to follow on Twitter. Mike was awarded Special Honours at the New Generation Awards for his contribution to the industry. Over the last few years Mike has won the respect of business by his determined approach to helping people navigate a diverse and complicated world of Digital Business.
As an international keynote speaker Mike is able to engage his audience in an interactive, personal and energizing manner by drawing on his life experiences and personal stories. Mike speaks with authority from over 10 years' experience in the digital industry.
He leaves delegates captivated and inspired about the potential in both technology and people. He has had the privilege of working with some of the most prestigious organisations in the world including Vodafone, Bidvest, Santam, IBM, Toyota, Norton Rose and Exxaro.
Mike delivers customized presentations around the following themes:
• Fourth Industrial Revolution
• Digital
• Marketing Brand and Innovation
• Entrepreneurship
• The Millennial Generation
• Motivation
Entrepreneurial Journey
Mike believes technology helps innovate a new future, accelerates growth potential and scales business. According to Mike, "technology unlocks our future and is a fundamental driver of our success." It's his belief in technology and people that spurred him to founding DigitLab.
DigitLab has grown to be one of South Africa's premier digital marketing agencies and was voted one of South Africa's best Digital Agencies in 2012. Together with their studio services of community management, content creation, SEO, media planning, web and app development, they also offer interactive workshops, digital research tools and employee experience design intervention. They are fully equipped to run educational programmes within businesses to upskill and inspire people about digital. The agency is proud to include a variety of national and international brands on their client list including KPMG, Nedbank, Alexander Forbes, Beiersdorf and City Lodge.
In 2015 Mike launched The Digitlab Academy; to educate marketers and support the academic industry with sound digital strategy education material. A powerful partnership with Vega, School of Branding, saw over 150 people run through the academy in its first quarter. Today The DigitLab Academy educates over 1000 people a year.
Digital Swarm, a nationwide digital community that fuels the growth of the digital marketing industry is another brainchild of Mike's. The swarm hosts quarterly events in Durban and JHB and has attracted speakers from SA's top brands like KFC, AXE and Google.
Presentations
Mike delivers the following presentations and will create custom keynotes in order to meet a clients' needs.
4th Industrial Revolution
Humancentric: How to build people-centered businesses in the 4th Industrial Revolution
Digital
Online Personal Branding: How to leverage the online world to achieve your goals
Digital Lifestyles: Understanding the digital consumer
Succeeding in a Digital World: A look at the disruptive forces in technology and how business can leverage them to succeed
How to go Viral and Other Lies: How to build a meaningful business, product or campaign that attracts the attention of people
The Tech Factor: Understanding how technology drives your business forward
Digital Trends: The latest digital trends to take note of
Marketing Brand and Innovation
Social Media: Beyond the content plan
Entrepreneurship
The Five Year Mark: Lessons learnt chasing a dream
Millennials
Building a Millennial Culture: Personal experiences building a business with millennials
The Millennial Persona: Millennial Archetypes and how to speak to them
Motivational
Love Your Work: How to own your work and love every minute of it
Author
In 2016, Mike released his first book The Five Year Mark. The Five Year Mark imparts the lessons he has learnt while establishing his businesses and is an inspirational, clear and practical template for entrepreneurs looking for success. In 2019, Mike published his second book Renowned. Your guide to building a powerful personal brand online. His latest book Humancentric unpacks how to do business in a Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The Marketing Hack
Advertising killed the digital star. We have boxed it and made it conform to our environment. It's time we woke up and saw the potential in digital to redefine the future of our business.
We need to get over our fears, build structures for success and proactively lead our businesses and brands to create the future. Digital is a key aspect to our ability to succeed and this presentation explores how we can revive the digital star...
The Tech Factor
Navigating technology & business in a disruptive world
Business people are all in the business of creating the future. We create new businesses, grow them and scale them into the future. This is a presentation about how to get that right, looking at case studies, personal experiences and insight from the most successful companies and entrepreneurs in the disruptive age.
It shows how technology is an imperative aspect of business growth in three primary...Digital Lifestyles
The past ten years have seen the world move closer and closer to a digital existence. The boomer generation confidently lead to way by integrating our lives with electronic banking, business intranets and cellular phones while Generation X and Y have continued the journey into blogging, instant messaging and social media.
This digital life has not replaced the real "person to person" lifestyle but rather enhanced life to be more convenient and dynamic. Electronic banking opened the...
Love Your Work
Only 13% of people feel happy in their jobs. I believe this should be a crime. More than that it is fast becoming clear with the invention of artificial intelligence that human beings will face a major challenge in the future -finding meaningful work.
With the amount of time we spend working we should be able to find work that excites us and inspires us. This presentation helps people see that they are in control of how much they love their work. It motivates your...
Building a Millennial Culture
The Millennial Persona
The Millennial generation is set to be the largest generation to have ever existed, and it has been said that by 2017 Millennials will be spending more than $200 billion in total per year.
It is important for brand managers and marketers to realise that as this youth market ages, the Millennials are going to start (and some already are) taking on business leadership positions. As they take on these roles we are going to start seeing more and more key decisions being informed by an...
Virtual Presentation
