Gil Oved | |
---|---|
Born | Johannesburg, South Africa | 16 August 1975
Education | University of South Africa CFA Institute |
Occupation(s) | Businessman, tv host |
Known for | Advertising |
Title | Co-Founder and Co-CEO of The Creative Counsel (2001–present) |
Term | 2001–present |
Website | Company website |
Gil Oved (born 16 August 1975) is a South African entrepreneur who is the co-founder and co-CEO of The Creative Counsel, South Africa's largest advertising agency. [1] He is a member of the global Young Presidents' Organization where he is the Johannesburg chapter chair as well as the Africa regional forum officer. [2] He is one of the Dragons on the hugely popular television reality show Dragons' Den South Africa which premiered in the last quarter of 2014 on DSTV. [3] In 2016 Oved was chosen as the first "Shark" on the new series of Shark Tank on M-NET. [4]
Oved was born on 16 August 1975 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He matriculated at Crawford College, Sandton, earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree (Cum Laude) at the University of South Africa, and subsequently obtained the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) qualification. [5]
As a teenager at the time of South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, Oved's imagination was fired by the country's new potential for transformation. He became an anchor presenter for the country's first multi-racial television teen magazine programme called Zap Mag. He was the anchor presenter from 1990 to 1995, along with a Vusi Twala. Twala and Oved became close friends and, after they matriculated, started a television production company in 1996 known as Jewazi (a combination of the words Jew and Swazi).
The production company saw some successes over its approximate three years of existence and had programmes commissioned by the SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) most noteworthy SuperKidz, but never got the traction needed to create a sustainable business. Oved set his sights on the next goal. He teamed up with a friend from school, Ran Neu-Ner, to start an Internet trading company just as the dot.com bubble was expanding.
The pair raised almost a million dollars and invested three years in developing their business called Wealthmaker but, when the dot.com bubble burst in the early 2000s, their investors went bankrupt, and they followed suit. Observing that Neu-Ner's girlfriend of the time, a student who was earning extra money as a promotional field worker, was earning considerably more than they were, Oved and Neu-Ner decided to set up a small low risk, low barrier-to-entry business placing promotional staff.
Although initially a ‘stop-gap’ initiative, both men found that they enjoyed the process of helping clients think through campaigns and began to take very seriously the creative process and execution of brand building through promotions and activations.
The company grew exponentially, through the acquisition of new clients as well as other businesses in the advertising and marketing sector attracting the attention of Publicis Groupe who bought the Company in September 2015. TCC operates under Publicis Africa Group. Oved remains group co-CEO together with Neu-Ner. The Creative Counsel has retained its name.
Oved lives in the Johannesburg region.
In 2014 Oved became one of the dragons in the first season of South Africa's Dragons' Den along with Vinny Lingham, Lebo Gunguluza, Vusi Thembekwayo and Polo Leteka Radebe. [6] In 2015 was chosen as the first 'Shark' in the South African version of the Shark Tank series by MNET. The Shark Tank series is sponsored in full by Telkom South Africa. [7]
Oved's industry accolades include:
Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and public relations company. One of the oldest and largest marketing and communications companies in the world, it is headquartered in Paris.
Christopher Sacca is an American venture investor, company advisor, entrepreneur, and lawyer. He is the proprietor of Lowercase Capital, a venture capital fund in the United States that has invested in seed and early-stage technology companies such as Twitter, Uber, Instagram, Twilio, and Kickstarter, investments that resulted in his placement as No. 2 on Forbes' Midas List: Top Tech Investors for 2017. Sacca held several positions at Google Inc., where he led the alternative access and wireless divisions and worked on mergers and acquisitions. Between 2015 and 2020, he appeared as a "Guest Shark" on ABC's Shark Tank. In early 2017, Sacca announced that he was retiring from venture investing. In 2021, Sacca announced that he was back into venture investing with a focus on Climate issues.
Terrence Thomas Kevin O'Leary, sometimes called Mr. Wonderful, is a Canadian businessman, investor, journalist, author, and television personality. From 2004 to 2014, he appeared on various Canadian television shows, including the business news programs SqueezePlay and The Lang and O'Leary Exchange, as well as the Canadian reality television shows Dragons' Den and Redemption Inc. In 2008, he appeared on Discovery Channel's Project Earth. Since 2009, he has appeared on Shark Tank, the American version of Dragons' Den.
Daymond Garfield John is an American businessman, investor, and television personality. He is best known as an investor on the ABC reality television series Shark Tank. As well as being the founder, president, and chief executive officer of FUBU, John is the founder of The Shark Group.
Vinny Lingham is a South African-born American Internet entrepreneur who is the co-founder & CEO of an identity protection and management startup based in California called Civic. He was also previously the founder and CEO of Gyft & Yola, Inc. He is also the co-founder of SiliconCape, an NGO based in South Africa that aims to turn Cape Town into a technology hub.
Shark Tank is an American business reality television series that premiered on August 9, 2009, on ABC. The show is the American franchise of the international format Dragons' Den, a British TV series, which itself is a remake of the Japanese TV show The Tigers of Money. It shows entrepreneurs making business presentations to a panel of five venture capitalists called "sharks" on the program, who decide whether to invest in their companies.
Peter David Jones is an English entrepreneur, businessman, investor, and reality television personality, with interests in mobile phones, television, media, leisure, retail, and property. He is the last remaining original investor on the BBC One series Dragons' Den, and has appeared on other television programmes with similar formats.
Dragons' Den is a Canadian television reality show based on the internationally franchised Dragons' Den format which began in Japan. The show debuted on October 3, 2006, on CBC Television, and is hosted by Dianne Buckner. Aspiring Canadian entrepreneurs pitch business and investment ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing business financing and partnerships. The show also has a Quebec-only spin-off called Dans l'oeil du Dragon.
Matthew Buckland was a South African Internet entrepreneur and businessman who founded and exited digital agency and publisher Creative Spark, acquired in 2015 by UK firm M&C Saatchi PLC, the holding group of M&C Saatchi. Buckland was also the founder of Burn Media, a suite of technology publishing brands which includes Memeburn, Ventureburn.com, Gearburn.com and others.
Lori Greiner is an American television personality and entrepreneur. She is known for her QVC show Clever & Unique Creations (2000–present) for which she has been called the "Queen of QVC", and for being an investor on the reality series Shark Tank (2012–present). She has hundreds of inventions and holds over 120 patents. She is the president and founder of For Your Ease Only, Inc.
Shark Tank is an Australian reality competition television series that premiered on 8 February 2015 and aired until 7 August 2018 on Network Ten, in which aspiring entrepreneur-contestants made business presentations to a panel of "Shark" investors. Shark Tank was filmed at Disney Studios Australia.
Sam Darwish is a U.S. entrepreneur active in the telecommunications industry. He is Chairman and CEO of IHS Towers, which operates more than 39,000 towers across three continents and listed on the NYSE in October 2021.
Masego "Maps" Maponyane is a South African television presenter, actor, fashion designer, speaker, model, creative consultant, voice over artist, philanthropist and business entrepreneur.
The Creative Counsel is a South African advertising agency founded in 2001 by school friends Gil Oved and Ran Neu-Ner.
Somizi Buyani Mhlongo is a South African television presenter, choreographer, media personality and socialite. In 1992, he appeared on the musical and political film, Sarafina! which gained him prominence. Mhlongo became lead choreographer for numerous shows and events, including the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
Melissa Carbone is an American entrepreneur who creates, owns, and produces live attractions primarily in the horror genre. She is the creator and founder of Ten Thirty One Productions which owns Haunted Hayrides in Los Angeles and New York and the Great Horror Campout.
Tania Habimana is a Rwandan Belgian entrepreneur and television presenter.
Snowy Joyce Khoza is a South African who is chief executive officer of Bigen Africa and President of Agape Christian Women.
Vusi Thembekwayo is a South African entrepreneur, author, and businessman. He is the founder and CEO of the MyGrowthFund Venture Partners. He is the author of two books.