Rory Atkinson

• Worked closely with organizational leadership and board of directors to guide operational strategy.
• Monitored office workflow and administrative processes to keep operations running smoothly.
• Managed daily operations while overseeing multiple locations to foster increased productivity.
• Assisted with sales and marketing strategies to foster achievement of revenue goals.
• Trained and guided team members to maintain high productivity and performance metrics.
• Tracked trends and suggested enhancements to both challenge and refine company's product offerings.
• Reported issues to higher management with great detail.

My role at Branded is to run and lead all web service projects. I lead all custom build website design and developments, rebuilding existing websites, creating and designing sales and landing pages, and managing digital advertising and search engine optimization engagements. Additionally, I work with the internal team on our client's digital marketing strategy and advisory.

• Spearheaded innovative approaches to resource allocation and strategic planning.
• Managed daily operations while overseeing client interactions across multiple countries in different timezones
• Oversaw operations and provided corrective feedback to achieve daily and long-term goals.
• Formed strategic partnerships and connected with potential clients to drive business development.
• Evaluated company documentation to verify alignment with regulatory requirements.
• Assisted with sales and marketing strategies to foster achievement of revenue goals.
• Monitored expenditures to mitigate risk of overages.
• Monitored and coordinated workflows to optimize resources.
• Scheduled employees for shifts, taking into account customer traffic and employee strengths.
• Reduced financial inconsistencies while assessing and verifying billing invoices and expense reports.
• Interacted well with customers to build connections and nurture relationships.
• Negotiated price and service with customers and vendors to decrease expenses and increase profit.
• Tracked trends and suggested enhancements to both challenge and refine company's product offerings.
• Identified and qualified customer needs and negotiated and closed profitable projects with high success rate.
• Handled problematic customers and clients to assist lower-level employees and maintain excellent customer service.
• Implemented business strategies, increasing revenue, and effectively targeting new markets.

My primary role at Visual Click Studio is to guide the development of the company and our clients. I am responsible for developing the sales and marketing strategies we employ. I also guide the learning process for our staff to develop their marketing skills all with the goal of getting great results for our clients. Furthermore, I am responsible for the negotiation of new contracts with larger clients' initial onboarding of new clients.

• Utilized distance learning technology to instruct students remotely.
• Collaborated with faculty and staff to create meaningful learning experiences.
• Mentored and advised students to explore career pathways based and amplify knowledge, skills and strengths.
• Selected and designed lesson plans and curriculum to meet academic objectives.
• Created and designed quizzes, tests and projects to assess student knowledge.
• Evaluated and supervised student activities and performance levels to provide reports on academic progress.
• Met with students to dispense study and career advice and provide guidance and potential opportunities within chosen field.
• Conducted engaging in-class discussions to facilitate learning and encourage participation.

I taught culinary students, in their third year, the basics of business skills and knowledge to help them in their future journey of business and career development. The course was developed by me and was adapted to complement the baseline advised course content to expand their understanding of business systems, finances, marketing, and customer acquisition strategy.

• Raising Capital,
• Found JV Partners to do investment deals with into businesses
• Performed Senior level consulting and Business recovery on behalf of the firm and our clients
• Strategic planning and development.
• Notable Large Projects:
• R75million deal due dalliance and structuring for Root44 market sale/purchase
• Restructuring of $21million of debt in Tilus Supermarket Chain in Zimbabwe to recover it and business risk mitigation against political theft

Bizmed and BizProp Investments was founded as a 5 man team of entrepreneurs, of which I was the second largest shareholder, looking to invest in businesses and property that needed capital injection and strategic management structures to grow it's value. We did a total of 3 company investment deals while I was there to the total value of R3,7 million. We also did two property deals, though I was not involved with the property deals directly. I sold my shareholding after a partners dispute about the fundamentals of additional investment request's to one of the businesses we had invested in.

• Developed key operational initiatives to drive and maintain substantial business growth.
• Conducted target market research to scope out industry competition and identify advantageous trends.
• Set, enforced, and optimized internal policies to maintain responsiveness to demands.
• Evaluated suppliers to maintain cost controls and improve operations.
• Established and administered annual budget with controls to prevent overages, minimize burn rate, and support sustainability objectives.
• Managed financial operations and investments to maximize profits and minimize costs.
• Monitored performance, identified areas of improvement and devised solutions to address areas of weakness.
• Managed and oversaw the risk assessment and mitigation for the group
• Found new deals and negotiated the contracts

My first experience in business turnaround, my business partner and I took all our money and purchased a defunct Night Club in the heart of the student town stellenbosch. It was a failed EDM club with a mostly white english market focus. We completely changed it and turned it into the first African and Colored focused night club in stellenbosch aimed at the student market and young professionals. We made many mistakes but in the end it was successfully sold after much blood sweat and tears.

I was the managing partner and took care of the day to day operation with my team of managers and staff. I negotiated several successful contracts between large alcohol brands. The most notable was when we managed to make a deal with Tullamore Dew which saw it become the most popular whiskey in Stellenbosch within our market both on and off premises, even outselling Jameson.

• Created organization's mission and vision statements for use by employees.
• Created and monitored promotional approaches to increase sales and profit levels.
• Identified business development challenges and customer concerns for proactive resolution.
• Developed key operational initiatives to drive and maintain substantial business growth.
• Conducted target market research to scope out industry competition and identify advantageous trends.
• Directed market expansions to propel business forward, meet changing customer needs.
• Cultivated forward-thinking, inclusive and performance-driven company culture to lead industry innovations.
• Developed strong partnerships with other businesses to allow for collaboration and more significant opportunities for growth.
• Managed financial, operational and human resources to optimize business performance.
• Formulated and executed strategic initiatives to improve product offerings.
• Oversaw divisional marketing, advertising and new product development.
• Shaped solutions and approaches by leveraging trends in customer marketplaces and industries.
• Maintained P&L and shouldered corporate fiscal responsibility.
• Created succession plans to provide continuity of operations during leadership transitions.