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17 Facts About Gian Visser

1.

Gian Visser was born on 1975 and is a South African entrepreneur and innovator in the internet services sector of South Africa.

2.

Gian Visser was born in Johannesburg, Gauteng on 27 February 1975.

3.

Gian Visser's parents were born and met in Carltonville, from mining families.

4.

Gian Visser's father was a police officer in the South African Police Service and his mother was a bookkeeper.

5.

Gian Visser's family moved to Johannesburg, where he attended school at King Edward VII School in Houghton Estate, alongside his future business partners, Brendan Armstrong and Peter Meintjies.

6.

Gian Visser began a number of small businesses while still studying.

7.

Gian Visser started in his mother's home and gradually began to grow to the point where the company's operations took over the entire house.

8.

Gian Visser eventually moved to rented premises in Rivonia, and finally to their permanent residence in Rivonia, where the company currently employs approximately 350 people.

9.

Gian Visser was later joined by Greg Payne, former COO of Internet Solutions, and Angus McRobert, former CEO of Internet Solutions and Vox Telecom.

10.

Gian Visser was instrumental in launching the company's presence in broadband connectivity, which facilitated the company's rapid growth.

11.

Gian Visser was central to the company's sale of shares to MTN and their subsequent buy-back of the company's shares.

12.

Gian Visser is an avid reader, particularly of non-fiction books related to marketing and behavioural psychology.

13.

Gian Visser often employs viral marketing methods learned from Seth Godin, Chip Heath, Dan Heath, Jonah Berger and Rohit Bhargava.

14.

Gian Visser cites Malcolm Gladwell and Tony Hsieh as being major influences in formulating the company's approach to customer service and the company culture.

15.

Gian Visser is well known for his personal approach to customers, often sending emails to customers directly in favour of branded messaging, being available on social media.

16.

Gian Visser has won the prestigious MyBroadband IT Personality of the Year Award three times, in 2013,2014 and 2016.

17.

Gian Visser was awarded the IT Personality of the Year for 2014 by the IITPSA.