With over four decades of collective experience in entrepreneurship, business planning, corporate and social innovation, philanthropy and educational development, Spark provides high-growth entrepreneurial ventures with a range of services that are aimed at creating strategies for growth, building learning systems that drive innovation, generating the capacity for the activation of business models that lead to sustainable economic development and personal growth.
In addition to a number of consulting services which include new business creation, entrepreneurial business modelling and knowledge management, the Spark Team is well- versed in providing clients with rigorous applied research through the development of case studies and white papers which are valuable for key market insights and the showcasing of initiatives and interventions.
Having worked on varying projects for multinational corporations such as Nedbank, DBSA, The World Bank Institute, Unilever, JP Morgan Chase and Dell Computers as well as numerous educational institutions including University of Cape Town (UCT), the Gordon Institute of Business (GIBS) and AFDA, Spark is geared towards delivering innovative and creative solutions for our clients which are not only results driven but powered by the ignition for positive change.
Jonathan has an MBA from the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business, as well as a PhD, focused on entrepreneurship education, from UCT’s Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment.
He was founding director of the Raymond Ackerman Academy of Entrepreneurial Development (located at UCT), and was Academic-in-Residence at the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation, having previously held the position of Head of Impact Assurance.
His teaching and research have crossed a range of disciplines including commerce, science, engineering, mathematics and the humanities.
Dr. Marks is an experienced entrepreneur, having developed and successfully sold business ventures in the real estate and information technology sector.
He is currently Senior Lecturer at Gordon Institute for Business Science with responsibility for entrepreneurship; he continues to consult to entrepreneurs and corporate clients around the world.
Karen has Bachelor of Business Communications degree from Bond University Australia as well as an honours degree in Marketing Communications from the University of Johannesburg.
She recently completed her Master’s degree at UCT’s Graduate School of Business in Inclusive Innovation.
She has extensive experience in corporate philanthropy having consulted to local and multinational organizations for the last 12 years on their corporate giving programmes as well as their Socio-Economic Development and Enterprise and Supplier Development driven initiatives.
She previously sat on Dell’s Giving Council board and currently sits on the board of IT-Online, an IT industry focused news site, and is one of the co-founders of the Leigh Matthews Stress and Trauma Centre which provides trauma counselling for victims of crime who have no or limited financial resources.
Rocket School is part of our unique offering to educational institutions and well as the private and public sector who require focused entrepreneurship programmes for their staff and students.
Based on an offering of three unique programmes which range from 10 months to 12 weeks to three days, Rocket School provides users with a holistic educational experience which is approached from an online and face-to-face driven approach.
