Charl Norman

[I struggle to find the time to blog. So for now the about me page will be the homepage. Be warned the content you will find down the RHS sidebar is very old. - Follow me on Twitter @cn.]

I’m an award winning consumer internet and digital media entrepreneur.

Previously I managed operations for Blueworld Communities (BWC), a company I founded with partners. BWC operates online communities in the entertainment, motoring and dating space in South Africa and was acquired by Media24/Naspers in 2008.

BWC also owns various platforms that power many leading brands in South Africa’s web and mobile properties.

BWC also created Afridoctor, the Award winning J2ME application that won the $85.000 Nokia Application Innovation Award.

In 2011, I was a founding member of Touchlab, the application development division within Naspers, that builds applications and tablet publications for iOS and Android.

I also own a publishing network of titles including CarBlog.co.za, consistently ranked among the TOP 10 blogs in South Africa and BandwidthBlog.com, an opinionated tech and internet news blog which has hit the homepage of Digg, been referenced by ReadWriteWeb numerous times and has won awards such as a silver pixel at The Bookmarks and best technology blog in the SA Blog Awards. Other titles include SportBlog.co.za and Fintalk.co.za.

I have 12 years of digital experience and started my first website (zoopedup.com) while still in high school.

I was also runner up for the ICT Young Entrepreneur of Africa Award in 2008, included in Mail & Guardian’s top 200 young executives and nominated for Top 30 entrepreneurs under 30 in Africa.

Referrals from my Linkedin profile

“Charl is a tenacious, talented young entrepreneur that boasts business savvy well beyond his years. He understand how people interact with the Web and has the resources to make his visions digital realities. He’s a pleasure to work with.” - Mike Stopforth, Co-founder, Afrigator.com and Cerebra.

“Charl is an incredibly dynamic and innovative web entrepreneur, with a action orientation. Furthermore, he is a good communicator, and his willingness to share his lessons and insights with other people in educational environments shows foresight and generosity.” - Dave Duarte, Programme Director, UCT Graduate School of Business

“New/social media is my main focus as a new media lawyer so innovative developments like Blueworld pique my interest pretty quickly. Charl’s work at Blueworld and elsewhere on the Web astounds me. It is truly remarkable that someone so young has innovated so much in the South Africa social Web and has accomplished such success. His successes bode well for his future and I am looking forward to what Charl comes up with next.” - Paul Jacobson, Attorney, Jacobson Attorneys

“I’ve rarely met anyone as passionate about and skilled at their job. In fact “job” isn’t the right word – Charl simply does what he loves, it just happens to also be work. Whether he’s brainstorming new features for one of his sites, speaking at a conference, coding like a madman or writing in his blog, Charl breathes, eats and sleeps the web. This is a guy who walks the walk as well as talks the talk. He’s an old fashioned entrepreneur in the body of a tech genius.” – Alistair Fairweather, Social Media Manager, 20FourLabs

“I’ve asked Charl for advice on several occasions, as well as invited him to speak at our Heavy Chef Sessions. Charl never ceases to surprise me with his hyperdriven smarts – his knowledge and tactical nous within the social media environment is certainly up there with the top minds in SA.” – Fred Roed, CEO and Co-Founder, World Wide Creative

“Charl is determined, thorough, highly focused, and committed to everything he takes on. He puts in the highest quality of work and I would not hesitate at all to hire him for any position he has shown interest in. There is no doubt in my mind he will make a huge success of any challenge he takes on.” – Neville Newey, Senior Software Engineer, Stanford University

“Charl is an astute business man with a keen eye for great ideas. His entrepreneurial spirit and knowledge of both the online and offline market space is what sets him apart from his peers.” – Catherine Lückhoff, Owner, MANGO-OMC

“Charl is a highly motivated and bright individual that is constantly at the forefront of the Web 2.0 scene in South Africa. He lives and breathes blueworld.co.za and is constantly pushing the boundaries when it comes to niche social networks and social media in South Africa.” - Jason Bagley, Digital Strategist, Bean Bag Media

“Charl Norman can be described in the following few words: Genius, Entrepreneur, Visionary, Fun, Marketing Genius and Web 2.0 Guru. If you are looking for someone who knows his stuff and are passionate about the Internet and Business … look no further than Charl.” - Albert Bredenhann, Managing Director, Jump Internet Technologies (Pty) Ltd

Read more on my professional profile

My Press

Popularity: 10% [?]