Branding Expert & International Speaker
Raymond motivates, creates, builds, and challenges brands and businesses.

Currently active in brand advisory services and equity investing in start-ups, Raymond also finds time for international public speaking engagements.  Through covering various topics including corporate culture, building corporate and personal brands, the interrelated nature of culture and brand, and various other motivational topics, he gets to share his own business and life lessons learned.

For 16 years Raymond was the architect of Investec’s brand, as global head of marketing for the group.  Prior to joining Investec (who as a client insisted he sign up), he was founding partner and director of Sw!tch Branding & Design, with offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and London.  Before starting Sw!tch, Raymond was Director of Consulting, and board member of KSDP Pentagraph (at the time the 10th biggest design consultancy in the world), where he was involved in both international & local branding, and design projects.

At Investec, Raymond was involved in sponsorships ranging from the Epsom Derby, the Lords media centre, Elena Dementieva, the autumn rugby internationals at Twickenham, English cricket, Cameron van der Burgh, Stefan Garlicki, the Stormers’ rugby franchise in South Africa, Super 14 Rugby in Australia, The Rugby Championship and Super Rugby in New Zealand, the Investec International Rugby Academy and Investec Hockey Academy in South Africa, golf in Swaziland and polo in Cape Town. He made TV adverts in Prague, and ‘on’ the North Pole, helped invent the Investec Zebra icon, crafted a brand management system and helped shape a culture and values mind-set.

Raymond matriculated at Grey College in Bloemfontein, read for a Bachelor of Arts (Communication) degree at the University of the Free State, and holds a MBA from the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town.

More importantly, Raymond has a degree from the university of life: this includes managing a crystal engraving factory, being cellar master at a London hotel, working on a Kibbutz, as a professional soldier, bouncer, aerobics instructor and more. He moves between hyper and sloth with strange ease.

Using what could be described as colourful vocabulary, he is a gadget freak, a compulsive shopper, rides noisy motorcycles, he loves sailing, good food, wine, travel, books, movies and walking around beautiful cities. He hates flying, bureaucrats and fence sitters and can pick a fight in an empty room. Sometimes kind and often intolerant, he considers still being alive after doing some incredibly stupid things proof that having good luck is his greatest asset.