Senior Management

       
 

 

  

 

Print Media

Esmaré Weideman

CEO Media24

In a career spanning the most exciting period in South African history, Esmaré Weideman has pioneered the way in delivering relevant, ground breaking and commercially successful publications and content to the South African public. With cum laude BCom and BJournalism Hons degrees from the University of Stellenbosch, she laid the foundations for a highly successful career in journalism. Her early career was capped by selection as the only South African journalist to accompany Nelson Mandela on his world tour after release. Since that time Esmaré has filled the roles of Co-Editor of Drum, Deputy Editor of Fairlady and in 2001 was the youngest ever appointed Editor of You magazine.In 2002 further responsibility was given her in the form of appointment as Joint Editor of You and Huisgenoot – Media24's two most profitable weeklies – with distribution of 4 000 000 per week. And later, in 2010 she became Editor-in-Chief of Huisgenoot, You, Drum, Huisgenoot Pols, You / Pulse and Huisgenoot Tempo.Awards include the Piet Cillié prize for "excellence in journalism" (2005) and the prestigious Phil Weber award for "sustained achievement in a career with Naspers" (2007).
Abraham van Zyl

CEO Media24 Newspapers

Abraham van Zyl has been in the media industry since 1976. With an editorial background, he held the position of news editor at Die Burger before he moved to the management side of the business. Previously, amongst others, he has held the positions of general manager of Vaal Triangle Publishers in Vanderbijlpark, general manager of City Press and regional general manager of Media24 Newspapers in the Southern region of South Africa, before he assumed the role of heading up Media24’s print media office in Beijing, China. Abraham has been appointed CEO Media24 Newspapers with effect from 1 July 2008.
Fergus Sampson

CEO Emerging Markets Division Media24 Newspapers

Fergus Sampson is chief executive of the Emerging Markets Division for Media 24 Newspapers. He is a founding member of the Daily Sun newspaper. Sampson now manages Daily Sun, Sunday Sun, Son, City Press and Laduma. He serves on the boards of the Newspaper Association of SA, Audit Bureau of Circulations of SA, CT Media and Multichoice.
John Relihan

CEO Media 24 Magazines

John has been in the media industry in South Africa for almost thirty years. His career spans newspapers, books, music, online retail and magazines. Started his career as a journalist; was involved as editor in the launch of the group’s first free community newspaper; held various editorial positions such as motoring editor and edited a regional edition (Eastern Cape) of a major daily newspaper – Die Burger. Became General Manager of Media24’s book and music clubs and launched Kalahari.net (Africa’s largest online retailer). For the past seven years involved in magazine publishing in Media24. Responsible for the general interest (family orientated), travel and motoring titles. The portfolio of some fourteen titles are diverse and includes from the largest weekly magazines in South Africa (Huisgenoot and You) to a fledgling monthly comic magazine (Mshana) aimed at young males. Appointed as CEO: Media24 Magazines as from 1 March 2008.
Stephen van der Walt

Paarl Media

Stephen van der Walt began his career with the Naspers group in 2000 as group financial director of Paarl Media Holdings. In 2004 he was appointed chief operating officer of Paarl Media Holdings, and in 2005 chief executive officer of Paarl Media Holdings.
Jonathan Ball

Managing Director of Jonathan Ball Publishers

Jonathan Ball was born and educated in Johannesburg. He started in book publishing in 1971 at Collier-Macmillan, moved to Macmillan and in 1976 started Jonathan Ball Publishers.  Jonathan Ball Publishers became a part of the Naspers Group in 1992.
Eloise Wessels

CEO NB Group

Eloise Wessels joined the Naspers group as Publishing Manager at the academic book publisher Van Schaik Publishers in 1999. She was later appointed as CEO of the same company and in 2004 moved to become CEO of the trade publisher NB Publishers.  Eloise currently heads up the NB Group which comprises NB Publishers, Van Schaik Publishers and Lux Verbi Publishers.  She is a director of Via Afrika Ltd.
Hein Brand

CEO MIH Print Media

Hein Brand joined the Naspers group in 1998 as finance executive. He is a Chartered Accountant and a former financial director of Media24, chief executive officer of Via Afrika and later managing director of Media24. He was appointed as chief executive of MIH Internet Latin America in August 2008, but retained responsibility for all MIH print media investments outside of Africa, most notably the investment in the leading Brazilian magazine publisher Abril and two Chinese print investments.
Fábio Barbosa

CEO Abril (Brazil)

Fabio Barbosa started his career in 1976, in the financial department of Nestlé, where he stayed for ten years. He was executive vice-president of Citibank and chairman of LTCB Latin America, the Brazilian subsidiary of Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan. Mr. Barbosa became the CEO of ABN Amro Bank, which under his command, acquired Banco Real. In 2008, he became the chairman of Banco Santander Basil after the purchase of ABN. In 2011 he assumed the position of member of the Council of the United Nations Foundation (UN Foundation - New York) and was awarded as a Leader for Social Change for the Social Change Foundation in partnership with the UN. He was also recognized as Person of the Year by the Brazil-United States Chamber of Commerce in New York. Fabio graduated in Business Administration from Fundação Getulio Vargas in São Paulo and holds a MBA from the Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.