I had the most incredible day today at the Branson Centre in Braamfontein, and because I cannot possible do it all justice in one blog post, I’m going to split it into 2 parts.

I was privileged to be asked to take the photos at an event hosted by Richard Branson at the Branson Centre for Entrepreneurs today.  It was aimed at helping local entrepreneurs, and took the form of a speed dating session where a whole host of local and international businessmen and entrepreneurs mentored a few Branson Centre entrepreneurs.  It was amazing to walk around and listen to the conversations.  What an incredible opportunity for these young guys, as the advice was readily forthcoming, and in some cases really good business connections were made.

Tony Banks with the guys from Afropark

Jean Oelwang from Virgin Unite

Steve Bailey from Virgin Mobile and Vinay Padayachee from Virgin Money

Richard Branson with two of the Virgin Media Pioneers from the UK

Maakaplan from Soweto Internet Radio listening intently to some sage advice

And we could not miss out on a photo opportunity with the whole Virgin team and the entrepreneurs from the Branson Centre next to their new signage

I can only see magnificent things coming from these meetings today

… and then we all had to dash to the launch event at Randlords, where Richard Branson launched his new book “Screw Business as Usual”