Simon Espley

Simon is a chartered accountant and past director of various companies in the media and finance industries. Founder and CEO of bigFIG, Simon’s personal mission is to provide the tools and skills for the print publishing industry to evolve with its readers into the exciting and lucrative future of hybrid multimedia - where magazine brands enjoy an interactive relationship with mobile, empowered, connected fans and advertisers. In his personal life Simon pursues a sustainable lifestyle and enjoys a special relationship with his 17 year-old diesel Land Rover. See him on LinkedIn.

Peter Borchert

Peter has a publishing career spanning 40 years and hundreds of books and magazines. In 1992 he turned his back on the corporate world (he was CEO of Struik Books) and founded the award winning magazines Africa Geographic and Africa – Birds & Birding. Peter is now a pioneer in the evolution of print content and editorial processes into the digital space.

Steve Boyes

Steve has a PhD in Zoology and has presented at the Universities of California (Berkeley), Oxford, Cambridge, Colorado and Cornell. He is widely published in scientific literature and popular media. Steve has worked as a biodiversity consultant, wilderness guide and environmentalist and spends as much time as possible in remote wilderness areas. He says, ‘Combining the huge business opportunity of pioneering carbon-friendly digital media with my passion for the environment is very exciting. We’re surfing the front of this wave and it is totally enthralling, a real buzz.’

Harriet Nimmo

Harriet joined bigFIG from the UK as Business Director. She is responsible for building partnerships with bigFIG’s clients, both nationally and internationally, developing revenue streams, as well as managing the digital marketing team. Previously she was CEO of Wildscreen, which has a long-standing international reputation within the fields of environmental media and digital communications. At Wildscreen, Harriet was also responsible for leading the development of the award winning digital databank, www.ARKive.org for which she was named European Professional Woman of Achievement in 2003.

Shelley Prince

Shelley began her career in advertising as a traffic manager, but her passion for the outdoors soon drove her to the multiple-award-winning print publishing arm of Africa Geographic as traffic manager and personal assistant to the directors. After 12 happy years with Africa Geographic, Shelley made the move to digital media at the same time as Africa Geographic outsourced its digital magazine production contract to bigFIG. Shelley has a well-earned reputation for production efficiency – her busy style and no-nonsense manner has earned her the nickname The Bulldog among her colleagues at bigFIG. No surprise then to find that Shelley runs marathons in her spare time. Her role as sustainability manager gives her a great sense of fulfillment and enjoyment. Her eye for detail is a great advantage in the multi-layered approach required by any business in the drive for true sustainable status.

Paul Steyn

Paul has never been able to stick to one form of media. He’s constantly experimented with new ways to tell stories since he could talk. After studying media for in Cape Town for four years, he worked in as a guide, travelled around Africa, and then landed up in online news publishing. His love for Africa and multimedia story telling finally took him to the halls of bigFIG, where he’s now able to push the boundaries of digital publishing full time

Holly Meadows

Holly was born and raised in the rural British Counties, her mother began life on a sugar farm in Zululand. After reading Anthropology at university in London, working for a political activist filmmaker in India, and doing a short stint under the bright lights of Bollywood – she decided it was time to return to the motherland. To earn a crust in the name of wanderlust, Holly finished up a post grad in media and hotfooted around South Africa as a freelance travel journalist. Now, she's landed up in the hallways of Safari magazine.

Sean Messham

Born in scenic Cape Town, South Africa, Sean grew up enthralled by the wonders of nature. But it was while hiking in the Cederberg mountains that he discovered photography was to be his thing. So, after finishing school at Wynberg Boys' High, he trekked off to Rhodes University in Grahamstown to study photojournalism and history. Keen to get on with it after university, Sean worked at an international communications company before finding his little niche at bigFIG. Finally, a place where he can indulge his passion for the environment, photography and writing while connecting to the snapping networks of digital media.

Tim Jackson

Tim’s life is a little confused. Born in the West Indies, he grew up as a nomad traveling through much of the world before settling to a life researching wildlife in South Africa. A few years ago he was wrestled from the ivory towers of academia and dumped headlong into the world of journalism. Today he acts as a translator, spending much of his time turning the gobbledygook language of science into things most of us can actually understand. Having wielded a camera since the tender age of 8, Tim is something of a photographic geek too, and his pictures have a habit of turning up in bigFIG’s digital magazines.

Alessandro Bonora

After studying journalism Ale began a brief but doomed stint in hard news before seeing the light and opting for a career on the visual side of the creative word. Alessandro spent some time as a designer for an advertising agency in Rome, and then returned to South Africa to work as an Art Director for an award-winning conservation magazine. When bigFIG offered him the opportunity to ply his trade in interactive magazines, Alessandro jumped and has been happily skydiving ever since. He is mildly addicted to coffee and comes down to Earth every now and then for a game of cricket (he plays for Italy).

Roger Landman

Devout follower of the Adobe Flash discipline, Roger saw the impact that electronic media had on people during 5 years in the e-learning environment, but it wasn’t until Roger joined the bigFIG team that his vision finally stopped being a daydream and become his day job. Very excited to be in the right place at the right time, Roger continues his quest to perfect the ultimate storytelling platform. He is continually researching Design Thinking and playing with new ideas for user-experience design. In his spare time Roger makes web-comics.

Gareth Campbell

Much of his early history is a mystery. It is assumed that Gareth was raised by a wild herd of spray cans. After managing to drag himself out of high school he completed his Bachelors degree at Cape Peninsula University of Technology and very quickly began to ply his trade in the design industry. He is a versatile designer, with a wide skill-set in many of the design disciplines that are required in today’s rapidly evolving interactive media industry. Gareth is always willing to work outside of his comfort zone, and is currently focusing on design and content rendition in the mobile app space. He is well known for his smart mouth, endearing nature and excellent selection of montage music!

Simon de Haast

Simon is responsible for the customer experience at bigFIG, and because a large component of our products are digital, he is deeply involved with technology strategy. He has guest lectured and spoken at numerous conferences on innovation, mobile technology and customer insight. He is strongly influenced by writers such as Fritjof Capra, Marshall McLuhan and Tom Kelly. He started his own innovation and experience design firm in Cape Town, South Africa. One day a client (bigFIG) made Simon an offer he couldn’t understand, so he joined in August 2009, finding a home for his passion for media innovation and digital technology. He also moonlights as a live music photographer and is often seen lurking around on stage living vicariously through the rock bands he photographs.

Robyn Bowden

Robyn’s role in BigFig is an assistant digital marketer. She takes care of marketing on social networks and other online platforms, and is constantly on the lookout for new marketing avenues online. Robyn previously studied at Red and Yellow school of marketing and advertising, which has well equipped her to develop marketing strategies for the online space. Robyn also has a degree in social anthropology which has given her an edge when it comes to understanding how people act and react in the online social space.