NML was founded with a wish list of people Paul had worked with in the past and wanted to work with again – solid, passionate, talented people. The kind of people you know you can build a successful business around. Amazingly, or maybe not so amazingly given the excitement around the work we are doing, almost all of those people have joined our team. Please read about our team – their credentials and our track record will give you comfort that NML will deliver for you.
New Media Labs – Board
Paul CartmelPaul Cartmel – Managing Director
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Paul honed his programming skills during his engineering bachelors and masters degrees, at the University of Cape Town. Programming in C and Visual Basic at university extended the knowledge he had gained taking computer science as an extra subject in high school. His twenty years of experience in software development (if you count writing games for the commodore 64 and zx spectrum as far back as 1986 as software development) provide invaluable and comprehensive technical expertise to clients. He worked for a number of multi-nationals in London before returning to South Africa to take up a role as a senior architect of Delos Technology, and later as a Senior Software Architect for financial software solutions firm AFA Systems. In 2005 Paul helped found Silverminute where he played a role as Technical Director and senior architect. At Silverminute, Paul acted as technical architect for a five-hundred-million Australian dollar – 18 month – smart card, ticketing and micro-payments system for the State of Victoria in Australia. Paul is currently completely absorbed in Web2.0/New Media technologies and he is currently working with a number of already successful web2.0 applications. Paul has a deep level of Object Oriented Programming and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) skills (gained while acted as a SOA product evangelist for Progress Software), which are proving invaluable when developing innovative applications for the Web2.0 platform hosted, API driven, New Media era.
Greg ErasmusGreg Erasmus – Non-executive Director
Greg worked as Product Integration Manager for Vodacom South Africa from 1998 during which he re-engineered the Vodacom New Product Development Process.  He managed the integration of new products, tariffs and services in the Billing and Administration Group from 2002-2004.  Greg is co-founder of Unisyn Solutions (Pty) Ltd which specializes in billing and revenue assurance consulting and implemented solutions in several African mobile telecoms operators.
Robyn HeyRobyn Hey – Non-executive Director
Robyn spent six and half years practicing as an attorney at Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs (ENS) where she specialised initially in insolvency, business rescue and debt recovery and thereafter banking and finance advisory work. During her time at ENS, Robyn was involved in investigating some of the largest corporate collapses in South Africa’s history and was part of a team which advised large corporate clients and pension funds on the regulatory environment in which they operate.  Robyn now runs her own practice where she advises clients on insolvency, business rescue and debt recovery as well as commercial transactions.
New Media Labs – Operations
Elsie VerheyeElsie Verheye – Operations Manager
Elsie completed her Bachelor’s degree in Business Science (Finance-CA) with Finance Honours in 2006 from the University of Cape Town, after which she gained some valuable experience while working for a small fund management firm.  Elsie joined NML in March 2009 and has since become an integral member of the team.  Besides doing the accounts and finance and ensuring that NML runs smoothly, Elsie recently became a qualified SCRUM Master and is actively involved in managing various projects – an area she hopes to further develop.  Elsie prides herself in being a perfectionist and her organisational skills, will to learn and friendliness make her a great addition to the NML team.  Elsie is a self-proclaimed shopaholic and sushi-addict and loves seeing and trying new things.
New Media Labs - Architects and Developers
Richard SchroderRichard Schroder - Architect, Senior Developer
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Richard graduated from the University of Cape Town with a Masters degree in Computer Science, which was sponsored by Microsoft Research and the National Research Foundation.  The fact that his Masters Research project centered around mobile technology makes Richard a perfect fit for NML and one of its core business focuses – mobile technology.  Richard is a work hard, play hard kind of guy, where work is often hardcore mountain biking (as a Cape Epic and Sani2C finisher) and play is tinkering with new technologies.  Richard is the type of person who gets upset with himself if he sleeps late (anything after 6am) or when he can’t find any props (front rankers for the UCT rugby team he coaches).  A regular Dean’s Merit list candidate whilst a student Richard is a very well balanced guy.
Debbie DermanDebbie Derman – Senior Developer, Delivery Manager, Flow Controller.
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6 years of local and international IT experience, an engineering degree as a solid academic base (and a regular member of the Dean’s Merit List along the way), MENSA membership and loads of energy make Debbie a perfect piece in the New Media Labs puzzle.  Seizing every opportunity to travel, horse ride and be in the great outdoors completes her fit into our holistic company culture.  Perhaps it’s the experiences gained from every corner of the globe (42 countries and counting) coupled with Debbie’s unbridled love for all that is South African that have combined to create a senior developer rearing to solve any new media challenge thrown her way.
Rogan FlittonRogan Flitton – Senior Developer
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Rogan is a young, energetic and enthusiastic software developer, with over 6 years experience – local and abroad.  Born and schooled in Johannesburg, it was in the summer of ‘86 that his eager little fingers touched a computer keyboard for the first time, spending many hours playing on the Spectravision SVI-728 MSX his father bought for Christmas.  This early fascination with technology later manifested itself into a B.Com Informatics degree from R.A.U.  After graduating, he joined Hollard Insurance as part of their graduate recruitment program and over the following 2 years was involved in various key projects.  He then decided to venture overseas, and spent 3 years working in London for Pickford’s Removals and part thereof in their Brussels division.  Deputy Head Boy at both primary school and high school, a keen cricketer, traveler, avid snowboarder, beginner surfer and part-time guitarist, it is Rogan’s all-round ability in life and his passion for technology and web2.0 that makes him a perfect fit for NML.
Yves BamaniYves Yava Bamani – Developer
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With a B.Sc Honours in IT, Yves is a very good addition to the New Media Labs team.  He loves creating things out of nothing but an idea, and has always thought of developers as little “gods”.  Yves has worked in many different IT fields - moving from hardware to software and from software to web design. He has been open to the idea of open source and considers himself a small king of open source development (from Java to PHP). His dedication to good work and effort to ensure that even the smallest details don’t get overlooked make Yves a great member of the New Media Labs team.  Yves also enjoys playing basketball and volleyball (Cape Town is really the best place for the latter) and captained his own basketball team in the Congo.
New Media Labs - Juniors
Andrei DimtriuAndrei Dimitriu – Junior Developer
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Andrei got his BSc CSIT Degree majoring in both Computer Science and Information Systems & Technology from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal.  Thus covering both the practical and theoretical aspects of both Computer Science and IT – making him a perfect addition to the NML team.  Andrei is a fast learner and loves computers and gaming.  He has also tried his hand at being an entrepreneur and sold PC’s, but grew bored with this and ultimately gave it up to become a developer.  If Andrei isn’t in front of his PC, you can find him either in the mountains on his mountain bike, or on the beach-front sipping Mojitos.  His dream is to work as a game lead designer and make important calls when it comes to today’s games.
Christian BamaniChristian Bamani – Junior Developer
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Christian is a young developer that taught himself programming and is currently completing his third, and final, year of his B.Sc in programming through Cambridge University’s correspondence course.  He worked as a graphic designer for a year and did a bit of web design with PHP and programming with Visual Basic for another year before joining the New Media Labs team, and he is now a Silverlight fanatic.  Christian is a very fast learner, hard worker and is very attentive to detail.  He is also a martial arts fanatic.
Ashraf VankerAshraf Vanker – Junior Developer
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Having worked for Bakers Transport for close to 5 years, Ashraf brings a strong background in retail to NML which is a great advantage when interfacing between the client and the market.  His duties there made him a jack of all trades as he headed the Creditors department, Fleet Management, Charity drives and occasional service in Operations.  He is currently completing his BSc Honours in Information Systems through CTI and Cambridge University.  Originally he studied Accounting but the Programming bug bit him and he has never looked back.  Ashraf has become an avid cyclist of recent and has tried his legs at the Cape Argus Cycle Tour for the first time in 2009.  His hobbies include barbeques, having fun with the mates and cricket… in any form – even if it’s following the scores online!!  His enthusiasm for life, team work and attention to detail make him an asset to NML and their partners.