Work experiences from then on:                    

1) River palace leisure industries

Positions held                     1990                    Trainee on tables and in cash desk

1992                                                        Pit boss

1993                                                        Trainee Manager Port Elizabeth branch.

1994                                                        Trouble shooting and streamlining of new operations. New Staff training across all new operations in South Africa within River Palace leisure industries.

1995                                                        Responsible for all staff training in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

1996                                                        Appointed assistant manager in January for the operation in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. In Aril 1996 we as South African residence were given notice to leave the country due to political issues. All five of us returned within 48 hours of receiving our notices.

2) Statsure

In June 1996 I joined Statsure as a Claims consultant with the intention to be trained and moved into risk assessment on the building side of the insurance industry.

With the potential career advancement I also joined Damelin in 1996 and obtained a one year Business Management Diploma.

I went on to enroll for a second year towards a Master in Business Administration Diploma underwritten by Oxford Brookes University. I opted for the course with Financial Management as the major.

After completing this I enrolled for the third year section of the course. I however failed two subjects and after rewriting it unsuccessfully, I stop my studies.

By 1999 it was clear that Statsure was in trouble and by February 2001 Statsure was no more.

In March 2001 I started trading under my own name, doing anything I could within the maintenance of property market and in March 2002 my small business was officially trading at capacity.

I tended to everything, management, training, finances and marketing. Over and above that I was also the foreman and “laborer” when required by the circumstances.

We handled anything within this environment and even designed and build specialized purpose made units for the individual or small businesses. We build up a reputation for getting work done that other small business could not or would not do. And our quality, ethics and punctuality was what sold our work time and time again.

By October 2011 the world economy was clearly on a down spiral and this had a negative knock on effect on business and slowly the strain of this started to show its massive impact. The long working hours and the lackluster economy made me look at other options.

Instead of sitting waiting for the wheel to turn, I decided to change careers for a third and final time and pursue a teenage dream of teaching.

By the end of 2012 I started the changes and effectively started winding down my work.

In January 2013 I contacted the South African Institute of Management with the idea in mind of finishing the Masters in Business Administration that I started some years ago. By July 2013 they accepted my enrollment and I wrote and passed my first new subject in October 2012.I have two subjects left to do, one rewrite in May and a thesis that I need to write in order to obtain this advanced diploma. This I intend completing by the June exams’ of 2015.

The down side to the whole delay is that the MBA will be downgraded to a Masters in Management Diploma and unfortunately will no longer be underwritten by Oxford Brookes university. The plus side is that I will have twenty one credits as suppose to eighteen credits for my Diploma once I am done. A major plus is that the last subjects are based on distant learning and thus I am able to complete this from anywhere in the world. And the biggest plus is that the SAIM’s qualifications are acknowledge across the globe.

I enrolled in November 2013 for the 120 hour TEFL course at the Bay Language institute. I started the course in early December 2013 and passed in the middle of January 2014. So now I am a qualified second language English teacher with a bit of teaching experience and a whole lot of  excitement to get put there to get experience and proof myself.

By the end of February 2014 my business will officially be closed down and I look forward to start the new and last phase of my working career as a TEFL (teach English as second language) teacher.

In the ideal world I would like to work with young adults as my past training was with young adults. However, as I need experience I will consider most reasonable honest and legal options.

Other interest and achievements within my life is a follows.

Sporting activities and achievements.

I played Rugby and cricket as a schoolboy and did inter-house athletics.

I did cross country running from an early age and this was the foundation for many years of other sporting activities.

I took part in amateur wrestling for thirteen years and achieved provincial colors.

I took part in road running, mountain biking and triathlons with varying degrees of success. I ran the Two Oceans 56 kilometer ultra marathon twice and did numerous other races over twenty something years of running and cycling. I have done a number of adventure races and my mental toughness was always what got me through these very tough endurance events.

I did Skydiving as a sport and also did a few bungee jumps in my life.

I was very active within environmental activities and love anything to do with the outdoors. Camping and hiking and general outdoor activities are my idea of relaxing.

I also did enduro motorcycle racing for two years but had limited success with this.

On a more academically field, I am an avid reader of mostly informative literature. Science books, advancement in the engineering fields, adventure seekers reflections on their experiences and biographies. I do not spend too much time reading “story books” as I find that learning while I read stimulates me far more that the average thriller or love story.

On a social basis I was a member of quite a few sporting clubs over the years.

The last one was Body Concept road runners in Port Elizabeth.

I belonged to Free fall factory Skydivers and Graham’s town Parachuting club.

I was briefly a member of the PE & ST. Georges club and a member of the Tapas 100 club.

I generally have a varied and a wide range of interests and constantly familiarize myself with what is new. I have to admit that I do not enjoy computer technology as I find that I just can keep up with the speed in advancements.

As my testimonials will attest, I am no slouch. Not just within a sporting environment but also in a working environment. I love and need new challenges all the time. I need to be stimulated continuously to keep me interested. From a teaching point the different personalities and their different approaches to learning will provide that stimulation to some degree. I have experienced quite a bit of this in the training of people and I assume that the challenges in teaching must be of a very similar nature.

I would like to think that I am a well rounded compassionate and caring individual and as suck will be a positive addition to a classroom environment.