A New World of Understanding

“With modernday technology advancing, we will be able to communicate and interpret conversations from languages we do not understand. This will bridge the divide of racism and ignorance that has divided us for thousands of years. The possibilities will be endless. A new world of understanding will arise.”

These are the words of Conrad Travis David, Founder of Hashtag South Africa. This local tycoon took the world of social media by storm and it’s time to get to know him a little better.

The social-media revolution arguably started in 1997 with the invention of Six Degrees, the first social-media site (as we understand the concept today). For most people, however, the invention of Facebook was a turning point in the history of how society works, and how businesses exist within in it. The use of social media as a business tool has really gone into overdrive in the last 10 years, and Hashtag South Africa is at the forefront of that local revolution.

Hashtag South Africa, a digital media and technology company, offers services in everything from social-media management to digital content and media strategy. The company’s mission statement declares that its aim is “to showcase Hashtag South Africa across the world in a respectable and welcoming manner with the resources of social media and other digital-related services whereby we promote goods and services to local and international markets”. Hashtag South Africa aligns itself with the National Development Plan of 2030, which identifies problems and issues in all facets of South African society, politics, economics, and more.

David is committed to highlighting the growing importance of digital media in business practices in both the local and international markets. In 2016, David was recognised as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Young South Africans in the area of Science and Technology – an impressive feat for the 31-year-old. He was born in Durban, matriculated, and then attended the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, where he studied Marketing and Advertising. In 2012 he founded Hashtag South Africa with a single R100 loan from his mother. Now, six years later, he is widely regarded as the “go-to” person in the world of social and digital media. He maintains that his aim is still “to work on changing the sentiment of digital South Africa by providing knowledgeable content that sparks action, rather than those that use these digital systems to manipulate in order to push persona or political agendas”.

David came up with the idea for Hashtag South Africa during break time at school one afternoon. He realised that few companies were looking beyond the sales of their products or services to the good that they could do in South Africa. He went on to explain that he identified a gap in the market: “There was not something that focused on the entire digital grid as a collective. I drew a hashtag on a wooden spoon, then added the words South Africa to it. And then the idea started to form. Why limit myself to just marketing a specific product or service that resulted in pure consumerism, where in turn I can focus my efforts to educate a nation, and assist with boosting the global understanding of our country to also empower entrepreneurs and established businesses to maximise on the opportunities that lay on this Fourth Industrial Revolution?”

David’s interest in computer technology started in 1992, with his understanding of social media developing shortly after it became a global focus. “Right now, the bulk of digital communication is on social media. We are all gathering together, and not just conversing – [we are] learning, trading.”when I started Hashtag South Africa, my intention was never to be marked as a digital-media company, it was merely to rally and get the basic institutions active so that people can be aware of what’s available to them. And now that the digital grid is more established in South Africa, it’s time to focus my energies on connected planet projects, either way the journey to 2030 is quite exciting”.

For more information on Hashtag South Africa, visit www.hashtagsa.com.