Gary Smith

Background

About Gary Smith

I am a goal-oriented business leader and creative problem solver with an entrepreneurial spirit and growth mindset. I have over 20 years’ experience as an entrepreneur and more than 10 years as an entrepreneurship support practitioner. I have worked with businesses large and small, across many industries and sectors, and I have supported hundreds of business owners at various stages of their journey from starting, scaling, and selling their businesses. I have studied business management and entrepreneurship extensively, with an MBA, and a Doctor of Business Leadership, through which I developed an Entrepreneurship Propensity Index (EPI). The EPI is an entrepreneurship assessment tool used in recruiting high propensity participants for business incubation, skills development, coaching and mentoring, and enterprise and supplier development programmes. Aside from my career achievements, I am an adventurer at heart – having climbed Kilimanjaro, jumped out of planes, bungied off bridges, walked with lions, swam with sharks.and dolphins. My personal philosophy is to live life to the fullest and never regret the things I could have done. I am eager to connect with corporate decision-makers to foster collaboration in addressing unemployment through innovative entrepreneurship development (training, coaching and support) initiatives in South Africa.