AFRICA STREAMCON SPEAKERS
Glenn "Dreamer IX" Kisella
Owner & CEO, NIBBLE Esports; Gamer, Digital Creator
Glenn is owner & CEO at NIBBLE Esports, a gaming lifestyle brand that plays in many spaces. He is also Designer & Art Director at The Plug Magazine. Glenn is a video game and technology enthusiast who is a recognised thought leader on topics and issues within the gaming industry, which have been published in leading gaming publications.
Ruth "Ruthy0nfire" Burns
President, NIBBLE Esports; Gaming Personality, Digital Creator
Ruth “Ruthy0nfire” Burns is a neurodivergent copywriter, content creator and President of NIBBLE Esports. Ruth is dedicated to the art of communication and storytelling. When they’re not sassing Grammarly, you can find them geeking out over the newest Xbox Game Pass addition.
Sean "Snare" Rihlamvu
SportsCaster, Host, Gaming Personality, Digital Creator
Sean “Snare” Rihlamvu is a die-hard gamer who has immersed himself in all things esports. Whether it be writing, casting, analyzing or hosting; he brings his infectious passion to everything he does.
Snare was a semi-professional DotA player that moved to Dota2 in 2013. Since his retirement from professional gaming in 2016, he has been conducting community casting on his stream, focusing on the South African and Chinese Dota 2 scenes.
TheJessHinds
Content Creator, Gaming Personality, Streamer, Presenter
Jess is a content creator focussed on gaming and streaming tech as well as a Twitch affiliate streamer. She has been twice-nominated in two categories for the GameHers Awards 2021-2022 (Top Twitch Streamer of the Year & Rising Star: Streamer) as well as hosted the Girl Gamer Festival in Cape Town. Jess also presents gaming and media news on Expresso Morning Show with a niche focus on parenting and family-friendly content.
GrantHinds
Gaming Personality, YouTuber, Gamer, Co-Founder, Bettr.App
Grant Hinds, is a renowned South African YouTuber, gaming and tech guru whose channel focuses on gaming. When not playing games, he splits his time between being a YouTube Marketer and a video games and tech contributor for various South African television shows and print magazines such as Expresso Morning Show, Tech Report and GQ Magazine. Hinds also frequents many of the nerd culture events such as Playtopia, Fancon, and rAge Expo.
Sylvia 'QueenArrow' Gathoni
Pro Esports Athlete, Content Creator, Gaming Personality, Post-Grad Law Student
QueenArrow is a Kenyan esports athlete and content creator. She began her competitive career in 2017 specialising in fighting games, primarily in the Tekken series. In 2018, she became the first woman in East Africa to be signed by a professional esports team when she joined American organisation XiT Gaming and in 2021 she was signed to UYU. In 2022 she was named in the Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 class, and in October of the same year was unveiled as Kenya’s very first Red Bull athlete of any discipline. All this, and she is a post-grad law student.
Nicholasvanj
Gaming Personality, Digital Creator
Zimbabwean/South-African Gamer, Twitch Affiliate, Actor, LGBTQIA, D&D lover, Geek-lore specialist and Social Justice Wizard. Creative Director, Writer, brand consultant and content creator with a background in gaming media and digital entertainment. Skilled in writing, storytelling and performing arts for voice acting and television.
Bachelor of Arts (BFA) focused in Cinema from AFDA Film Academy, and currently securing an RPA Drone license through UAV Industries. Experienced in digital community management, development, and diversity mediation.
Naledi “AndrovaZA” Matutoane
Gaming Personality, Variety Streamer, Content Creator
By day Naledi is a full-stack software engineer, but after hours (mostly at night and over the weekends), she becomes AndrovaZA, a variety streamer and content creator. She started streaming to be a diverse addition to the South African streaming and gaming scenes and to give visibility to those like herself who share the same passions and interests.
RustyPieLover
RustyPieLover is a a South African Ginger Streamer, Professional High Pitched Screamer And Entertainer Extraordinaire! Born ginger and ready to entertain to the absolute max.
RushkaGG
Gaming Content Creator, Live Streamer
Rushka is a gaming content creator and live streamer from Cape Town, who proudly hosted South Africa’s first femme only gaming invitational.
Candi_Rocket
Gaming Personality, Digital Creator, Streamer
Variety gamer, animated streamer, creative fanatic and lover of animals! Candi_Rocket rocks most games with a love of FPS, RPGs, puzzles and jump scare horrors.
_PandaTi_
Tiana, better known as PandaTi in the gaming space is a content creator for NiBBLE Africa, playing a variety of games. She is a self-proclaimed pro-gamer, who has very little skill, but a very loud laugh.
Vanessa “Psych_Vee” Barnes
Vee is a registered Psychologist in private practice in Johannesburg. She has a special interest in trauma, anxiety and gaming. She is a twitch affiliate streaming cozy games and promoting mental health awareness in the gaming and streaming community. Vee is internationally registered in a number of therapeutic modalities and the youngest person to chair the biggest representative body of educational psychologists in South Africa.
Khalipha Ntloko
Blogger, Photographer
Khalipha Ntloko is a Cape Town-based blogger and photographer who motivates others to accept their unique selves and live their best and most fulfilling life. Authenticity is at the heart of what Khalipha does and this blog will have plenty of that, so take off your shoes for a second, grab a glass of wine, and learn a thing or two from this 20-something wonder woman who is inspiring real life.
Sakhile Tembe
Content Specialist
Sakhile is a content specialist at Founders Factory Africa, where he contributes to internal and external communication and social media campaigns. He researches stakeholder trends and develops digital assets, content and strategies for a variety of FFA’s marketing content pillars. His specialties include digital media, consumer behavior, brand awareness, and omni-channel marketing campaigns.
Bobby Brown
Bobby Brown has been a media professional all his life, having worked on all traditional and emerging platforms over the years, at one stage, in all of them simultaneously.
He joined Smile 90.4FM ahead of its launch in 2013, the same year in which he won the MTN Radio Award for “Best News Bulletin Reader” – the one and only time he ever entered a media competition. Bobby currently co-presents Smile Breakfast, with Lindy Lehto, weekdays from 6am to 9am. In addition to presenting, Bobby loves to DJ at parties and events, writes a weekly social commentary page deconstructing current affairs topics in the Daily Voice and is a highly regarded corporate MC and events strategist.
His career started with the Sunday Times and then The Star newspapers in 1992. At the same time, he had his first taste of radio, co-hosting the weekend breakfast show opposite the legendary Will Bernard on SAfm. After joining the pioneering Talk Radio 702, television came beckoning. Over the years, Bobby has found himself doing short stints on MNet’s glossy magazine show “Front Row,” presenting several inserts on eTV, co-presenting South Africa’s segment in the global millennium broadcast and eventually joining the stellar cast of SABC2’s ground-breaking breakfast show AM2Day. Bobby’s most memorable assignment for AM2Day was as field reporter travelling from the northern-most tip of Africa, to the southern-most tip in 4X4s, broadcasting live from a different country every other day. In between, he worked in various capacities at Kfm, Cape Talk and freelanced for The Cape Times and several international media houses.
Barry “Anthrax” Louzada
MD & Founder, South African Esports Godfather
With 30 years experience in esports and gaming ranging from competing to managing and now running the leading esports production house and tournament organization in South Africa, Barry lives, eats and breathes esports and gaming.
Mitsuo Hirakawa
Twitch
Director of Business Development, Gaming Partnership
Mitsuo manages Twitch’s business development efforts for gaming partnerships across EMEA. He is responsible for bringing great gaming content to Twitch through strategic partnerships with developers and publishers.
Since 2001, he has worked both as a developer (EA, Criterion Games, Bizarre Creations), as well as a publisher (Sony, The Irregular Corporation) and continues to love working in the games industry.
Sidick Bakayoko
Paradise Games
Founder, CEO
Location: Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
Sidick is the Founder and CEO of Paradise Game, an Ivorian company that intends to Entertain, Educate and Empower young Africans.
He is a professional with more than 15 years of experience in the areas of marketing and product development of technology solutions. Earlier in his career, He led the sales and marketing efforts of mobile value added service provider DIGITAL AFRIQUE TELECOM (DAT) in 27 African countries, delivering several challenging multimillion-dollar projects from start to finish. He holds an Electronics and Computer Engineering Degree from the New York Institute of Technology and participated in the Stanford University SEED program.)
Kunmi "Spektakula" Adenipebi
Location: Nigeria
Kunmi is a rich mix of sports development and business management with a dynamic experience in sports business oversight, hands-on business operations, and driving excellent project management. Being an ardent lover of games, he identified the need for an Esports eco system and founded a tournament hosting organisation; Naija Game Evolution (NGE) to launch esports in Nigeria in 2007, where he was able to build a strong and well experienced team which aided the creation of the largest gaming community in Nigeria.
In 2021, Kunmi co-founded West Africa’s biggest Esports platform; Gamr, where he primarily functions as the Chief Operations Officer. In Gamr, Kunmi drives as well as executes technical operations inclusive of tournament organisation, driving strategic partnerships and cross-functional leadership. A major milestone for Kunmi in gamr was collaborating with teams and notable brands to organise the biggest Esports event in Nigeria, the first of its kind; Gamr X. Kunmi has been a major participant in driving esports in Nigeria. He has been able to collaborate and work with the Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA), and the Ministry of Youths and Sports to promote Esports and design the framework for sustainable Esports development in Nigeria.
Brad Kirby
Location: Mauritius
Brad has thrived through every generation of console and PC gaming to today’s mobile gaming and esports related industries and technologies. He has played on consoles since the Atari 5200 back in 1982 and has built and overclocked more gaming machines than he can think up the specs for.
His experience in the development, streamlining and implementation of multiple skill-based gaming strategies and implementation plans for MWEB, Media24 and Kwese includes fundamentally influencing gaming strategy and direction for media titans Naspers, Multichoice and Econet Media.
Brad has built and managed some of the highest ranked websites in Southern Africa, including various social media, broadcast and streaming platforms and multiple gaming related hubs. He has managed, influenced and successfully driven multiple skilled teams towards common objectives including creative design, animation, agile development, editorial, networking, marketing and product teams.
Brad is a pioneer in African gaming; deploying, hosting and managing the continents first online dedicated gaming servers. He is also credited with conceptualizing and implementing Africa’s first online ,as well as Africa’s largest, esports leagues and tournaments.
Regular keynote speaker and guest panelist at prestigious conferences and summits specializing in esports, gaming, media and technology.
Selorm Sikanku
Location: Ghana
Selorm has been working in marketing and advertising for the last 10 years. This has seen him create and execute integrated campaigns across traditional media as well as develop digital content and strategy.
Now with Esports Africa News, his goal is to amplify the work of streamers, gamers and all industry players to grow the Esport community in Africa. Esports Africa News looks to promote gaming, esports and related tech by building a network of partners, curating content and showcasing talent to a wide audience.
Gill "Gillstrawberry" Attwood
I am a Celebrity Sponsorship Manager, Personal Brand Coach, and I own a Creative Media and Marketing Agency. I get childishly excited about creative and conceptual content strategies, and I love shiny people. I am a founding member of the iAB SA Influencer Marketing Committee with the intention of creating best practices for the industry that takes both the brand and personality into account.
With more than 20 years of experience in the creative, media and influencer marketing landscape, I have a mixed talent, media owner and brand background, making me uniquely positioned to share my knowledge and experience from all these perspectives. I continue to work with some of South Africa’s biggest celebrities in the media and broadcasting space on their sponsorship management and personal brand development.
Gillstrawberry Influencer School is an online course that instructs established and emerging influencers and talent on how to build their personal brands and run their social media business, most importantly, how to work with brands following best practices outlined by the iAB SA Influencer Marketing Committee.