Gil Oved (born 16 August 1975) is a South African entrepreneur who is the co-founder and co-CEO of

The Creative Counsel ''The Creative Counsel'' is a South African advertising agency founded in 2001 by school friends Gil Oved and Ran Neu-Ner. The company grew to become one of South Africa's largest advertising agencies (by staff and turnover), one of South Africa ...

, South Africa's largest

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

. He is a member of the global

Young Presidents' Organization YPO (formerly Young Presidents' Organization) is an American-based worldwide leadership community of chief executives with approximately 29,000 members in more than 130 countries, according to the organization's 2019 YPO international fact sheet. ...

where he is the

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

chapter chair as well as the Africa regional forum officer. He is one of the Dragons on the hugely popular television reality show

Dragons' Den ''Dragons' Den'' is a reality television program format in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment finance from them. The program originated in 2001 in Japan, where it is k ...

South Africa which premiered in the last quarter of 2014 on

DSTV Digital Satellite Television, commonly abbreviated to DStv, is a Sub-Saharan African direct broadcast satellite service owned by MultiChoice and based in Randburg, South Africa. Launched on 6 October 1995, the service provides multiple audio, ...

. In 2016 Oved was chosen as the first "Shark" on the new series of

Shark Tank ''Shark Tank'' is an American business reality television series that premiered on August 9, 2009, on ABC.Hibberd, James (May 10, 201'Dancing,' 'Bachelor,' and a bigger 'Shark Tank' returning to ABCInsider TV. Retrieved June 24, 2012 The show i ...

M-NET M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

Early life

Oved was born on 16 August 1975 in

, South Africa. He matriculated at Crawford College, Sandton, earned a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanmar, ...

degree (Cum Laude) at the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA), known colloquially as Unisa, is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, U ...

, and subsequently obtained the

Chartered Financial Analyst The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program is a postgraduate professional certification offered internationally by the American-based CFA Institute (formerly the Association for Investment Management and Research, or AIMR) to investment and fina ...

(CFA) qualification. As a teenager at the time of South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, Oved's imagination was fired by the country's new potential for transformation. He became an anchor presenter for the country's first multi-racial television teen magazine programme called Zap Mag. He was the anchor presenter from 1990 to 1995, along with a Vusi Twala. Twala and Oved became close friends and, after they matriculated, started a television production company in 1996 known as Jewazi (a combination of the words Jew and Swazi). The production company saw some successes over its approximate three years of existence and had programmes commissioned by the SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) most noteworthy SuperKidz, but never got the traction needed to create a sustainable business. Oved set his sights on the next goal. He teamed up with a friend from school, Ran Neu-Ner, to start an Internet trading company just as the dot.com bubble was expanding. The pair raised almost a million dollars and invested three years in developing their business called Wealthmaker but, when the dot.com bubble burst in the early 2000s, their investors went bankrupt, and they followed suit. Observing that Neu-Ner's girlfriend of the time, a student who was earning extra money as a promotional field worker, was earning considerably more than they were, Oved and Neu-Ner decided to set up a small low risk, low barrier-to-entry business placing promotional staff. Although initially a ‘stop-gap’ initiative, both men found that they enjoyed the process of helping clients think through campaigns and began to take very seriously the creative process and execution of brand building through promotions and activations. The company grew exponentially, through the acquisition of new clients as well as other businesses in the advertising and marketing sector attracting the attention of Publicis Groupe who bought the Company in September 2015. TCC operates under Publicis Africa Group. Oved remains group co-CEO together with Neu-Ner. The Creative Counsel has retained its name. Oved lives in the Johannesburg region.

Television

In 2014 Oved became one of the dragons in the first season of South Africa's

along with

Vinny Lingham Vinny Lingham (born Vinodan Lingham) is a South African-born American Internet entrepreneur who is the co-founder & CEO of Civic – an identity protection and management startup based in California. He was also previously the founder and CEO ...

Lebo Gunguluza Lebo or LEBO may refer to * Lebo, Kansas, a small town in Kansas, United States ** Lebo High School in Kansas ** Lebo-Waverly USD 243, a school district in Kansas * Lebo, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Lebo Formation, a geological form ...

, Vusi Thembekwayo and Polo Leteka Radebe. In 2015 was chosen as the first 'Shark' in the South African version of the

series by

MNET M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

. The Shark Tank series is sponsored in full by

Telkom South Africa Telkom SA SOC Limited is a South African wireline and wireless telecommunications provider, operating in more than 38 countries across the African continent. Telkom is majority state-owned (55.3%) with the South African government owning 40.5% ...

Awards

Oved's industry accolades include: * 2015 Finalist Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year: Southern Africa * 2015 Sanlam / Business Partners Entrepreneur of the Year® – Overall winner * 2014 CNBC All Africa Business Leader Awards (AABLA) Young Business Leader – Overall Africa * 2014 CNBC All Africa Business Leader Awards (AABLA) Young Business Leader – Southern Africa * 2014 AdReview ranks TCC largest marketing, media and advertising group in South Africa * 2014 Gil Oved named GQ Best Dressed Man 2014 * 2013 Absa Unlisted Company Award for business excellence and entrepreneurship * 2013 Destiny magazines Top 40 under 40 Men in South Africa.

References

External links

The Creative Counsel

Gil Oved at TEDxUFS, 2015

Getting to know Gil Oved
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oved, Gil South African businesspeople 1975 births Living people South African Jews White South African people South African chief executives South African company founders People from Johannesburg University of South Africa alumni CFA charterholders