WILLIE VAN STRAATEN
Willie van Straaten (Hons-B.Econ; M.Com) is an inventor and entrepreneur and the founder and former CEO of Verimark Holdings (Pty) Ltd. He pioneered Direct Response TV in South Africa and grew his company to become the largest of its kind in this industry.
After selling Verimark, now a publicly traded company, he started Inventec - a company that specialises in the invention, product development and international commercialisation of unique and innovative products. He has invented, developed and commercialised several hundred products for both the local and international markets.
Willie has a wide portfolio of intellectual property spanning more than 100 patents and designs. His inventions are sold in more than 80 countries around the world and are frequently seen on television and in retail stores. Many of these have received local SABS Design, Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) and international awards with some have reached the top selling positions in the US, Europe, Japan and elsewhere.
As a guest lecturer, Willie has presented at universities across South Africa on the topics of creativity, invention, innovation, business model design and commercialisation. He is a regular keynote presenter and facilitator at events such as the SABS Design Institute’s Idea to Profit seminars, TIA Youth Innovation Workshops, SA Innovation Summit, Popular Mechanics Innovation Conference and the International Conference on Additive Technologies (ICAT -in Vienna).
Willie regularly appears as a guest speaker and is interviewed on TV and radio programs to discuss entrepreneurship, innovation and commercialization matters.
ANDREA VAN STRAATEN
Andrea van Straaten (B.Bus.Sc (Hons)(UCT). Mgmt Studies (Harvard)) is an entrepreneur, inventor and partner in the company Inventec.
Andrea manages the company's new product development projects including the interface and technology transfer between inventors, product developers and marketers. In this regard, she interacts with product development facilities, manufacturers and marketers to facilitate commercialization activities.
She conducts product feasibility studies, competitor analyses and deals with intellectual property matters. She consults on a regular basis with patent attorneys, conducts patent analysis, performs prior art searches, formulates patent strategies and writes provisional patent applications.
Andrea has invented a number of products that have been licensed and marketed internationally. She played an instrumental role in the formulation of Inventec's new product evaluation model designed to identify new products with commercialization potential. In this regard, she conducts commercial and intellectual property searches to identify 3rd party products that can be channeled through Inventec's commercialization system.
Inventec runs some of the largest innovation programs in the county for institutions such as the SABS Design Institute, Department of Science & Technology (DST), the national public entity Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) and South African Breweries (SAB). For these projects, Andrea draws up master projects plans, manages implementation thereof, controls program progress and presents program outcomes to stakeholders.
Within the training arena, Andrea designs training programs, presents at workshops and seminars and acts as a consultant to participants.