Marlon Parker

QUALIFICATIONS: Masters: Information Technology (CPUT) | BTech: Information Technology (CPUT) | Organizational Leadership (Oxford, Executive Education) | Business Leadership (Yale, Executive Education)

AREAS OF EXPERTISE: Business, Business Strategy, Impact Investment, Information Systems & Technology, Innovation, Entrepreneurial Thinking, Entrepreneurial development in African emerging markets, Entrepreneurship education, Entrepreneurship, Social entrepreneurship, Social innovation

Marlon Parker has a passion for technology and innovation that has influenced his work and led to being the founder of the Reconstructed Living Lab (RLabs). RLabs is a global movement that have inspired replication of the model in 23 countries and impacted more than 10 Million people since its inception. He has been listed as one of the 100 World Class South Africans, an alumni of President Obama’s Young African Leaders initiative and a honorary faculty member of the International School of Digital Transformation. He was also selected as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Dangote Fellow and an Ashoka Fellow for his work in Social Entrepreneurship. He was the co-founder of JamiiX that was the backbone to one of the largest mobile chat counseling networks in the world with more than 4.5 million people being reached since its inception. He was the Lead SA Hero of 2015 and was listed by Quartz as one of the African Innovators of 2017. Marlon has done extensive work with organisations such as Mozilla, BBC, Facebook, Finnish Foreign Ministry, UNWomen, Naspers, WeChat, World Bank and Accenture.

EXPERIENCE

Founder November 2009 - Present Responsible for the global expansion of RLabs and strategic growth opportunities.

Board Trustee at Reach Trust July 2013 - Present Reach Trust is centered around using innovative technologies to create free mobile educational, health care, agricultural and community applications. The Reach Trust is committed to broad-based education and community upliftment.

Co-Founder January 2017 - July 2018 (1 year 7 months) Okazi is a B2B marketplace that allows businesses to outsource existing or under-utilized staff and increase revenue. With Okazi, businesses can access additional capacity on demand, increase revenue and save on HR costs.

Partner October 2012 - November 2014 (2 years 2 months) The Kukua Fund has been established by RLabs and Bertha Foundation to discover and invest in Africa’s high potential internet and mobile start-ups driving social change. The fund will provide micro investments to startups of up to US$25,000,human capital and mentorship, access to networks as well as business development.

Head: Mxit Reach at MXit April 2012 - July 2013 (1 year 4 months) Strategy, New Partnership, Innovation

Co-Founder July 2010 - March 2013 (2 years 9 months) Co-Founder and CEO of Cloud-based contact center platform JamiiX.

Social Entrepreneur/ Researcher at Cape Peninsula University of Technology January 2008 - August 2011 (3 years 8 months) PhD work titled "Technology to empower a Community in Tension(CiT)."

Lecturer at Cape Peninsula University of Technology September 2000 - August 2011 (11 years) Lecturing Software and Web Development

CEO January 2009 - December 2009 (1 year) Founder

Business Intelligence Consultant July 1999 - December 2000 (1 year 6 months) IT Consultant

EDUCATION

Saïd Business School, University of Oxford Executive Education, Organizational Leadership, 2017 - 2017 Activities and Societies: Pembroke College Oxford

Gordon Institute of Business Science Executive Education, Business/Commerce, General, 2017 - 2018

Yale University Executive Education, Business/Commerce, General, 2014 - 2014

Cape Peninsula University of Technology Masters, Information Technology, 2005 - 2007

Cape Peninsula University of Technology BTech Degree, Information Technology, 2001 - 2002

Cape Peninsula University of Technology National Diploma, Information Technology, 1998 - 2000

PUBLICATIONS

Walls, E., Parker, M. et. al (2016) “What is success in ICT4D? A grounded theory on RLabs, Cape Town, South Africa. Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. (In review)

Parker, M., Wills, J. and Wills, G. (2012) RLABS: A SOUTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE ON A COMMUNITY-DRIVEN APPROACH TO COMMUNITY INFORMATICS. Journal of Community Informatics . ISSN 1712-4441 (In Press)

Smith, S., Parker, M and Hendricks, T. (2010) “The use of mobile technologies to address the unemployment in the Western Cape”. 12th Annual Conference on WWW Applications (WWW2010)., Durban, RSA

Parker, M., Wills, J. and Wills, G. (2010) Reconstructed Living Lab: Supporting drug users and families through co-operative counselling using mobile phone technology. South African Journal of Family Practice, 52 (3). pp. 254-258. ISSN 1726-426X

Parker, M. and Wills, G. (2009) Improving the knowledge exchange landscape in the Cape Flats, a developing community in South Africa. South African Journal of Information Management, 11 (3). ISSN 1560-683X

W Nitsckie, M Parker (2009). “Mobile instant messaging: ’Help at the fingertips of addicts’” 11th Annual Conference on WWW Applications (WWW2009)., Port Elizabeth, RSA

M Cilliers, M Parker (2008). “The social impact of mobile phones on teenagers” 10th Annual Conference on WWW Applications (WWW2008)., Cape Town, RSA

Dourando, D, Parker, MB, De la Harpe, R (2007). An investigation into the usage of mobile instant messaging in tertiary education.

The 9th Annual Conference on World Wide Web Applications, Johannesburg, RSA

Boulain, PR, Parker, MB, Millard, DE, Wills, G (2006). Weerkat: An extensible semantic Wiki. The 8th Annual Conference on World Wide Web Applications, Bloemfontein, RSA.

Parker, MB. (2004). A generic business intelligence data model to analyse data within a small to medium medical practice (SMMP). Conference Paper. South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists (SAICSIT), October 2004. Stellenbosch, South Africa: 111-114.

Parker, MB. (2003)Technology-enhanced e-Learning: Perceptions of First Year Information Systems Students at the Cape Technikon. South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists (SAICSIT): IT Research in Developing Countries. Johannesburg, South Africa, Sep 2003, pp 316 – 319.

Parker, MB. (2002). Concerns and issues of learners using technology-enhanced e-learning. South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists (SAICSIT): Enablement Through Technology. Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Sep 2002. (cd-rom).

Parker, MB (2002). Three pillars of technology-enhanced e-learning. 4th Annual Conference on WWW Applications (WWW2002). Bellville, South Africa, Sep 2002. (cd-rom).

AWARDS

Quartz Top African Innovators (2017)

National Lead SA Hero (2015)

City Press 100 World Class South Africans (2013,2014)

World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (2014)

Ashoka Fellow (2014)

Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (2012)