About Fin24.com

Who we are:

Fin24.com is an online financial publication held in the Fin24 company, a subsidiary of Media 24. Its stablemates are Finweek, South Africa's widest-read weekly financial magazine; Miningmx, a mining investment website; and McGregor BFA, a business which provides data and aggregates content for a private client base.

Fin24.com is updated continuously and dedicated to providing original, high-quality financial information using multi-media, including articles and podcasts. Its content focus is JSE- and Altx-listed companies, markets and the South African economy.

But the publication also provides a personal finance section covering property and investments as well as a section for entrepreneurs (My Business) and those in need of personal finance assistance (Money Clinic).

Through its relationship with McGregor BFA, Fin24.com has an extensive data offering. Share prices and other information is provided free of charge, while more sophisticated products are offered in various packages tailored for different types of users.

Calculators where users can work out their personal budgets as well as bond and car repayments are offered free of charge. Our Compare and Buy section, developed in conjunction with ThinkMoney, allows users to make the best possible choice when selecting credit cards, current accounts and medical aids. This is also free of charge.

Fin24.com is also available on DStv and via your mobile phone from m.24.com.

What we do:

In 2008, Fin24.com embarked on a strategy of producing highly readable, original content with a strong focus on companies, markets and the economy.

It prides itself on the quality of its editorial team, among them the award-winning talents of Marc Hasenfuss, Greta Steyn, Shaun Harris, Brendan Ryan, David McKay and Sikonathi Mantshantsha. In addition, Fin24.com has attracted a new crop of journalists with special emphasis on multi-media. Their gifts will become apparent over time.

In addition to original content, Fin24.com has retained its supply of wire agency content which it aggregates in its breaking news section. This helps maintain its position as the country's most comprehensive supplier of financial information, while the growth of its original content is establishing it as an influential, agenda-setting financial publication.

Our readers:

Fin24.com is South Africa's most read online financial publication, with between 380 000 and 420 000 unique users per month and between 2.2 million and 2.6 million page impressions monthly.

Users interact with the publication's writers through extensive commentary on articles (please see guidance on posting comments on articles) and Fin24.com's blog platform, Finblog. This is hosted through 24.com which, like Media 24, is part of the Naspers group.

Users can subscribe to a weekday morning newsletter, AM Update, which is distributed to about 35 000 individuals daily.

Information gathered on our users will never be distributed to a third party. Fin24.com unconditionally respects the privacy of our community and any information obtained is used strictly for personalisation and can be viewed by our users at any time.

When posting comments on Fin24.com articles, users are advised to keep strict adherence to our disclaimer which states that while we encourage free speech and the expression of diverse views, derogatory, obscene and racist posts will be deleted.

Staff profiles

Marc Ashton

Financial services journalist

Marc joined Fin24.com in early 2008 to cover small business and entrepreneurship. In June of the same year he was asked to join the team full-time to cover financial services - and his editors went grey overnight.

Getting into trouble with the powers that be at industry regulators, banks or insurance companies has been a regular feature of Marc's reporting and Fin24.com is still trying to work out if that is a good thing or not.

Apart from being a financial journalist, Marc is a day trader and small business owner who loves sport and the stock market.

The jury is out on whether he will still be gainfully employed by the end of 2009 or his editors will have run for cover.

Vic de Klerk

Business correspondent

Vic de Klerk was very nearly a founder member of Finansies en Tegniek, a predecessor of Finweek, in 1979. Instead, he opted for a career in stockbroking as a partner and director of PLJ Securities, a member of the JSE. He was kicked out or resigned in 1999, a casualty of the 1998 emerging market slump.

Vic slowly drifted back into journalism and joined Finansies en Tegniek in 1999, 20 years after the original offer. He reports on anything, even how to lose money in the current bear market.

Vic despises small caps and instead prefers derivatives on big companies. He manages his golf handicap at 25.

Simon Dingle

ICT journalist

Simon Dingle compiles technology content for Finweek and covers the beat for Fin24.com when he isn't writing biographies about himself in the third person.

He also presents shows on Talk Radio 702 and uses his skills as a nerd to host and speak at functions and events.

Simon travels as much as possible, but prefers spending time with his two sons to just about anything else. Even circuitry.

Svetlana Doneva

Multi-media editor & industrial journalist

Svetlana Doneva joined Fin24.com in 2009 as a business reporter and multimedia editor. She has four years' experience in business journalism, having worked as a TV producer at business channels Summit TV and CNBC Africa.

She studied economics at Rhodes University, but abandoned all plans to work in banking to follow her dream of being a journalist. Her passion for reporting on the markets is followed by a close second - shopping.

Svetlana's five-year plan includes attending the Berkshire Hathaway AGM in Nebraska, and picking up pearls of investing wisdom from the great man himself.

Eugenie du Preez

Sub-editor

Eugenie du Preez holds a BA Hons degree. She has sub-edited a wide variety of publications, ranging from academic journals to technical research reports. After a stint as assistant features editor at The Citizen, she embarked on a career teaching English in central Europe.

Defeated by the Czech language, she returned to native shores with her two jet-setting Siamese cats. Eugenie joined Fin24.com in September 2008 as the site's dedicated sub-editor and is thankful every day for South African wine and sunshine.

Shaun Harris

KwaZulu-Natal correspondent

Shaun Harris has worked as a journalist for most of his life. He graduated with a BA in philosophy and English literature in 1979 (University of KwaZulu-Natal). He completed an honours degree in literature the following year, followed by a Higher Diploma in Education (also University of KwaZulu-Natal).

At this stage he was pretty much unemployable, save to stay in academics or become a journalist. Luckily, he chose the latter. First job was at the Mercury based in Durban, where after a year or so he became the labour reporter. This sparked his interest in business, sort of through the back door, which ultimately led to his current main job of investment writing.

After the Mercury he worked for the Sunday Times and Business Times (Durban bureau), then spent about eight years with the Financial Mail. After a few years of freelancing and writing for just about everybody, he joined Finweek in 2000. Along the way to becoming an investment writer he studied, but did not complete, various courses, including financial management at Damelin and the stockbroker's course then run by the Wits department of business economics.

He collected runner-up awards in the Sanlam Financial Journalist of the year competitions in 1974 and 1975.

Apart from writing about investment and personal finance, Shaun has long been penning fiction, though he realises he'll probably never get it together to have his great South African cult novel published.

Marc Hasenfuss

Cape correspondent

Marc Hasenfuss has worked as a financial journalist for two decades - including stints at Business Day, Business Report, the Cape Argus, the EP Herald and Financial Mail.

Sadly, his ambition to work for Rolling Stone was never realised, but some middle-age fulfilment has been achieved as the Kommetjie-based correspondent for Finweek and Fin24.com for the past six years.

Marc specialises in small cap companies and enjoys digging out controversial corporate matters. He holds Frank Zappa and Remgro in high esteem, and is determined to regain a single-figure golf handicap.

André Janse van Vuuren

Deputy Editor

André is a recent addition to the team, having joined Fin24.com in May 2009 after a four-year stint at the Afrikaans business daily Sake24.

He started his journalism career chasing cops and robbers around Johannesburg, but soon learned that financial journalism is where the real action is.

Being Aquarian by nature, André gets distracted easily. The only constant he knows is three women - wife Johani, baby Sarah, and Buttons the cat. He has an intense dislike of the smell of 'new money'.

Tony Koenderman Editor/co-publisher: Tony Koenderman's AdReview

Tony Koenderman is a leading commentator and analyst of the advertising and marketing industry, and has been writing about it for more than 20 years.

For most of that time he has been responsible for publishing annuals about advertising, in association with various publications.

At present, Tony's AdReview is published in association with Finweek. The launch of the publication, in conjunction with the Ad Agency of the Year Awards, is one of the highlights of the marketing calendar.

He also manages and organises an annual conference, Tony Koenderman's Advertising Brainstorm.

Tony's most recent book, Smoke and Mirrors, a global collection of quotes about advertising, was published last November.

He enjoys red wine and modern first-edition books, and avoids swimming whenever possible.

Bevan Lakay

Content editor

Based in Cape Town, Bevan Lakay has only ever lived and breathed Fin24.com during his journalistic career. Despite his aspirations to become a sports journalist of some repute, somewhere along the way sport took a back seat.

Bevan was thrown in at the deep end during his internship in 2006, taking over as Fin24.com's night editor after just three months. He has not looked back, and assumed the content editor position at the start of 2008.

Sikonathi Mantshantsha

Hotels, gaming, BEE journalist

Sikonathi Mantshantsha has been trying to embrace the simultaneous production of copy for both Finweek and Fin24.com since 2005, with varying degrees of success. He promises to do better.

Before that he spent some time masquerading as a researcher at Who's Who of Southern Africa. Both Brait Merchant Bank and UBS Investment Bank have had the pleasure of his presence in their respective trading rooms, the former from 1997 to May 2002 and the latter up to December 2003.

Sikonathi has appeared on Fin24.com's new podcasts and believes a career in broadcast journalism beckons.

Nolulamo Matutu

Retail journalist

Nolulamo Matutu completed a B Com degree majoring in economics and management, and proceeded to do a post-graduate diploma in economics journalism at Rhodes University.

At Rhodes, she tutored second-year management students and was involved in community service and other leadership positions.

Nolulamo has worked for Grocott's Mail, Cue Newspaper, SciCue and the Oppidan Press in Grahamstown.

David McKay

Executive editor, Fin24.com

David McKay started in journalism as a general reporter for the Cape Times in 1990. Since then, he has written for a number of publications including Business Day, the Mail & Guardian, Vrye Weekblad, Engineering News and Metal Bulletin. He has covered industry, arts, general news and business, especially mining. David was the founding editor of Mineweb, a property of Moneyweb Holdings, where he was executive director from April 2002 to May 2003.

Thereafter, he joined Finweek where he was a mining writer, founding Miningmx.com in 2004 in joint venture with Fin24. In January 2008 he was appointed executive editor of Fin24.com.

David has a BA Hons (Rhodes) and an MA (Wits). He has received a number of awards for poetry and has dabbled in theatre, both interest areas to which he is promising himself a return. In 2006, he was awarded best markets and companies coverage at the Sanlam Financial Journalism awards.

Jade Menezies

ICT journalist

After studying for four years at Rhodes University, Jade received her Bachelor of Journalism degree with distinction, specialising in television.

She has a keen interest bordering on obsession with sound engineering. She completed a course on sound technology and tutored the subject at Rhodes University.

Jade was also a music presenter and newsreader on Rhodes Music Radio. Her interest in economics developed during a seven-week intensive course on the subject.

Poloko Mofokeng

Advertising and marketing journalist

A love of writing and an ambition to be on the front line of wars and disasters attracted Poloko to journalism.

She studied at Midrand Graduate Institute, where she gained practical experience in producing news.

There was no option but to hit the ground running upon joining local paper Mooivaal Media, which provided all-round experience ranging from crime and politics to human interest.

The appeal of advertising and marketing always lingered and spurred a shift in focus towards this industry. After years of family and friends using her as reference whenever they did not understand new ads, Poloko decided it was time for a change.

Now, she combines her two passions for Finweek and AdReview.

James Monteiro

Non-mining resources journalist

James Monteiro claims to be descended from Portuguese royalty and says he turned down an offer to run the country due to prior engagements.

He has lived in Johannesburg all his life, but this huge fan of travelling has explored the United States, Portugal, Spain, France, Greece, the UK, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia, Egypt, Morocco and Mozambique.

He has attended (and is still attending) the University of Johannesburg and somehow made a profession of being a student there, though he has yet to be remunerated for this so-called occupation.

In his spare time he watches, plays, eats and sleeps football/soccer, and still awaits Liverpool's return to its winning ways.

Joan Muller

Property journalist

Joan Muller started her career as a general news and High Court reporter at Beeld newspaper in 1991. Two years later she discovered the highs and lows of playing the stock market and decided to move to the Sake Beeld desk, where she could hone her skills as an amateur stock-picker.

She has been Finweek's property editor for the past 13 years and also contributes to Fin24 and Property24. When she's not doing homework with her kids or rearranging furniture, you'll find her whipping up tasty Mexican fare and Margarita cocktails in the kitchen.

Nicole Rego

Construction & industrial journalist

Unlike Marc Hasenfuss, who has worked as a journalist for two decades, Nicole has only been one for little less than two years. Becoming a writer is a childhood ambition of hers, and Nicole believes she will write a novel that will break world records one day - watch out JK Rowling! However, since she's also an avid football player - and has been for the last decade - you might just see her playing for the national squad.

Before joining Fin24.com, Nicole worked at newswire I-Net Bridge cranking out JSE reports three times a day. She would come home, switch on DStv and go to the Fin24.com channel, only to find her story there as I-Net's JSE reports were placed on the site daily.

So, in a weird sort of way, she was already writing for Fin24.com even before being in its employ.

Brendan Ryan

Mining journalist

Brendan Ryan has been working as a financial journalist for longer than he cares to remember. He graduated from the University of Cape Town with an economics degree before working for Anglo American Corporation, becoming deputy financial editor of the former Rand Daily Mail in 1984.

He has been a freelance mining journalist for various South African and foreign publications since 1987. Brendan works primarily to fund his main hobbies of bird-watching and ecotourism.

Ines Schumacher

Mining journalist

Ines Schumacher is a new media graduate from Rhodes University. Her skills include video, podcasts, graphic design, web design and the most obvious one: writing.

Ines co-founded a student newspaper at university which she says she has let go, but still secretly obsesses about. Driving like Michael Schumacher gives her superhero power.

Allan Seccombe

Editor, Miningmx

Allan Seccombe has been a journalist since 1995, starting at Reuters after studying journalism at Natal Technikon.

His later years with the newswire were spent exclusively covering commodities, with mining being his passion. He worked as the resources editor at ThisDay newspaper before serving as acting business editor for the Sowetan and the Daily Dispatch.

Allan joined Miningmx in October 2005.

Greta Steyn

Economics journalist

Greta Steyn started off studying literature but turned to economics. She has an M Phil (Economics) from Cambridge University, after having won the Old Mutual scholarship for study at that place of learning.

She has more than 20 years' experience in journalism, most of it writing about the South African economy and economic policy. Greta took a short breather from journalism to spend nine months working in the office of Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni.

Helena Wasserman

Night editor

Helena Wasserman started working as a reporter in 1996. She has reported on a number of different business beats for a range of newspapers and magazines as well as online.

Helena wrote a weekly personal finance column for Huisgenoot/YOU magazine and was business editor of Die Burger newspaper before joining Fin24.com as night editor.

Helena has an M Phil in journalism from Stellenbosch and a sad addiction to CNBC.

- Fin24.com