Jason Probert heads up Vodacom’s Mobile Advertising division. He is one of the pioneers of digital media in South Africa, with 17 years’ experience at telcos, ISPs, media companies and startups behind him.

He was at South Africa’s first digital agency, Electric Ocean, when they won Loeries for websites – before there was even a digital category. He started mweb.co.za, South Africa’s first web portal as well as supersport.com, South Africa’s most popular sports site. He was at a startup in London for the dotcom boom of the early 21st century and for the last few years he has been the driving force behind M-Net and DSTV’s digital initiatives, taking TV shows like Idols, Big Brother and Survivor onto the WWW and mobile phones, launching video-on-demand and interactive television channels like VUZU.

He believes that the time has come for mobile to take center stage in the media space and plans to ensure Vodacom leads the way into this brave new world.