Our Story
While standing on the sidelines watching their sons lock together for the U/14 rugby team Craig and Derek’s conversation turned to talking about business. As they were both involved with SMEs their interests were closely aligned and they were facing similar challenges.
Instead of bemoaning the state of the SME environment they resolved to try and do something positive and within a month, they had formed a partnership with the objective of providing solutions to SMEs. Five years later with a number initiatives implemented they are still pursuing this objective.
With Craig’s experience of having been in a sales environment for many years and Derek’s experience of being a chartered accountant and being involved with computers before Windows was released, they have a wealth of experience and knowledge.
This experience and knowledge is applied across Bizlink’s initiatives which are all ultimately premised on a single objective, “will this assist a business in identifying their next customer”.
Our Founders
Craig Shelley
Co-founder and CEOCraig was involved in the yachting industry for about 10 years where he was able to travel the world extensively, having twice circumnavigated the globe. This was then followed by 20 years in the financial services industry where he was consistently one of Momentum’s top advisors, eventually starting his own financial brokerage.
During this time Craig was drawn towards the digital marketing aspects of the business and was the first person in South Africa to launch a free online budget planner which become an effective lead generation tool.
A few years ago Craig took the decision to follow his real passion and sold his financial services business to focus on the development of the digital platform Bizlink.link and to assist SMEs with the marketing and promotion of their services.
Craig is also an avid motorsports fan, having raced on the local circuit for several years. He has been married for 22 years and has 2 children.
Derek Pettitt
Co-founder and COOHaving majored in Computer science and accounting, Derek followed the accounting route becoming an CA (SA) with Deloitte before joining Dimension Data when it was a relatively small company. Being responsible for the implementation of all financial and technology systems within the Group was a huge challenge in the very rapidly expanding company. Derek was then asked to be Financial Director of Datakor (a fellow subsidiary company of Dimension Data) which culminated in him effecting a management buy-out that launched his career as an entrepreneur.
Derek started several companies across a range of industries and with several partners. One company, Umlimi Holdings which was involved in agriculture, achieved a turnover of in excess of R1 billion within 5 years of incorporation. Other industries Derek has been involved with include IT, software, office automation, wildlife, hospitality and manufacturing.
Derek has been married for 27 years and has 4 children. He is a passionate supporter of most sports especially red teams (Manchester United and Lions).
What we do
Bizlink seeks to assist businesses improve their operational performance by providing a comprehensive range of marketing and business solutions.
This approach also allows Bizlink to have a comprehensive engagement with its customers and ensure that it becomes an integral part of their operations.
The company has invested significantly in developing its own solutions which gives it a competitive advantage in the marketplace as no other enterprise is able to match its unique range of services.
Our Eco-system
Our services are delivered through several brands/business operations that provide the required focus and level of customer service.
Ultimately the company’s main objective is to assist its clients in identifying their next paying customer which is probably the single most important challenge facing any business.
There are synergies between each business operation and the overall “eco-system” that is able to be delivered represents the value proposition to Bizlink’s clients.
It is therefore important that there is a high level of cooperation between these business units to achieve these synergies.
