Managing director: RSAWeb

(Photo Credit: Clare Louise Thomas)

After four years at Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University, Rob Gilmour decided to follow in the family tradition, starting his own business rather than looking for a job in the formal sector. Eleven years later that decision has paid off handsomely for him, with RSAWeb employing 70 people in Cape Town and Johannesburg. He may have started out building computers for fellow students, but once he graduated this evolved into an internet service provider with hosting services and, more recently, cloud-computing services added to the mix. He says he enjoys starting things, be it other companies that he owns a stake in, such as voice over internet protocol distributor EvenFlow and web application development consultancy White Wall Web, or new projects inside RSAWeb, where new project teams run like independent startups. An avid cyclist, Gilmour has completed two Cape Epics and almost every other race one can think of. The company also sponsors a road-cycling team as well as mountain biking and xterra racers.

— Ben Kelly

Twitter: @robgilmour