Hi there!

My name is Barry and I am an entrepreneur, ethicist, writer and speaker from Johannesburg, South Africa.

Ideas.

At my core, I am in love with ideas. More than anything else I want to take cool ideas and create things from them. I want to make essays, books, blog posts, videos, podcasts, companies, systems, music, plays and keynotes to communicate ideas that I think have value. This desire shapes all of my decisions.

As such, I am constantly working on a number of projects and experiments and I refuse to specialise in one thing at the expense of others - for good and for bad. I am at my best when I am pulling parallel concepts from a range of fields into one place to find unique places to add my voice.

In search of ideas, I always want to be learning new things. I let myself be dragged along by my relentless curiosity. So I read widely and voraciously in search of golden nuggets that I can apply to my own life and work.

Life Philosophy.

I am an optimist through and through. I believe in the power of humanity and consistently look for the good in people. I am idealistic about what I can accomplish in my life and what change I will see in the world during my lifetime. I am convinced that one must be an optimist in order to make an impact and I strive to live like that.

My ethics are very important to me. I believe it’s wildly neglected and I want to do everything I can to promote those ethics that will leave behind a better world than when I came into it. This is especially true in the technological age - where my passions lie.

I do not make life decisions because of money. I do things because I enjoy them and trust that I’ll find a way to make a living.

I am African at my core, but choose to be a citizen of the world who cherishes travel.

Professional.

When it comes to my professional life, I am a qualified Chartered Accountant with a honours degree in Accounting from the University of the Witwatersrand. I have worked in investment banking, data science and machine learning as well as in a diversified startup environment.

I am in the process of completing my masters degree in Philosophy through the University of the Witwatersrand focused on the ethics of artificial intelligence. I speak and write publicly about a number of related topics as one of the few thinkers approaching AI Ethics from an African perspective.

I act as an advisor and independent consultant to a number of small and medium South African businesses where I assist with strategic advice and mentorship.

Creative.

My creative expression is extremely important to me and I exercise it through a number of projects.

I run a theatre club in Johannesburg which organises group events to support the latest shows as well as writing reviews for those shows for local publications.

I write regular essays on my blog covering a range of topics including philosophy, psychology, entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, theatre and personal development.

I co-host a weekly podcast which discusses current affairs, technology and personal development.

Human.

At the end of all of that, I’m just a human making his way through this world. Through my website and social media I hope to deliver insightful, authentic expressions of my wandering thoughts. I want to describe things to my future self, who is intelligent and curious - but has forgotten.

If you’ve somehow found your way onto my page, I want to meet you and hear your story. Please do drop me an email or connect on any of my social media platforms, I would love to hear from you!