Founder, GenAI Training Lead & Fractional CAiO, Imagineers.ai / Future Foresight
- Built Imagineers.ai to train executives and teams in applied GenAI.
- Trained 600+ executives across 60 courses, with live counters maintained in the editor.
Christopher Damian Barker
Founder | Turnaround Director | ex-McKinsey/Deloitte | AI advisor & exec trainer
Summary
Mechanical and Industrial Engineer with the Wits faculty medal, ex-McKinsey and Deloitte Director, and a 34-year record of overlapping builds: Unilever operations, McKinsey modelling, Right to Care, Neotel, MTN, Africa Weather, turnarounds, Deloitte COVID/Vaccinate SA/Gigs, and current AI executive training.
Selected Experience
Director, Head of Innovation & Growth, Deloitte
- Met sales targets every full year; targets were 50% above peer directors.
- Achieved R300m sales over five years, double target across projects.
Co-founder & CEO, Africa Weather
- Built the first business to sell weather in Africa.
- Served 400 South African clients, including insurance, 80% of SA mining, and Transnet.
Turnaround and Sale Lead, National Empowerment Fund / Stutt Brick
- Turned a distressed brick factory for the National Empowerment Fund.
- Saved 800 jobs in rural Bhisho.
Turnaround and Sale Lead, National Empowerment Fund / TopTV
- Persuaded institutional funders to invest R1bn more.
- Turned and held the business in stasis for a year through sale to StarTimes.
Co-founder, RightMed Pharmacy
- Co-founded what at one stage was SA's third-largest retail pharmacy by cost of sales.
- Focused on HIV drugs for NGOs and pharmaceutical clients.
Co-founder & USAID Board Representative, Right to Care
- Co-founded what is now Africa's largest NGO, with R1.7bn FY21 funding and more than R7bn ethically dispersed.
- Pioneered workplace HIV treatment and board-level buy-in across South Africa.
Turnaround Consultant, Marikana Pit, Aquarius Platinum SA
- Took over management of the Marikana pit and replaced the mining contractor.
- Moved performance from R20m/month loss to R10m/month profit.