About Me
“If you are not thinking, you are not creating and if you are not creating, you are not adding value”
Career
With a passion for Health & Fitness, Corné started his career in the fitness industry in early 2000 with Health & Racquet Club, which later changed to Virgin Active South Africa. He started as a membership sales consultant and learned the business from the ground up, which paid dividends later in his career. With his constant pursuit for growth, he recognised that the only way to grow fast is by helping others to grow while adding loads of value. This epiphany became the life motto that pushed him up the corporate ladder from Membership Consultant, to Sales Manager, to Sales Manager of the 3rd biggest club in South Africa and then ultimately moved to Hong Kong in 2003 as a Club General Manager for Fitness First.
He spent close to three years in Hong Kong as Club General Manager and later National Sales Manager. In late 2005 he moved to Singapore as National Sales Manager for Singapore & Indonesia. In early 2007 he became Country Manager of Fitness First Indonesia. In 2008 he moved back to Hong Kong as Country Manager for Fitness First.
In 2010 he moved to South Africa with his wife and three kids and started his own Digital Marketing Agency. “South Africa was great for the family and the schools for the kids, but once you drank the water in Asia, it is hard to get it out of your system”.
In 2013 the family moved to Indonesia, where Corné took on the President Director’s role for Gold’s Gym. In 2015 he moved to Pearson Indonesia as the President Director for Wall Street English with the main objectives to stabilise and to sell the corporate-owned business to a local franchisee. With the objectives achieved, he changed his career in 2017 to retail by joining Time International – Indonesia’s World-class Curator and Cultivator of Leading Brands.
![Corne team Corne and Team](https://cornevanzyl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Corne-team-1024x485.jpeg)
In his current role as GM Strategic Initiatives, he is responsible for Time Digital, the internal digital agency with over 40 individuals managing strategic digital marketing for over 40 international brands. The services include, but not limited to, SEM, SMM, content creation (written, photo and video), social media strategies, eCommerce and Marketplaces. He is also directly accountable for the CRM and Wholesale departments while at the same time supporting the Lifestyle Fashion department with over 50 brick & mortar stores.
In a personal capacity, Corné helps and support individuals to start and grow their own online businesses. Many started as a side hustle which turned into full-time businesses. He is passionate about healthy living, nutrition and an ambassador for the Keto Lifestyle.