Mark Cowne

Mark Cowne is an entrepreneurial businessman who was born in Cheltenham on 21 May 1957.

Biography

Mark Cowne was educated at Prices Grammar School Fareham and completed a foundation in Graphic Design at Portsmouth College of Art in 1974.

Mark worked in the advertising design sector of the industry in the UK until 1981 when he emigrated to South Africa. Mark developed a marketing career when he joined the electrical consumer goods company Philips as Advertising Manager, later moving on to become Marketing Services Director. Mark left Philips to start his own advertising and design studio, Genesis Design, in 1988 building it up into a full service advertising agency by 1990. In March 1991 Mark sold his interests in the advertising agency to pursue his passion of wildlife and formed Mopono Property Holdings to develop eco-tourism based projects within the newly proclaimed Madikwe Game Reserve. Mopono created the Tau Game Lodge in the reserve and which has proved successful in terms of socio-ecological upliftment as a significant employer and training platform for local communities.

Leaving South Africa in November 1998, Mark returned to England and, with his wife Gina, formed Kruger Cowne, a celebrity representation and management company. The company specializes in personal appearances, after dinner speaking and conference speaking events for some of the UK's best known names including Bob Geldof KBE, Elle Macpherson, Ruby Wax, John Simpson CBE, Bill Wyman, Uri Geller, Jerry Hall, John Sergeant and many others. Since its informal creation in 1998, when it represented only one person, Kruger Cowne has grown into an internationally respected talent management company and speaker bureau currently representing over one hundred high profile personalities

Personal life

In September 1986 Mark married Gina Kruger. Mark has two sons, Sagan, born January 1990 and Rees, born January 1994.

Awards and Memberships

The Royal Geographic Society awarded Mark a Fellowship in May 2006 in recognition of his contribution to the Society including photographic works. Mark is an accredited Member of the British Computer Society.

Other Interests

Mark's all consuming passion is wildlife and travel but he also enjoys photography (Conde Nast accredited photographer), SCUBA diving and is a PADI qualified diver.

Links

*Bob Geldof
*Dave Stewart
*Elle Macpherson
*Gordon Ramsay
*Bill Wyman
*Ruby Wax
*Jerry Hall
*John Simpson
*Uri Geller
*John Sergeant
*Lynne Franks
*Mariella Frostrup

External links

* [http://www.krugercowne.com Kruger Cowne website]
* [http://www.bobgeldof.info Bob Geldof's website]
* [http://www.billwyman.com Bill Wyman's website]
* [http://www.taugamelodge.co.za Tau Game Lodge]
* [http://www.tourismnorthwest.co.za/madikwe/index.html Madikwe Game Reserve]