2018 Top 35-under-35 Finalist: Benjamin John Deeb

Benjamin Deeb began his entrepreneurial journey when he founded Yooh Media (Yooh) three years ago. Yooh is a niche out-of-home media solutions company which assists property owners to maximise yield through generating non-gross leasing area (non-GLA) income.

Starting off a zero base, Benjamin has grown Yooh Media to a current multi-million-rand profitable operation. He has also developed an impressive and increasingly growing blue chip client base of listed property companies, shopping centres and private property owners.

On the media sales side, Yooh’s national sales force has provided strategically positioned advertising platforms for iconic brands.

Benjamin has remained cognisant of developments in digital media and the way it engages with consumers, and as such, Yooh has expanded its offerings to the digital and AI environments. Innovative products include an AI bot which enables brands to engage directly with their targeted consumer; the introduction of value-add services to the e-hailing industry; and a soon-to-be-launched state-of-the-art digital screen network which will be the first in Africa to incorporate live traffic count analytics.

Benjamin’s passion is education and developing and motivating young people. He is a founding member of SALEAF, whose mission it is to fund the tertiary education of indigent and deserving students. In addition, he supports The Tomorrow Trust, which assists orphaned and vulnerable children throughout their educational journey. He has helped to fund and mentor an aspiring CA(SA) stream student who is currently in the honours class at UJ. Benjamin has been closely involved in his development since his first year.

Benjamin leads by influence rather than authority. ‘We at Yooh are performance and outcome driven. We give our teams the freedom to own their responsibilities. In our entrepreneurial culture, I encourage staff to think innovatively and to have the confidence to suggest new ideas and processes.’