Clive van Deventer, CEO of Bartercard Australia, talks business to business, being in tune, instilling confidence, never dropping below the line and giving back to the community.
Clive van Deventer has been the CEO of Bartercard Australia since 2015. Bartercard is a cashless business network with over 55, 000 cardholders who barter-trade over $600M dollars each year, with 75 offices around the world and over 600 staff serving their members. Clive manages their Australian operations which are based in Queensland. Clive holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the Australian Institute of Business. He was previously the General Manager of Accor Vacation Club Asia and the Managing Director Managing Consultancy at Buyuo Pty Ltd.
Founded in 1991 on the Gold Coast, in 2014, Bartercard listed on the stock exchange. Clive is responsible for transitioning Bartercard from a private business to being corporately owned and operated, and growing the business. Bartercard is a unique business model, which mimics a traditional barter system within which people earn trade dollars for their products and services; utilising their trade dollars to offset cash expenses or create wealth with like-minded members within a closed user group.
Born in South Africa, one of four children, Clive’s father owned a successful engineering business until he hit financial turmoil and lost everything. It was an experience which taught a then 15-year-old Clive many lessons, including the importance of an education.
“I certainly learnt a lot of lessons. One day you have everything and the next thing you have nothing…One thing that I realised is you really have to get that education behind you…”
Upon finishing his secondary education, Clive had the option of enrolling in university but he chose to complete two years of military service.
“In the military, I learnt discipline and when you have a strategy in place, execute it…you can never train enough,”
Clive said.
Clive began his career upon exiting the military and now has almost 30 years of business, sales and marketing experience.
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