About Us

Publishing and Events

DYNAMIC BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS (B2B) COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA

Topco Media is a leader in South African business-to-business communication, where our primary service and product offerings i.e. Events and Publishing, aim to reward, celebrate and advertise the best in South African business and government; educate; inform; foster relationships; and facilitate understanding on a range of topical issues and subjects.

South Africa Top Companies Events

Through an authoritative, definitive and poignant stable of publications and events, the company works to ensure local and international businesses have access to effective vehicles of communication and marketing that are distributed to key public and private sector stakeholders in South Africa and abroad.

Through this, the company works to establish and entrench the image of a South Africa that fosters a positive climate for trade and investment.

Topco Media is undoubtedly one of the most successful organizations of its kind in the country, offering a variety of information-based communication tools aimed at developing the public-private partnerships, and other business relationships needed to facilitate local economic growth and development.

COMPANY HISTORY

Topco Media has a long and proud history, one that started with what is now named Orange Mountain Media.

Publisher and Chairman, Richard Fletcher – a dynamic and creative entrepreneur – started a company, 5 Star, in England in the 1980s. 5 Star did then what Orange Mountain Media continues to do today, and that is community advertising. Fletcher started out when an ‘Apple Mac’ wasn’t a term, let along a product anyone was familiar with and all community advertising was hand-drawn. Much has changed since then!

By the early 1990s, Fletcher had moved to South Africa after noticing a gap for community advertising in the local niche market, and by 1993 the South African equivalent of 5 Star, Orange Mountain Media (OMM), had moved to South Africa. OMM started out by producing below-the-line community advertising, and publishing small brochures and monthly magazines. OMM is stronger than ever and continues to provide top quality below-the-line community advertising across South Africa.

As is evident, the publishing side of the company has grown year-on-year, and thanks to the success of OMM, Fletcher was able to focus on his publishing division. 1997 saw the company actively begin working on what was to become one of the most successful business-to-business directories in South Africa. The widely regarded South Africa’s Top 300 Companies: National Edition began with the Western Cape’s Top 300 Companies, first published in 1998. The following year saw the company publish sister publications for the Cape and Northern Regions but soon realised there was a growing demand for one national publication to showcase South Africa’s best in business.

In 2000, all the regional Top 300s were combined to form South Africa’s Top 300 Companies: National Edition.

It was at this time that Fletcher realised the importance that black economic empowerment would have for business in South Africa, while at the same time acknowledging that the time was right to start showcasing the best black-owned and run companies in the country. And so, in 2001 Impumelelo: South Africa’s Top 300 Empowerment Companies was born.

Impumelelo proved to be one of the most successful undertakings in the history of the company, giving rise to 2004’s once-off publication South Africa’s First Ten Years: Government and Business – launched during the 10 Years of Freedom celebrations – as well as sister empowerment publication: Top Women in Business and Government.

But Fletcher didn’t rest his laurels during this boom phase, but rather invested in supporting events around the comprehensively researched publications. 2002 was the year that Topco Media began hosting glamorous award gala events – to toast, reward and celebrate the achievements of the best in South African business and government across the public and private sectors

As the company gained experience in hosting these events, Fletcher started investigating the Conferencing industry in South Africa and realised the information offering of his publications could be delivered more interactively and effectively to a live audience. As a businessman, entrepreneur and seasoned networker, Fletcher also realised how such gatherings could start to create a wide network of businesses and people that could serve business on the whole, better.

In 2003, Topco Media hosted its first two conferences: The White-Collar Crime Summit and the Secrets of Top Sales Professionals Conference, both of which were enormously successful. And it was this success from which the division Top Conferences and Events grew.

It was at this time that Fletcher also began working on the empowerment accreditation service, BEE Online. BEE Online has since grown into a fully-fledged empowerment rating, trading and procurement website with a supporting empowerment news portal and ezine.

Top 300, Impumelelo and Top Women in Business and Government have also seen their fair share of change – from design makeovers, to editorial content revamps and refocusing, Top Companies Publishing and Events strives to grow their business and service offerings to meet the changing needs of South African business.

Today, in 2009, Topco Media is home to:

  • A highly successful Publishing Division that is focused now on developing its online capability while constantly developing its publishing stable;
  • A dedicated Events Division that produced close on 30 conferences by the end of 2008 along with annual award gala events.
  • A fully-fledged empowerment news portal and ezine; and empowerment trading, procurement and rating agency (Bee Online); and
  • A community advertising arm (OMM) that has been successfully managed and grown over the last 15 years.