Anyone who’s met Carel Nolte cannot but be touched by his larger-than-life energy, his passion for all manner of causes, and his ability to manage the small stuff while keeping a gimlet eye on the big picture.
In short, Carel’s a singular guy whom you don’t easily forget – and for all the right reasons. We at Flow have had the pleasure of working with him for several years now, in his former capacity as head of people and brand at Etana Insurance.
In this time, we’ve seen Carel take madcap ideas and turn them into brand gold for Etana. Things that immediately spring to mind are the annual DAREdevil Run, in which thousands of men run around in public in red Speedos to raise money for (and awareness of) male cancers, and the Unogwaja Challenge, in which a group of athletes cycle from Cape Town to Durban in 10 days, and run the Comrades Marathon on the eleventh, all for charity.
Both of these initiatives have Carel written all over them: their off-the-wall nature grabs you, they make you smile, and they benefit others. And they’ve been hugely successful, raising millions for charity and drawing attention from all over the world.
But now that Etana is being merged with Hollard Insurance, Carel has moved on to other things – and we’re privileged to continue working with him. Our first order of business has been to design and build his bright and bold new website, www.carelnolte.com.
Says Richard Frank, Flow’s development studio head, of the new website: “It’s great to do portfolio-style websites, because we were allowed to be creative with the design and development. We were able to use large text and images to showcase his personality and work.
“It is a responsive design, which adapts to the device you are using (either mobile, tablet or desktop), which is important because we expect more than half of the traffic to www.carelnolte.com to be on mobile devices.”
Web developer Kudakwashe Nharo adds: “The Carel website was an interesting one, as it allowed us to conform to the current standards of website techniques (that is, responsive web design). Not only was it of paramount importance to the acquiring of new knowledge, but it also helped us to be creative and agile in all facets of development.”
Designer Ryan Levenson, who was responsible for giving Carel’s site its distinctive look and feel, says he enjoyed his part of the project: “Carel is always fun to work with; he gives you a lot of creative freedom. The website turned out great, very bold and full of character, like Carel.”
And Carel’s very pleased with the result, saying: “Love the site! Flow advises on latest trends and developments ... the Flow design captures my personality, the writing ties in extremely well with design. It’s been easy, with no fuss, clear feedback, and a very efficient process.
“It’s also been fun doing this. The team really got involved ... debated, influenced, challenged, and wanted the best. Thank you!”
If you’d like to know what Carel’s new line of work is, best you go and check out his website. If he had now styled himself as a brand expert, a consultant, a social engineer or a patron of the arts, it would be easier to explain – but Carel’s all of that, and then some. He calls himself “an investor in people and businesses”, and that may be all you really need to know.
All we know – as per Carel’s declared intention to “build long-term, sustainable value with like-minded individuals and companies, while having (a lot of!) fun” – is that we’re tickled to be continuing our relationship with Carel, and having a blast while we’re at it.
Quips Flow MD Tiffany Turkington-Palmer: “Carel is a strategic partner, colleague, friend and mentor to Flow. We are proud of our shared history and look forward to changing the world with him.”