GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 6 - September 2008

GPWA Affiliate Interview Series 61 | GPWA Times Heather Gartland | Continued from page 28 of loss of income. Whilst we took a knock on our side too, we were lucky because by this time we were more reliant on our South African income, which has always been our biggest market. One thing people may not know about you is that you’ve spent some time trying to de- velop a payment processing solution. What’s the status of that project? Smarteller – this is one of our big disappoint- ments that cost a lot of time and money and has unfortu- nately been put on the back burner for now. It all started when the UIGEA came about and payment processors were dropping USA players like flies. We had decided to try and find a solution which would give them another op- tion. As I worked in a bank, I had a few contacts and we were introduced to a bank in Mauritius called SBM. We had a few meetings with them in Johannesburg and Mauri- tius (nothing beats lying on a beach discussing business). They were very keen on our proposal, but it was a first for them as they had never oper- ated an ewallet system. They had experience with credit cards and debit cards but this was a whole new ball game for them and they had to ob- tain approval from Visa and use a 3rd party processor. We only discovered recently that the 3rd party involved was e P a s s p o r t e . To cut a long story short – there was loads of red tape to get through, ap- proval from Visa, etc. All was going according to plan and then the delays started. First it was six months, then it was 12 months, and so on. Our hands were tied as we had to rely on SBM and ePassporte. In the end we lost our patience with them and told them to go fly a kite because we could see that nothing was materializing and we firmly believed that they used our proposal for their own benefit and cut us out of the deal. We still own the trademark, websites, content, etc., so all is not lost. When we have the time – we plan to follow through with our original plan … but with a different bank. The lessons we learned from this are not to believe every- thing you are told and don’t be too trusting as some people have ulterior motives. Luck- ily it didn’t affect any of our relationships with the affili- ate programs because we were very cautious and had decided not to approach them until ev- erything was up and running and thoroughly tested. According to your GPWA pro- file, working as an affiliate is a part-time job for you. What’s your full-time job? And what skills have you been able to port over fromthat job to your work as a portal webmaster? I was a credit manager for a listed company called Sasfin Bank until May 2008. I finally realized that I could no longer juggle two jobs and my heart is in the online casino indus- try. It is a move I should have done years ago, but just could never bring myself to leave the bank as I had a great job there and my bosses were wonder- ful people. Three years ago we opened our own offices for Topboss and have an excellent team of people but it was pretty silly reporting to other people at the bank, when in fact Andy and I had our own staff re- porting to us. I owe a lot of my general busi- ness knowledge to the CEO of the bank I worked for, as he taught me to look beyond the box and explore areas that others hadn’t explored before. He was probably referring to banking areas but neverthe- less he was aware of our little business on the side and al- ways supported me and gave me very good advice. What’s your favorite vacation spot? And why? The place I keep going back to again and again is New York. I love walk- ing in New York because of the variation in neighborhoods you can see during a short walk – Chinatown, West Vil- lage, East Village, Meat Pack- ing District and Union Square are all very different places but only a short walk from each other. Also, having lived in New York a few years ago, I have lots of great friends there and it’s always nice to catch up with them. What is your favorite movie? And why? I don’t have a par- ticular favorite, but I love mov- ies that are thought provoking with attention to detail because you can watch them again and again, but always see some- thing different. I like films by Quentin Tarantino. If someone were visiting you in London, what’s the one place you would definitely take them to see? And why? Rather than see one specific place, I would take them on a walking tour of my local area, taking in sights of London past and present (I live between Hyde Park and Regents Park). It would cover lots of places of interest that are not on the tourist guide – street markets, interesting architecture, parks, people watching – and along the way we would sample good British food and real ale in several old-fashioned English pubs. If we’re lucky we might even get the chance to have a bit of a sing-song around the piano in one of my locals. OK, basically, I’d be taking them on a pub crawl! If you could visit any five plac- es in the world, what would they be? And why? As a real foodie, I love to discover differ- ent cultures through food and drink. When traveling, I’ve al- ways met great people through a shared interest in food and drink. Top of my ‘to do’ list of places I’ve never been to are: India – I love Indian food and would be really keen to learn more about the real Indian curry and how to make them. Mexico - to see how the food differs from the ‘Tex-Mex’ style we get here in London. Korea – I used to enjoy bar- beques in Korea Town when I lived by NYC. Apparently peo- ple in Japan get on a boat and travel to South Korea to eat in the same way that British trav- el to France for the food, so it must be pretty good! Thailand – I’d especially like to visit an area in Thailand where they specialize in seafood. China – I have friends from China who keep telling me how wonderful the food is there and that makes me want to go and try it out. And finally, what are three things that nobody knows about you? 1. I grew up in a house in between a village pub and a brewery and we kept pigs in our back garden. While other kids had to feed cats, dogs, or goldfish before going to school, I had to feed pigs! 2. I once worked in Shetland, living in a tent, researching dolphin and porpoise behav- ior. 3. As a student, I won a na- tional whiskey tasting contest. Continued on page 63