TechCentral, launched in September 2009 by IT journalist Duncan McLeod, has shown steady growth, averaging between 250 000 and 300 000 impressions a month. It has also been profitable from day one thanks to a lean structure put in place by McLeod, who manages the site with one other full time journalist, Craig Wilson, and with Lance Harris in charge of lighter content over the weekends.
A string of freelancers make up the rest of the team. McLeod handles sales himself.
McLeod had been at the Financial Mail for twelve years before he jumped ship, and served as technology editor at the time that he left the publication, to which he still contributes a weekly column. Having seen the decline of print in the US, especially on the newspaper front, and seeing the rise in connectivity in South Africa and the relatively low barriers of entry into online publishing, he made the leap and launched TechCentral.
