Toby Shapshak is a South African journalist, editor and publisher of the South African edition of Stuff magazine and writes a weekly opinion column for the Financial Mail, called Pattern Recognition[1] and a column for Forbes magazine.

[2] Formerly a senior newspaper reporter covering everything from crime to politics, he has been writing about innovation, telecoms and the internet and the impact it has on Africa for more than 20 years.

[3] Shapshak attended Higlands North high school and graduated from Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa in 1992 with a BA in journalism.

[4][citation needed] One of his first jobs was to shadow Nelson Mandela when he was president,[5] and to report on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

[6] Shapshak was senior writer and section editor at ThisDay newspaper, from its opening in October 2013 until it closed a year later owing to financial difficulties experienced by the owner.