Oliver Dawson heads up Evolution Marine Manufacturing.
He has over 25 years in Advanced Specialised Marine Manufacturing, with a strong background in commercial and luxury vessels, project management, operations, technology development, implementation and strategic planning
Oliver has been working with composites for over 25 years, pretty much since he left school – first building swimming pools and then moving onto racing cars, rigid inflatable boats and then yachts. In addition to his involvement in ”traditional” composite projects, he has also built composite accommodation structures in the Antarctic. He worked at South Africa’s biggest boat builder, Robertson and Caine, running their composite shop, various assembly lines, prototype development as well as assisting to set up their production facility in China.
Oliver has consulted to various leading international marine manufacturing companies such as, Southern Wind Shipyard and Nautic Africa. Oliver’s areas of focus were the assessment of operational efficiencies, developing and implementing turn around strategies directed at quality, cost, and operational capacity.
In his time in industry, Oliver has served on various Educational Boards, developing curriculum and Educational Career Paths of Learning for the youth within the marine, aerospace, and motor sectors. Mr Dawson founded the Composites Training Academy in 2010, specialising in composite manufacturing to upskill the youth in the art of boatbuilding and general composite manufacturing – a one of a kind in Africa. The Composites Training Academy, putting over 100 young people through rigorous composites manufacturing training. Some of his students now hold shopfloor management positions at leading boat building companies in South Africa.
Oliver was also a Founding Director of the Mandela Bay Composites Cluster, a government-funded industry initiative, established to drive growth in the South African composites industry.
Oliver has not only been involved in the marine sector, but he has also successfully established various Aquaponic Farming Businesses across Africa, most notably, two in South Africa and one in Botswana. These farms are completely green, self-sufficient units that combine hydroponic and aquaculture technologies, suppling not only fresh vegetables, but also farmed fish into the retail markets, as well as the local communities.
He is a keen Sailor and has sailed competitively in, China, Hong Kong, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Oliver is an experienced businessman and entrepreneur with extensive cross-sectoral operational experience, cutting his teeth in both corporate and small business. He approaches all ventures with a philanthrocapatalis- tic view, and lives from the moto, “From Me to You.”
In 2017, Oliver founded Evolution Marine Manufacturing, focusing on specialised custom and semi-custom vessel manufacturing.
