The people behind the academy
We are a small team on purpose. Real people from the cruise and luxury hospitality world, who answer to you directly and stake their name on the standard of what we teach.
Jean Jacobs
Built at the top of global hospitality. Now he opens the door for South Africa.
Jean Jacobs is the founder of Cape Marine Academy, and the reason it holds the standard it does. He built his career at the highest levels of the industry, from luxury hotels and celebrated restaurants to the world's largest cruise operations, and he brings all of it home to the people learning here.
His path runs through names that set the bar. The DoubleTree by Hilton hotel group. The Harbour House Group. Years at sea with one of the world's largest cruise lines. He has opened restaurants, put in place the systems that keep them running night after night, and led large multicultural teams through the busiest, most demanding service in the business.
What sets Jean apart is how he leads. Hands on, calm under pressure, and relentless about the small details a guest actually feels. Global operators trusted him with their high profile launches and their toughest operations, and time and again he took them past what the company expected, without ever letting the standard slip.
He started Cape Marine Academy for one reason. He has seen how much talent South Africa has, and how rarely it gets a fair route to the world stage. So he put everything he learned at the top of the industry into one place and teaches it plainly, so the next person walks into a cruise line interview prepared, confident and taken seriously.
“I have hired and led crew from all over the world. South Africans belong on those ships. My job is to get you ready to prove it.”
- Luxury hotels, top restaurants and the world's largest cruise line
- DoubleTree by Hilton, Harbour House Group, international cruise operations
- Chosen to lead high profile launches and operations
- Built and led large multicultural teams
Alexander (Sasha) Chernikov
From Russia, with a love for technology, digital marketing and education.
Sasha Chernikov is the founder of DigiThought and co-founder of Cape Marine Academy. He has spent more than ten years in digital marketing and technology, building products and running campaigns for some of the world's best known brands, and today that experience sits behind everything the academy ships.
His client work has covered finance, automotive, luxury, property, education and entertainment. The names include Dior, Udemy, Suzuki South Africa, DAMAC Properties in Dubai, Messika, Artlogo, the global leader in handwritten signature logos, One Love Organics and the US law firm Lipsig, just to name a few.
A defining part of that journey was working alongside Udemy partners and best selling AI instructors Julian Melanson, Benza Maman and Sean Melis, whose courses have taught more than a million students worldwide. That is where he learned what it takes to build online courses people genuinely value, and that standard is what Cape Marine Academy was built to deliver: a great product for this market.
Underneath it all sits a real passion for innovative technology. The academy is built by him, in collaboration with highly experienced professionals, and the people who teach you are real industry people with decades of experience behind every lesson. The platform, the smart tools, the way every lesson is put together, all of it exists to boost and enhance the way students learn. He is a top graduate of the AI Business Directors Program at NextMBA International and currently works alongside some of the top creators in the AI space around the globe, and all of that feeds straight back into the academy. South Africa has been his second home for the past twenty years, and he is committed to delivering the best products and the best education, with the support of local and global partners, to make a real impact.
He is an ICITP-SA member with the Institute of IT Professionals SA. Away from work he is a serious music lover and a partner behind Secrets of Summer, one of South Africa's biggest New Year's Eve experiences.
What it comes down to is simple. He likes building things, learning new technology, and making products that leave people better off than he found them.
“Good technology should make things simpler. Good education should change what happens next in someone's life.”
- 10 plus years in digital marketing and technology
- Dior, Udemy, Suzuki South Africa, DAMAC Properties, Artlogo, One Love Organics, Lipsig
- Works with best selling AI instructors who have taught 1 million plus students
- Top graduate, AI Business Directors Program, NextMBA International
- Founder of DigiThought
- ICITP-SA member, Institute of IT Professionals SA
- Partner behind Secrets of Summer, a major South African New Year's Eve event
Robin John Williams
Two decades building world class hospitality. Now he opens its doors for South Africans.
At 52, Robin John Williams has spent more than twenty years at the sharp end of hospitality and business, on two continents. He started in Dubai, building sales stores and repair centres for Nokia and Dell, where he learned exactly what world class standards and real operational discipline take.
Back home in South Africa he built a name in hospitality that leaves nothing to chance. He co-developed The Alexander House, a boutique hotel in Knysna, gave eleven years to The Duchess of Wisbeach in Cape Town, and helped launch two of the city's most respected rooms, Harrys with Mike Townsend and Black Rabbit Speakeasy.
Along the way he learned something he refuses to let go of. South African service talent is world class, some of the very best there is. He has hired it, trained it and worked beside it, and he has watched it go unseen and underpaid at home, year after year.
That is the whole reason he is here. As a co-founder of Cape Marine Academy, Robin opens the door most people never find, real work with international employers who know what our people are worth and pay it, in US dollars at global rates. He is not placing people in jobs. He is handing families a different future.
“After decades of building businesses and leading teams, my greatest reward is watching other people succeed.”
- 20 plus years in hospitality and service
- International operations in Dubai with Nokia and Dell
- Co-developed The Alexander House Boutique Hotel, Knysna
- 11 years with The Duchess of Wisbeach, Cape Town
- Co-founded Harrys and Black Rabbit, Speakeasy Cape Town
Real people, real preparation
No call centre, no scripts, no jobs for sale. Just a team that has done the work and wants to see you get there too.