Mandy Degener

Digital Strategy Director, Liquorice

Mandy has more than 18 years’ experience across digital marketing and brand roles in Africa, with 7 years specifically focused on mobile with different Telco’s. She spent 5 years at DStv Mobile focused on developing portal content strategy in partnership with MTN, Vodacom and Glo Nigeria. Following this she helped inform the new MTN Group website, after aligning key business stakeholder goals with consumer expectations.

She has a good understanding of key markets across Africa, having focused on both the digital landscape and consumer insights in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola and Cote d’Ivoire.

As the Strategy Director at Liquorice, she is responsible for developing mobile-first channel strategies with user journeys across the digital path to purchase, for a number of Unilever brands in Africa, specifically OMO, Knorr, Lifebuoy, Bluebird, Vaseline and Axe. Utilizing cross-functional business thinking, she has both facilitated and contributed to integrated team workshops, adding strategic value in terms of thought leadership and consumer insights.

Julia Makhubela

Co-Founder, Shift Social Development

Julia has been working in the technology arena since 2008. She began her career at a Wireless Application Service Provider (WASP) start-up that specialised in mobile technology, where she worked as a business development manager and mobile strategist. Julia is an experienced project lead and strategist who has launched CRM programmes, developed digital native products and platforms, managed JSE listed companies’ online reputation as well as their digital advertising campaigns.

Ayabonga Cawe

Economist, Policy Analyst & Broadcaster

Ayabonga is a Johannesburg based development economist, columnist, radio presenter, photographer and activist. He is Managing Director of Xesibe Holdings (Pty) Ltd, a platform involved in advisory, facilitation and content development across a wide range of fields. He hosts #PowerHour on PowerFM, a political economy and policy show and writes a regular column for the Daily Maverick and the BusinessDay. Prior to this he was Economic Justice Manager at Oxfam South Africa (OZA) working on policy advocacy and research. He has also worked as an Associate Consultant at Dalberg Global Development Advisors, a global development strategy consulting and policy advisory firm.

He has experience in economic research, policy and supply chain analysis, advocacy, development program design and M&E. He is also a co-founder of Rethink Africa NPC, a youth-led policy research, advocacy and advisory organisation. He has taken part in a wide range of research, advisory and policy engagements on development issues in agriculture, rail, urban design and labour market policy. His international experience on issues of sustainability and business includes conducting primary research with farmer organizations in Indonesia, for a multilateral client. He has also conducted primary research in Nigeria, for a market entry strategy on behalf of a global pharmaceuticals manufacturer. Ayabonga recently sat on the National Minimum Wage Advisory Panel appointed by the Deputy President and Nedlac, which advised on the R20/hour proposal. He holds an M. Com (Cum Laude) in Development Theory and Policy from Wits.

Thuli Magubane

Broadcaster & Founder and Director at Mind Fresh Advisory Services

Thuli Magubane is a professional with a broad skills set. She has experience in management consulting, corporate finance and investment banking. Thuli is a graduate of UCT having majored in Political Science in 1999. She also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Management (PDM) from the Wits Business School. Thuli completed a Master’s Programme in Leadership and Strategy with the number one Business School in Europe, Instituto de Empresa (IE) Business School in Madrid, Spain.

She worked for boutique consultancies and corporates such as Absa Capital and Investec. Thuli is an entrepreneur who initially started with a business focused on Management Consulting. Thuli is very bright and knowledgeable; she has consulted for companies and organisations such as Sasol, Vodacom, Tata Africa, Group 5, SABC, City Of Johannesburg, Kangra Coal, ACSA and the Steve Biko Foundation to name a few. As a serial entrepreneur she has co-founded Meleah Investments an investment company and Big Value Vending which is focused in manufacturing transparent LCD Screens. Thuli is comfortable in front of corporate, government and non-profit sector audiences. She has extensive experience as an MC, Speaker and Facilitator. She is passionate about seeing women and the youth discover their life’s purposes and living them. Thuli is the former host of KayaBizz, the business show on KayaFM. She still hosts My Money and Me on KayaFM, a weekly show that deals with personal finance and investment matters. She was nominated for a Liberty Radio Award for the best Business and Finance Show in 2017. Through her work on KayaFM on the Bizz Boost initiative sponsored by Nedbank, Thuli has developed into a business guru offering SMME’s practical business advice. Thuli has also joined Making Moves as Business Coach. Making Moves is a TV show on SABC 1 focused on promoting entrepreneurship with over 1million viewers. Thuli also serves as a director of Benguela Global Fund Managers.

Motshidisi Mokwena

Group Public Affairs Executive, Nestle South Africa

As company spokesperson, Motshidisi is responsible for Nestle’s reputation and perception management. She also manages Nestle’s B-BBEE strategy and development, developing mandates for each of the elements for the respective working groups and communicating with stakeholders.

An alumna of both the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Stellenbosch Business School, she began her career in journalism, writing for publications including The Star and The Cape Times. She then moved into the communications field, working in a diverse array of fields including entertainment (Multichoice) and government (Gauteng Department of Sports Gauteng Youth Commission).

She has worked for Nestle since 2008, and has been in her current role since 2014. She is passionate about coaching, mentorship and building capacity towards the realization of goals and objectives.

Lizeka Dlepu

Head of Sustainability and Community, Enel South Africa

Lizeka Dlepu is the Head of Sustainability and Community Relations for EGP RSA. She is also responsible for Sustainability in Zambia.

She previously worked as a BEE specialist and Transformation Manager responsible for promoting and driving transformation as a strategic business imperative through a clear B-BBEE programme. Her responsibility included establishing and leading appropriate governance structures to ensure compliance with the B-BBEE Act and related regulations, developing and implementing strategies to address gaps in practices impacting the B-BBEE performance.

She started her career in Human Resources where she owned an HR consulting company and later joined the Civil Service as an HR Director. She is an Independent Non-Executive Director of South African Civil Aviation Authority.

Sydney Madibo

Winner, One Day Leader (Season 5)

At just 23, Sydney was named the winner of the SABC1 reality show One Day Leader. The show identifies young leaders, and encourages the pursuit of innovative ways to address societal issues.

He is committed to improving society, while influencing other young people to do the same. As founder of a community outreach youth movement called The Ave-Lanche, he works closely with local youth movements such as YB20 among others. Sydney is also a radio personality, and can currently be heard on PowerFM.

Having studied at North West University, where he began a Law degree before switching to his true passion, Education, Sydney is a seasoned debater and public speaker. He is currently in the process of registering an NGO called Little Big Steps, which aims to train young people in skills such as leadership, debating and publics peaking.

Eusebius McKaiser

Political analyst, broadcaster, philosophy lecturer and writer

Eusebius McKaiser is a political analyst, broadcaster, philosophy lecturer and writer, based in Johannesburg. His academic background is in moral philosophy, having studied and lectured in the philosophy department at Rhodes University, before doing research in moral philosophy as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. He remains an associate of the Wits Centre for Ethics.

As a broadcaster, Eusebius has previously presented Interface on SABC3 before hosting radio shows. He anchored Talk At Nine on Talk Radio 702 and ‘Power Talk With Eusebius McKaiser’ on Power 98.7 and presented the programme, ‘Meet the Media with Eusebius McKaiser on eNCA.’ He is now back on Radio 702 at 9h00 from Monday to Fridays as host of ‘The Eusebius McKaiser Talk Show’

He has written extensive social and political comment in the local and international print media, including previously carrying a column in the New York Times, and currently a column syndicated across Independent Media. He also appeared on many international broadcast platforms including the BBC, Sky, CNN, including Amanpour.

Before his media career took off, McKaiser worked as an associate at globally renowned strategy consulting firm, McKinsey and Co.

Eusebius is a former national and World Masters Debate Champion. He coaches debate and public speaking, and is also a regular MC, facilitator and keynote speaker on the conference circuit. He has three best-selling books out, A Bantu In My Bathroom & Could I Vote DA? And his third book has been released to immediate critical acclaim – Run, Racist, Run: Journeys into the heart of racism

Barbara Jensen

Senior Executive Manager: Communication & Marketing at the Gautrain Management Agency

Barbara is the Senior Executive Manager: Communication & Marketing at the Gautrain Management Agency and has been involved in communication for the past thirty years, in a training, research and a practical capacity.

Her expertise is government communication, international relations, communication research and the implementation of stakeholder mobilisation and transformation campaigns. Barbara is part of the Gautrain Management Agency’s senior management team and had been part of the project since it’s inception in 2000 and is specifically responsible for its communication and marketing.

She holds a Doctorate in Business Management. The title of her doctoral thesis is The Search for Communication Equilibrium through Political Public Relations. Barbara is a senior member of the Communication & Marketing industry in South Africa and frequently delivers papers at national and international conferences.

Tiekie Barnard

CEO of Shift Social Development

Tiekie is an activist who believes in the importance of profit with purpose, she is a trainer of young entrepreneurs in operational and financial capacity building, an SMME Business Consultant, a Vega Guest lecturer, a CSI Awards judge, a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) stakeholder, a CSI and sustainability strategist; a Loeries judge and the founder and CEO of Shift Social Development. Tiekie holds an Honours degree in Brand Leadership from Vega.

 
She spent 22 years in the advertising industry and in that time she held the position of Group Operating Systems Director at Net#work BBDO as well as having the role of General Manager at Proximity#ttp. In 2008 she took on the position as COO of Kagiso TV & Communications where she focused on changing behaviour through social development projects in marginalised communities. She founded Tiekie Barnard Consultancy in 2012 an effort to ensure that more businesses align their strategy with the practice of doing good while doing good business.”

 
Tiekie is the owner and founder of Tiekie Barnard Consultancy (TB Consult) that has recently gone through a name change and shareholder change to become Shift Social Development. A majority black female owned business, Shift, operating with creating shared value as its core focus.

Zoya Mabuto

Founder & Managing Director, ZoyaSpeaks

Zoya Mabuto is the Founder and Managing Director of ZoyaSpeaks – the platform she uses to share African stories of hope and her ‘Africans solving African problems’ model. She is of the view that ‘no-one is coming to help us’ and as such we have the responsibility to build the Africa we envision.

She is an inspirational speaker, MC, and an expert public speaking coach with more than twenty years’ experience. Her speaking career highlights include representing the African continent at the World Championships of Public Speaking in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2015 and being invited to participate in the TED Worldwide Talent Search 2012: The Young, The Wise, The Undiscovered.

Sazini Mojapelo

Group Head of Corporate Citizenship at Barclays Africa

Sazini Mojapelo is a passionate leader and Harvard Business School graduate, her expertise lie in the development and execution of strategic plans linked to corporate social investment, social entrepreneurship, and youth and women empowerment. She is responsible for the conceptualisation, development and driving the implementation of the Shared Growth strategy; a strategy aimed at skills development, enterprise development and financial inclusion across the continent.
 
Sazini is a strategist and development specialist by training, holding a double major degree in Sociology and Industrial Psychology as well as having obtained a Master’s Degree in Development Studies from the University of Cape Town.
 
Prior to joining Barclays Africa, she was the CEO and founder of Hand in Hand Southern Africa, an NGO with the focus on micro and small business development in peri urban and rural areas. She has over 14 years’ experience, working in government, civil society including corporate and private sectors.
 
Sazini is passionate about making an impact in people’s lives through her work, especially the youth. Her ultimate goal is to give young people an opportunity to unlock their potential, to either better develop their employability prospects or to become self-employed through starting their own business.

Cecilia Kinuthia-Njenga

Head UNEP Office, South Africa

Cecilia is an Economist and Urban & Regional Planner with over twenty-five years of progressive work experience in urban environmental management, policy development, analysis and implementation. Seventeen years of her career have been spent working with the United Nations in programme development and management and inter agency cooperation.

In the last four years she was tasked with establishing a strategic presence for the UNEP in the Southern Africa region and tasked with setting up a new country office based in Pretoria. Her current role has entailed political and policy analysis, developing and monitoring environmental and relevant political, economic and social development trends in the Southern Africa region to generate knowledge, information and early warning for policy and decision making in order to incorporate them into the UNEP’s policy and programme development. Strategic partnerships with Regional Economic Commissions– SADC, COMESA and NEPAD and actively participating in thematic and technical teams, providing substantive policy support to regional, sub-regional and trans-boundary political processes are central to her current role.

Nonnie Kubeka

Head, Gauteng Convention and Events Bureau

Under the direction and leadership of Nonnie, the Gauteng Convention and Events Bureau is tasked with the marketing, promotion, fostering and development of business tourism and events in the province.

Nonnie has 21 years of experience in marketing across several sectors providing strategic guidance and direction on how to optimise marketing, communication channels and social media methods as effective delivery systems for profiling and promoting a Destination. She served as Senior Manager for Marketing and Sales at the Cape Town International Convention Centre and Senior Manager Strategic Marketing for Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking and Transnet respectively.

Nonnie holds a Secondary teacher’s diploma, a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting, she also holds an MDP and an MBA in Strategic Marketing. Nonnie served on the board of Cape Town Tourism, SAA, South African Travel Centre and was chairperson of Airchefs. She also served as Deputy Chairperson of the International Conference and Convention Association (ICCA Africa) Chapter and currently sits on the board of the Southern African Association for conference industry.

Gordon Cook

Director, Stir4Change

Gordon Cook is a co-founder and School Navigator for Vega School of Brand Leadership. He is a regular lecturer on executive and professional management programmes at the UCT Graduate School of Business. Gordon has helped design and facilitates Creativity and Innovation workshops for the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).

He sits on various judging panels such as Business Arts South Africa (BASA) and the Loeries. After graduating with a focus on modern literature Gordon launched his career in advertising as a copywriter. He proceeded to consult to the marketing and sponsorship industries both in South Africa and United States.

He furthered his studies with a Higher Diploma in Adult Education from Wits and was one of the first registered Chartered Marketers in South Africa. He is listed as one of The Most Influential Advertising practitioners in South Africa in the Financial Mail AdFocus 2006 and listed in the Top 10 Academic category of The Annual 2010 that covers advertising media, marketing and branding.

His new project is Stir4Change – a Pty Limited company all about brand activism and starting fresh conversations in companies so that they may become more human-centric.

Arif Neky

Advisor for UN Strategic Partnerships and Coordinator for SDG Philanthropy Platform at the United Nations (Kenya)

Arif Neky is the National Coordinator for the SDG Philanthropy Platform in Kenya, and Advisor, Strategic Partnerships and Philanthropy at the UN Kenya.

The blend of Arif’s extensive experience across social development and private enterprise across three continents provides a valuable addition to our UN Country Team. His leadership in social development, enterprise and financial services includes forging partnerships across philanthropic and non-profit organizations with governments, bilateral/multilateral donors and private sector.

As the former Regional CEO of the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) East Africa for over 13 years, Arif was directly responsible for a wide portfolio of programs in education, health, rural development and civil society enhancement with a team of over 250 staff to successfully impact development outcomes with many of the poorest communities in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

With AKF, Arif also nurtured non-profit networks and philanthropic institutions. He helped in the establishment of the Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF), was the Founding Co- Chairman of the East African Association of Grantmakers (EAAG), and recently – as its Founding Vice Chairman – helped in creating Viwango, a new flagship Kenyan organization to promote voluntary certification of CSOs in Kenya.

He has engaged actively in Education and Health Sector planning and was the first Chairman of the CIDA Kenya Partners Forum. Arif was previously the Regional Representative Eastern Africa for the French & International Bank – Société Générale where his achievements included consortium financing of selected development and infrastructure projects up to 250m French Francs per annum.

Akiva Beebe

Regional Director, Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) in Sub Saharan Africa

Akiva has been growing businesses, from Fortune 500s to tech startups, for over 20 years. As the regional director for Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) in Sub-Saharan Africa, Akiva works with public and private businesses in over 20 countries throughout Africa, a hyper-growth continent. He enables these businesses to develop their capacity to achieve more than imagined by shifting their beliefs, thoughts and behaviours. He serves on CCL’s global innovation team re-inventing leadership and strategy models so that businesses can thrive in turbulent markets.

He is driven by a sense of urgency and purpose to turn Africa’s biggest threats into opportunities. To this end, he works with diverse stakeholders (from NGOs, equity investors to Fortune 500s) across Africa, co-creating shared values that galvanize economic growth.

As a regular keynote speaker, his most popular topics include: Innovation Myths; Collaborative Strategy; Leadership; Future Readiness; Profit with Purpose. In 2016 he presented in Asia, Europe, North America and concluded with a TED Talks in South Africa titled “Embracing the Inevitable Future”. He is working toward a PhD titled “Antifragile leaders” researching new practices and leadership behaviours that succeed (get stronger) in an unstable global economy.

Akiva’s mantra: Think like a scientist, act like an entrepreneur and live into a bold vision that changes our planet.

Patrick Duff

Director of Investment, Leapfrog Investment

Before joining LeapFrog, Patrick was Partner at Kingdom Africa Management, a pan–African focused private equity investment firm with more than $600 million in assets under management. Here, Patrick managed multi–million dollar investments from sourcing through to leading successful exits, working across diverse sectors including infrastructure, financial services, consumer products and agriculture. Prior to this, Patrick worked in the investment banking division at Bear Sterns & Co in New York, where he managed billion–dollar transactions.

Patrick holds an MBA from FUQUA School of Business at Duke University and Warwick Business School (Distinction). He also has a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of Cape Town, where he graduated first in class.

Marc Pfitzer

MD, FSG International Shared Value Initiative (Geneva/USA)

Marc Pfitzer, a managing director at FSG, builds on 25 years of experience as advisor to executives in the private and social sector to help surface new insights and collaborative efforts against our global challenges.

Marc oversees the firm’s work in Europe touching on social change strategy, and understanding practices that lead to social impact. Marc has led FSG’s corporate Creating Shared Value practice and all of the firm’s work in Europe. He has presented at dozens of conferences and written on numerous subjects spanning shared value, collective impact, agricultural development, impact measurement, and the mechanics of collaboration. In 2013 and 2016 respectively, he authored “Innovating for Shared Value” and “The Ecosystem of Shared Value” in Harvard Business Review. Marc heads FSG’s Geneva office, and engages directly with many of the office’s projects and field research trips.

Prior to FSG, Marc served as Principal at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) based in Zürich (1991-2001). Prior to BCG and during his studies, he worked briefly at the World Economic Forum. Marc holds an M.B.A. from INSEAD and a B.A. with honours from Harvard in Government and History.

Michelle Constant

CEO Business and Arts South Africa

Michelle Constant has been the CEO at Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) for eight years. BASA is a 20-year-old Public-Private Partnership between the South African corporate sector and the Department of Arts and Culture. It is recognized as a change-maker and connector, with the aim of developing strategic partnerships between business and the arts sector in South Africa and the SADC region.

The BASA focus remains on Shared Value as a business and arts opportunity, as well as the use of Arts-Based Initiatives and Intelligence in the corporate sector and broader society. This focus is premised on the belief that the arts are valuable to society both intrinsically and economically.

Michelle serves as a non-executive director on the Board of South African Tourism. She writes a monthly column for different national newspapers and magazines focusing on arts policy, and the value of arts in broader society, including cultural tourism. In addition, she continues to host a weekly Lifestyle Show on national radio station SAFM.

She was an Ampersand Foundation Fellow in NYC in 2012, and in 2014 she graduated cum laude from the University of Pretoria Business School’s Social Entrepreneurship Programme. She also participated in the newly established GIBS Shared Value Workshop.

In 2015 Michelle won the CEO Magazine “Most Influential Women in Government and Business (Arts and Culture) in the SADC Region” Award, and in 2016 she was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the Government of France for her work in culture and the arts.

Barry Swartzberg

CEO: Vitality Group, Discovery Limited

CEO of Discovery Health’s founders, Barry currently serves as Group Executive Director responsible for International Strategy at the Group level, and Chief Executive Officer of Vitality Group, Discovery’s international ventures arm.

He graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand with a BSc degree majoring in Actuarial Science and Mathematical Statistics. In 1990, he was admitted as a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries (Edinburgh).

JJ de Castro Maia

Founder & CEO, Bjala Social Urban Enterprise

JJ is an urbanist from Johannesburg. He founded Bjala (which means to plant) in 2012 to provide holistic urban solutions to the challenges presented by urbanism, specifically those found in South Africa.

With an initial focus on low-income housing, JJ and his team have been pioneering the idea that social profits and financial profits are not mutually exclusive in the built environment sector. As a result, Bjala has developed the citizenship model.

He is a director on the board of the Bjala Foundation, a non-profit entity focused on community based urban programs in Johannesburg. JJ also serves as a director in Streetlight Schools, a Johannesburg based primary education non-profit.
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Nthabiseng Lempe

CEO, Lempe Advisory Services

Nthabiseng is the CEO at Lempe Advisory Services, a consulting company offering Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE)/transformation solutions. Nthabiseng has a National Diploma in Small Business Management from the University of Johannesburg.

She has worked as a B-BBEE professional for over 6 years, first as a Verification Analyst specializing in assessing complex ownership structures and later as a B-BBEE consultant.

Her practice was sparked by her passion for small business compliance which has a direct impact on the successful running of business enterprises in South Africa.

Derek Bouwer

Former Group Chief Executive Officer TBWA Group

Educated in Johannesburg, Derek completed his Bachelor of Commerce Degree and his Bachelor of Accounting Degree at the University of the Witwatersrand. Derek qualified as a Chartered Accountant (SA) in 1996 after completing articles with Ernst & Young.

In October 1996, Derek joined the TBWA Group and, after spending 9 years in various commercial and operational roles in the Group, Derek was appointed Group Chief Executive Officer in September 2010 and charged with leadership, growth & development of TBWA’s business in Africa.

An experienced executive who has a passion for people and subscribes to leading from the front, Derek looks to combines well-informed business strategy with rigorous implementation in order to achieve impactful outcomes. Having been active in building networks in Africa for the past 10 years, Derek believes that Africa represents one of our greatest opportunities for learning and growth.

Derek is married with two young children and, in his spare time, can be found testing his legs in the bike lane that runs through the Cradle of Humankind.

Elmarie Pereira

Vodacom Change the World Volunteer

Corporate Telecommunications Executive, Elmarie has over 14 years of experience managing operations and related sales channels, with expertise in developing client services and streamlining delivery of products and services. Elmarie lost her sister to Gender Based

Violence and this is part of the reason she teamed up with Memeza through the Vodacom Change the World programme.

Thuli Mthethwa

CEO, Memeza Community Safety

A software developer turned entrepreneur and innovator, Thuli utilised her 17 year technical and development background to develop the MeMeZa Community Safety Alarm which utilises a rich back-end that allows for valuable data and intelligence to be captured in real time, the Memeza Community Safety Alarm won the GovTech ICT Award of 2016, and was a finalist in the TT100 awards.

Kirsten Sims

Good Business Journey Analyst, Woolworths

Kirsten hails from an environmental science background and after a number of years in the sustainability consulting industry in a large international engineering consultancy she now works as a specialist at Woolworths corporate head office in Cape Town. She is a part of the core team coordinating and embedding the Good Business Journey Strategy (including inherent plans and targets) across the business including corporate and store operations as well as the supply chain.

She has a passion for innovative ideas and enabling the creation of shared value for the environment and people as well as understanding how we can continue to evolve within the earth’s limited sphere.

Ryan Short

Partner at Genesis Analytics, Head of Shared Value Practice

Ryan is a management consultant specialising in corporate societal strategy. He works with executives to measure and articulate the socio-economic value of their company to society; to design strategies of shared value; to respond strategically to public policy pressures; and to build partnerships and manage dialogue with important groups.

His clients include Anglo American, Standard Bank, De Beers, Liberty, Momentum, Growthpoint, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and Emirates Airlines. His previous public sector clients include the National Treasury, GEPF, dti, UK Government, and World Bank Group.

Ryan holds a BCom in Economics and LLB from University of KwaZulu-Natal, and MSc in International Politics (cum laude) from the University of Edinburgh. Before joining Genesis he was legal counsel at JP Morgan.

He is the only Africa-based accredited consultant of the Shared Value Initiative.

Ryan is visiting lecturer on Shared Value strategy, and business-government relations at GIBS.

Dimakatso Malwela

Founder & CEO, Women of Value SA

Dimakatso is currently serving in the position of CEO of Women of Value SA, as well as Chairperson of Women in Tourism for the SADC Region. She holds an honorary doctorate in Theology for community capacity building programmes and social upliftment in addition to a degree in Informatics from UNISA.

She chairs the Women in Tourism Steering Committee for the SADC region under the formation of RETOSA (Regional Tourism Organisation in Southern Africa). The committee ensures that Member States are represented and women empowerment programmes are implemented across the Region. She is also a Chairperson for the Gauteng Cooperatives Provincial Working Group under the Gauteng Department of Economic Development, the group ensures the development of cooperatives within Gauteng. She’s Managing Director of Nhlankanipho Consulting, a manufacturing and consulting business. Dimaktso also mentors on the Gauteng Premier’s Office’s Young Woman Development programme.

Miles Murphy

Founder & CEO, Liquorice – Digitaslbi

Miles is the Founder & CEO of Liquorice, one of Africa’s leading digital marketing agencies and part of the DigitasLBi network.

Over the past 25 years as a management consultant, client and agency manager/owner, Miles worked with major brands all over the world helping them harness mobile, web CRM, social networking and direct marketing.

With a post graduate work at University of Southern California and the London School of Economics, and a career involving work in the UK, Europe, Japan, US and South Africa, Miles is a true global citizen. Miles had senior management roles in some of the industry’s leading business including: Red Cell London (CEO) — WPP’s most creative international agency, Grey Direct (MD), Lowe Group (Planning Director), Seeboard (Managing Director) and Price Waterhouse Coopers (Management Consultant).

In 2014, Miles sold Liquorice to Publics Groupe and aligned the agency to Digitas LBi giving the network leadership in Africa. Key clients Miles has advised include, P&G, Mars, Diagio, Sainsbury’s, GSK, Oracle, Microsoft, SAB Miller, Pioneer Foods, BAT, Distell, Lloyds Bank, Sainsburys, Morgan Stanley, Porsche Cars and Lexus Cars.

Deirdre King

Head of Brand Experience, Nando’s

Deirdre recently joined Nando’s as the Head of Brand Experience from The Walt Disney Company after 5 years as the Head of Marketing and Communications for all of TWDC marketing for South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa.

Her integrated marketing communications company The Purple Apricot PTY Ltd. which she started in 2001 catered for many top brands for nearly a decade including Steers, Debonaires, King Consolidated Holdings, KFC, and Microsoft Channel Partners to name a few. She even developed her own cosmetics brand DV8 [expressions] which is a luxury brand centred around empowerment for women – a topic close to Deirdre’s heart.

Deirdre is passionate about sharing the knowledge she has accumulated over more than 25 years’ experience in the advertising, marketing and public relations industries. To this end she is well experienced on the seminar circuit on topics including the integration of PR, advertising and marketing; Customer Service and how to deal with difficult customers. She has also published articles on marketing, advertising and communications in the SA Finance Investment and Business Annual, and journals like Your Business. In 2009 Deirdre was nominated as “Inspiring Woman 2009″ by a network of 30 000 women and has also been a key speaker at various networks and conferences..

Thomas van Viegen

EY Associate Director, Climate Change & Sustainability Services

Starting off his career in developing environmental public policy Thomas was instrumental in rooting environment, and specifically sensitive environments, into framework environmental legislation. By ensuring the inclusion of the Environmental Management Framework (EMF) concept in the provisions of the National Environmental Management Act.

The strategic nature and usefulness of the EMFs were recognised as an essential spatial tool to inform national and regional development planning. This afforded Thomas the unique opportunity to participate in influencing parliament and the National Growth and Development Strategy along an environmentally responsible growth trajectory. Participating in the strategic environmental dialogue of a new and emerging democracy.

With a background powerfully embedded in environmental policy and impact management, he entered the private sector quagmire. For the next decade he built up the environmental division of the then Africon, now Aurecon – one of the most prominent road engineers in Africa.

Having been somewhat removed from influencing the strategic environmental conversation, he took a tactical position at EY responsible for developing the environmental practice in Africa under the Climate Change and Sustainability Service line. This has opened the strategic environmental discussion with corporate South Africa, on matters of environmental stewardship, resource use and security, and the ‘social license to operate” Pandora’s box.

Helen Botes

CEO Joburg Property Company

Helen Botes has been at the helm of the Joburg Property Company since 2008. She has successfully repositioned the company by aggressively implementing the JPC Turnaround Strategy. In 2012 the City transferred the Metro Trading Company as well as its entire Facilities Management and Maintenance to her portfolio where she managed the integration of these businesses to the JPC.

The company continues to post strong operational and financial performance. Some of the projects delivered during her tenure include the Soweto Theatre, the R1.3 billion Newtown Junction Mall, the Office Space Optimisation (OSO) programme budgeted at R12 billion. The JPC is the first municipality to deliver a fully reconciled asset register in the country of approximately 30 000 land parcels.

Ms Botes developed and managed the transactional relationship for the City, which included fifteen bank accounts with various financial institutions. She also led the management, the compilation and consolidation of the prospectus of the City’s first listed bonds on the Bond Exchange of South Africa which raised R1 billion for the City. She also led the prospectus of the City’s first Domestic Medium Term Note.

Ms Botes holds a Masters in Business, and various financial qualifications. She is strongly committed to continuous education for her and her staff, as well as the transformation of the property industry.

Doug Place

Chief Marketing Officer, Nando’s Southern Africa

Doug has served in his current position since late 2015 where he is responsible for all components of the marketing function for restaurants in South Africa and neighbouring territories.

Prior to that Doug held the position of Marketing Executive of Ster-Kinekor Theatres, overseeing all marketing activities across South Africa and African cinemas. Before joining Ster-Kinekor, he worked at Cadbury South Africa and Snackworks (AVI), stewarding many of South Africa’s favourite consumer brands to record market share highs under his leadership.

Doug has received more than 30 international and national marketing and advertising awards most recently a Grand Prix Loerie and three gold Loerie Awards for Ster-Kinekor “#Open Eyes” campaign.

In 2016 the Loeries rated Doug as one of the top marketing ambassadors in South Africa. In 2015 Doug was recognized by Destiny Man Magazine as one of South Africa’s ‘Young and Powerful’ industry leaders. In early 2014 Doug was named one of the “Top 40 Under 40” in South African media personnel by The Media publication. His contribution to the marketing community is also evident in the fact that he has formally lectured and guest lectures on various marketing topics at The University of the Witwatersrand, University of Johannesburg, and The AAA School of Advertising.

Doug is a Wits graduate and holds a B.Com degree (Marketing & Business Finance) and B.Com Honours Degree (Marketing), both degrees he passed Cum Laude and at the top of his class (top marketing student and top Honours post graduate in 2004).

Genevieve Leveille

Founder, 0TenTic8

Genevieve is Founder of 0TenTic8, a FinTech venture aiming to empower agricultural producers by democratizing their access to financial services and improving the transparency of the supply chain.  Their first product, AgriLedger, a distributed Cryptoledger Mobile App that acts as an incorruptible source of truth. AgriLedger won the special prize from Singularity University at the recent FinTechJam in London.

Genevieve serves as the vice-chair for the techUK Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) Working Group. The DLT Working Group will provide strategic direction for all techUK activities related to blockchain and DLT. It will consider what action can be taken to industrialise, support blockchain technology readiness, help organisations with adoption and consider use cases not limited to financial services but a wide range of other sectors, including, the Internet of Things, smart energy & utilities, smart contracts and government.

FinTech is about problem solving, rethinking old problems and building the technology to make things easier, faster and less costly.  Genevieve’s attitude towards change and new technologies are reflected in her successful journey and her recent selection as a finalist in the Women in IT Awards 2016 in the category ‘Security Champion’.  Genevieve continues to gather additional recognitions for her work, she was recently recognized as of the Women in Fintech PowerList 2016 published by Innovate Finance.

Having deep understanding of the moving parts and pain points in the financial sector, Genevieve’s ambition is to collaborate on and build innovative solutions to address inefficiencies and obstacles towards the simplification of the customer journeys.

Contact details:

Genevieve@0TenTic8.com

Twitter: @ginouinlondon

Twitter:     https://twitter.com/GinouInLondon

LinkedIn:  https://uk.linkedin.com/in/genevieveleveille

David Blyth

Chief Executive Officer, Yellowwood

David is a marketing and brand strategy practitioner. With a deep knowledge in research-based insight, data analytics and strategy development.across many different markets and industry sectors, he has led projects for Absa/Barclays, Airtel, Bank of America Merril Lynch, BMW, DStv, Liberty, Merck Serono, Nedbank, Old Mutual, Primedia Group, Telkom, Standard Bank and Virgin Active.

David is a serial entrepreneur. Agency schooled at Grey and TBWA he has been involved in digital since 1995 as Strategy Director at tool (TBWA / Hunt Lascaris), MD of tinderbox and as global head of eBusiness at De Beers. Prior to joining Yellowwood, David was MD at Enterprise IG (Brand Union) and principal consultant at boutique marketing strategy company Everystone in London.

David cares passionately about deepening the marketing industry’s thought leadership and developing business and marketing models that create shared value and drive growth across the African context.

David is a prior Chairman of the South African Communication Design Council, the Digital Interactive Media Association and a prior Director of the Brand Council of South Africa. He has a BCom in Marketing & Business Administration and an Honours Degree in Advanced Strategic Marketing & Business Economics.

Zaakira Mahomed

Founding Member & Director at Mina Cup and Happy With a Purpose

Business woman, entrepreneur and founding member of HAPPY WITH A PURPOSE and MINA menstrual cups. In 2013, she was one of 300 women chosen from thousands of applicants to participate in the Goldman Sachs 10 000 Women Empowerment Programme at the prestigious Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), in Johannesburg South Africa.

Zaakira was also awarded the “WOMAN IN BUSINESS 2014/2015” award by the South African Turkish Business Association of South Africa (SATBA) for her efforts to uplift communities.

Marcel Rossouw

Service Design Lead, Fjord Design & Innovation, Accenture Interactive South Africa

Marcel has been active in the digital design and communication industry for over 18 years. He currently leads Accenture’s Design & Innovation capability in South Africa.

His current practice and interests lie in fields of design strategy and related methodologies, and the fostering of design lead innovation and leadership within large organisations.

Douglas Kativu

Director, Focal Point South Africa, Global Reporting Initiative

As Director, Focal Point South Africa for the Global Reporting Initiative, Douglas is responsible for advancing the GRI’s mission in priority countries namely Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Mauritius and South Africa.

Before taking up this role he served on the GRI Stakeholder Council for 5 years, and the G4 Supply Chain Working Group. Douglas has more than 10-years work experience on implementing multi-stakeholder based sustainability interventions in Africa. Douglas holds tertiary qualifications in Environmental Management, and Applied Physics with research in renewable energy, and professional qualifications in ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001.

He was a key resource in setting up the Corporate Responsibility Forum Liberia and Responsible Business Initiative- DRC. Douglas was a member of the ISO 26000 Social Responsibility guidance standard expert group, country representative for Air Pollution Information Network Africa, Agribusiness Accountability Initiative Africa Forum, and Juror on the SEED Initiative for action on Sustainable Development and Green Economy.

Meenakshi Gujral

Lecturer, School of Economic & Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand

Meenakshi has been lecturing at the School of Economic & Business Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. She has more than 11 years of experience in research and academics from Delhi University and Amity University She has worked with agencies such as The World Bank, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India and NCERT (National Council of Educational Research & Training).

Her research interests include the areas of rural marketing, creativity & technology innovation, inter-disciplinary research including sustainability issues especially at the bottom of pyramid, buying behaviour and psychographics of consumers with an emphasis on trends and contemporary issues.

She has participated in numerous national and international seminars and conferences and conceptualized various committees for bringing academic and institutional excellence. She has several research publications both national and international. Meenakshi holds a Master’s Degree, in Resource Management and Extension from Delhi University, India and also holds a higher post-graduation from Michigan State University, Michigan, USA.

She is currently finalizing her PhD in the area of business model innovation and sustainable development, at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Claire Reid

Chief Impact Officer & Founder, Reel Gardening

Claire founded Reel Gardening in 2009 with her partner Sean Blanckenberg. Having obtained her Masters in Architecture from the University of Pretoria in 2010, Claire attributes her business management style to the creative thinking skills she learnt while becoming an Architect.

An innovator and an entrepreneur at heart, she has an ability to look at processes and products and see a simpler, better method of getting the job done. At the age of 16, she applied these skills to the process of vegetable gardening and subsequently invented and patented a new process for planting seed known today as Reel Gardening.

Claire is an Ambassador for the Richard Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship as well as a regular speaker on social entrepreneurship at both the Wits Business School and the Gordon Institute of Business Science.

Gary Greyling

Managing Director, Mpowered Business Solutions

Gary Greyling is the Managing Director at Mpowered Business Solutions, one of the leading providers of technology-based B-BBEE solutions in South Africa. Gary has a B.Sc in Software Engineering and spent most of his career building systems aimed at helping companies improve their engagement in Economic Development policies.

He is passionate about the power that statutory policy has to change lives, and believes that with the right tooling and mindset, business can drive happiness into the lives of all it touches.

Sanda Ojiambo

Head of Corporate Responsibility, Safaricom (Kenya)

Sanda Ojiambo is the Head of Corporate Responsibility at Safaricom, where she manages the Social Innovation, Sustainability, Environmental Management, Social Policy and the Corporate Social Investment portfolios. Sanda has over 9 years’ experience in multi sectoral policy and development work in the NGO sector working extensively throughout Saharan Africa; and seven years’ corporate sector experience in Kenya.

She previously worked as the Director of Programmes at the Africa Regional Office of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, where she provided technical and strategic leadership for the development and implementation of women’s health programmes in over 40 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Sanda has also worked at CARE International, UNDP Somalia and Planned Parenthood Federation of America- International; where she has managed a range of development projects including community based health and education interventions; NGO capacity building, women’s empowerment and sexual and reproductive health.

She has a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Development Economics. Sanda is passionate about contributing to Kenya’s development agenda and the evolving and growing role of technology in providing socio-economic development solutions.

Christelle Kwizera

CEO Water Access Rwanda

Christelle Kwizera, 23, is a mechanical engineer and social entrepreneur from Rwanda. She founded and currently she heads Water Access Rwanda, a social enterprise that is providing simple, affordable and durable water solutions to Rwandans while employing young people to be the solution providers.

WARwanda has provided water to 40 communities and offers services and products in the sector of sustainable access to clean water for the BoP markets of Rwanda, Burundi and DRC. Christelle graduated in magna cum laude in Mechanical Engineering at the Oklahoma Christian University in the USA. She is a passionate activist involved in youth advocacy and activism with several initiatives. She travels all over Africa to empower grassroots drilling enterprises to professionalize their work through inexpensive geo-surveying, a domain she has just published a peer-reviewed research paper. She works with Water4, a leading US NGO that supports manual drilling enterprises all over Africa, through managing logistics for their teams in Francophone Africa. A devoted believer with many talents and gifts, Christelle lives to see God’s plan fulfilled in her life.

Dr. Gavin Armstrong

Founder & CEO, Lucky Iron Fish (Cambodia/Canada)

Recipient of the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 award in the Social Entrepreneur category in 2016, Gavin is a long term advocate and activist against hunger and malnutrition, he is the first Canadian to receive the William J. Clinton Award for international work against hunger and is the inaugural recipient of the international Michaelle Jean Emergency Hunger Relief Award. In 2015 Conscious Company Magazine featured Gavin as one of the seventeen ‘Rising Social Entrepreneurs’ of the year. In 2016 he was awarded with the Social Innovator of the Year Award from the Lewis Institute at Babson College.

Dr. Gavin Armstrong is committed impact entrepreneur. He is currently serving as the Founder and President of Lucky Iron Fish™, a social enterprise attempting to alleviate iron deficiency around the world using a simple health innovation. Through this role he was awarded the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 in the Social Entrepreneur category in 2016.

Gavin holds an honours bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Guelph. During this time he was elected as the Communications and Corporate Affairs Commissioner for the student union, served on the Senate, the Board of Governors, the Presidential Task Force on Sustainability, the BetterPlanet Project steering committee and cabinet (the capital campaign of the University), and as the student co-chair for the United Way Campaign.

He is also a 2015 fellow at the Unreasonable Institute in Boulder Colorado and has a PhD in biomedical science from the University of Guelph.

Maria Cristina Papetti

Head of Innovation & Sustainability, Enel Global (Italy)

Born in Milan, Maria studied Foreign Languages and Literature at Silvio Pellico School for Interpreters and then at IULM University. She worked for Edison, Ferrovie dello Stato, Trenitalia before joining Enel in September 2007.

She has since been in charge of Executive Education and the Cross Cultural Centre, International Internal Communication and in January 2012 she was appointed Head of External Relations of Enel Green Power, managing at an international level both Communications and Sustainability activities where she began the deployment of the Creating Shared Value (CSV) approach inside the company.

Since October 2014, she has led the Sustainability Projects and Practice Sharing Unit, within the Innovation & Sustainability Function of Enel Holding, taking charge among others, of the CSV deployment throughout the business value chain across the entire Group: a sustainability model embedded into business which allows the business to increase its competitive advantage and capture new opportunities which tackle social needs.

Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Sehat Kahani

Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Sehat Kahani. Sehat Kahani is a social impact initiative of Community Innovation Hub based in Pakistan. Sehat Kahani works on improving basic health care in communities through a spectrum of services focused on primary health care consultation, health awareness and health counselling.

Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram has won notable awards such as CRDF Global, Ashoka Changemakers, ISIF Asia, the Unilever Sustainable living Young Entrepreneurs Awards and the Unicef- Global Goal Campaigner Award 2016 for her role formerly with doctHERs. She has been part of a well-known accelerator in Pakistan; Invest2 Innovate. She is also a part of regional Acumen fellowship cohort 2016.

Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram has been born and bred in Karachi. She has done her MBBS from DOW University of Health Sciences. Currently, she is enrolled in the Health Policy Management Programme at The Aga Khan University of Health sciences.

Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram enjoys Travel, Music but majority of her personal time is dedicated towards her 3 year old daughter!