INNOVATE™ South Africa

“Innovation” has become a buzzword in businesses the world over. It evokes images of tech bros playing foosball in the office, of millennials taking team calls through AirPods while on the treadmill, and of AI-enhanced systems that can solve problems better than humans. Certainly, a business keeping up with tech...

Just over eight years ago the founder of YIEDI, Jayshree Naidoo and Jay Naidoo her business and life partner, sat across from a branding expert and outlined the vision for the company. They went on to describe a model that they had created, it was still drawn on a napkin...

FOUNDED IN 2008 IN MARYLAND WASHINGTON DC, 2U, INC. SET OUT TO CREATE THE WORLD’S BEST ONLINE EDUCATION AND THEY’VE BEEN DEFYING THE ODDS EVER SINCE. ALSO AROUND THE EXACT SAME TIME AND COINCIDING WITH THE BEGINNING OF THE MOOC REVOLUTION, GETSMARTER WAS ALSO FOUNDED. Early on in the industry,...

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were already a priority on the global health agenda, responsible for 70% of deaths at a significant and escalating cost to the international economy. The pandemic has magnified the importance of addressing lifestyle-related risk: global research demonstrates that more than 50% of COVID-19...

OUR CULTUREAs an organization, our modus operandi is fashioned around the concept of the Adinkra symbol from Ghana, ‘Nkonsonkonson’ also known as Chain link. A symbol of unity and human relations. A reminder that in unity lies strength. Flows into the Ubuntu philosophy from southern Africa, where the word means...

FINCLUSION GROUP IS ENHANCING FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN AFRICA BY COMBINING A WORLD-CLASS PRODUCT OFFERING WITH TOP OF THE LINE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES TO CATER FOR THE NEEDS OF THOSE TRADITIONALLY EXCLUDED FROM THE FORMAL FINANCIAL SECTOR. Finclusion Group is a diverse team of fintech professionals and entrepreneurs. They are passionate about...

The CEO and founder of Red-Lined International Terence Marsh had a goal of competing on the world stage at Dakar and established the business in 2013. We set out into the international market in search of a race car and returned to South Africa disillusioned at what the market had...

“Inno-gration”? For IntegerHotspot’s, true innovation, founded in full integration, has informed the approach and ethos since day one. And has afforded the agency an edge since before certain interpretations of “integration” infiltrated agency zeitgeist. THE INTEGRATION ARCHETYPEIntegerHotspot’s was founded in 1999 by advertising maverick, Di Wilson as Pod Communications. From...

In order to ensure this is successful, the South African-based educators also teach learners’ parents and their teachers too, as well as mental health professionals, helping to bridge the technological divide and provide the much-needed insights and tools to navigate a complex social landscape.   “The more we do that,...

BRAVE IDEAS ARE WHAT ENABLES A BRAND TO RELENTLESSLY CAPTURE THE ATTENTION AND LOYALTY OF CONSUMERS.   Creating a partnership based on shared responsibility enables clients and their agencies to build brands that become permanent fixtures in the hearts and minds of consumers. It is a philosophy and way of...

Mosquitoes. For most people around the world, their buzzing is merely an irritation and a disruption to sleep. For many in Africa, it is a deadly killer. Of all the beautiful, awe-inspiring and scary animals across this continent, one of its smallest insects wreaks the most tragedy and pain. To...

Retail Capital was born in 2011 as an idea on a white napkin. Those drawings became the framework of what ended up being the first Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) product for businesses in South Africa. Driven by a deep passion to support the SME sector, Retail Capital has since innovated...

Bank Zero is a unique and powerful App-based bank with Zero fees and a patented secure card. It caters for both individuals and businesses. Digital, social and financial connectedness is a reality and it’s also a very human trait. Bank Zero supports this directly in its innovative design. By friending...

A painting pig from Farm Sanctuary SA is hogging the limelight and inspiring animal lovers to make the connection between what they eat and the industries that they support.   When South African Joanne Lefson rescued a small piglet from a local industrialized hog facility in 2016, she knew this...

As businesses go, restaurants aren’t for the faint of heart. The hospitality industry is one of cutthroat competition. This industry demands discipline, dedication, constant innovation, passion, opportunity, and perseverance from restaurateurs, managers, kitchen staff, and front-of-house staff. Creating fine-dining cuisine is as much an art form as it is the science...

Blythedale Coastal Estate is a catalytic development with a makeup of near 5,000 residential opportunities including 350 retirement opportunities, Mega Retail and Mega Beach Resort Hotel and Entertainment Developments. The Development is on prime real estate on the North Coast of KwaZulu Natal and will boast schools, sports and more...

Rachel and Siya Kolisi founded the Kolisi Foundation with this belief in mind: it is through the power of listening that positive change can happen in South Africa. We need to listen to what people dealing with challenging circumstances really need. We need to listen to the people already working...

Mixed reality continues to grow exponentially because of its ability to help businesses and their employees complete crucial tasks faster, safer, and more efficiently. It also creates new ways to connect to customers and partners by blending the physical and digital worlds so that they coexist and interact in real-time....

Birthed from humble beginnings within the Eastern Cape, Dynamic Brands Manufacturing (Pty) Ltd began its journey when current CEO, John Kew, identified a unique gap in the dilutable dairy blend market. Like many great entrepreneurial minds before him, John believed in the power of ideas that at first may not...

Have you heard about (HashLips)? Only about 0.7 percent of the world’s population knows about blockchain technology. Less than 4 percent of the globe’s people hold any cryptocurrency. And, only a percentage of those people actually own NFTs.   Have you heard about the Sketchy Apes Book Club NFT Collection?...