INNOVATE™ South Africa

Innovations of the World

INNOVATE™ South Africa

South Africa is a country rich with innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. INNOVATE™ South Africa is a showcase of all the innovators and thought leaders who are making a positive difference across the region, reinforcing South Africa’s position as a growing hub of innovation and entrepreneurship.

INNOVATE™ South Africa is a unique 350+ page premium coffee-table book featuring the top home-grown innovators and innovation enablers who are shifting the landscape across South Africa. INNOVATE™ South Africa is also available as an e-book and an online platform, representing a network with a common goal of ensuring the region’s top innovators connect and succeed. In the spirit of innovation, the book is embedded with augmented reality video, delivering true convergence of offline and online platforms, enabling the book to literally come alive in your hands, much like Harry Potter’s newspaper!

For further information please contact Anne Kirkpatrick: [email protected]

Featured Thought Leaders

Featured Thought Leaders

Featured Innovators

Featured Innovators

HOME OF MY OWN

HOME OF MY OWN-MANY SOUTH AFRICANS STRUGGLE FINANCIALLY BECAUSE THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND THE VITAL ROLE HOMEOWNERSHIP PLAYS IN GETTING AHEAD FINANCIALLY

MANY SOUTH AFRICANS STRUGGLE FINANCIALLY BECAUSE THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND THE VITAL ROLE HOMEOWNERSHIP PLAYS IN GETTING AHEAD FINANCIALLY

At Home of My Own, we are passionate about homeownership because:• It generates wealth for homeowners and their families• Creates a more stable home environment• Results in better educational and behavioral outcomes for children• Improves physical and mental health homeowners• Builds stronger and more engaged communities Our mission is to...

4C GROUP OF COMPANIES

4C GROUP OF COMPANIES-ENABLING MILLIONS OF MOBILE SUBSCRIBERS TO CONNECT

ENABLING MILLIONS OF MOBILE SUBSCRIBERS TO CONNECT, ENGAGE AND TRANSACT EVERY DAY

In 1993, the first GSM Networks were installed in Africa opening the door to exciting new business opportunities in the telecommunications sector. 4C Group’s journey began a decade later when our pioneering founder, Rudolph Du Plessis, combined his extensive on the ground experience in information technology with a desire to...

CINEVATION

CINEVATION -ENTERTAINMENT IS OUR BUSINESS! IT BEGAN WITH A DINNER. AND A DREAM

ENTERTAINMENT IS OUR BUSINESS! IT BEGAN WITH A DINNER. AND A DREAM

Throw in some “What if…” blue sky thinking, a good dollop of youth and passion and Cinevation was born. It was 1997 and cinemas were 35mm which meant advertising took months to produce and was so expensive that it was reserved only for the big guys. Over a glass of...

TRANSNET PORT TERMINALS (TPT)

TRANSNET PORT TERMINALS (TPT)-INNOVATION IN SOUTH AFRICA’S PORTS

INNOVATION IN SOUTH AFRICA’S PORTS

INNOVATION IN THE PORT SECTOR Innovate to Compete Transnet Port Terminals (TPT), a division of Transnet SOC Ltd is responsible for the operations of 16 port terminals across seven of South Africa’s ports. More than 9,000 employees work diligently every day to ensure that containers, cars, bulk, and break-bulk cargo...

GLOBAL E-TALENT

GLOBAL E-TALENT- MEETING YOUR TALENT ACQUISITION NEEDS

MEETING YOUR TALENT ACQUISITION NEEDS

Global e-Talent Pty Ltd (GeT) is a young Sandton, Johannesburg-based talent search, placement, and onboarding firm. It partners with both private and public organisations, to meet their talent acquisition needs and that such talent is adequately integrated into their business. Behind the conventional recruitment agency, behind it sits a very...

FLOW

FLOW- IS FLIPPING THE PROPERTY INDUSTRY

IS FLIPPING THE PROPERTY INDUSTRY

FLOW IS DEMOCRATISING THE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY’S ARCHAIC OPERATING MODEL FOR AGENTS, EMPOWERING THEM IN A DIGITAL WORLD AND GIVING BUYER, SELLER AND AGENT THE BENEFIT OF A BETTER, MORE TRANSPARENT AND COST-EFFECTIVE PROCESS. THE FACE OF TECHNOLOGY CAN STILL BE HUMAN – AND FLOW MAKES SURE THAT ESTATE AGENTS...

THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL ROADS AGENCY SOC LTD (SANRAL)

THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL ROADS AGENCY SOC LTD (SANRAL)- IN LINE WITH GOVERNMENT’S COMMITMENT TO TRANSFORM THE PUBLIC SECTOR

IN LINE WITH GOVERNMENT’S COMMITMENT TO TRANSFORM THE PUBLIC SECTOR, THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL ROADS AGENCY SOC LTD (SANRAL) WAS ESTABLISHED IN APRIL 1998 BY AN ACT OF PARLIAMENT, AS AN INDEPENDENT STATUTORY COMPANY OPERATING ALONG COMMERCIAL LINES AND AT ARM’S LENGTH FROM GOVERNMENT

WITH A MANDATE TO FINANCE, DEVELOP AND MAINTAIN THE NATIONAL ROAD NETWORK OF OVER 22 000 KM, SANRAL LEADS THE WAY ON INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN A POST-COVID SOUTH AFRICA.   Innovation is at the forefront of SANRAL’s agenda in the infrastructure development space. In recent years the Agency has increasingly...

M&C SAATCHI ABEL

M&C SAATCHI ABEL-SINCE ITS INCEPTION

SINCE ITS INCEPTION, THE M&C SAATCHI ABEL STORY IS ONE OF AUDACITY, TENACITY AND AN UNWAVERING BELIEF THAT ALL PROBLEMS CAN BE SOLVED WITH HOT CREATIVITY

What began as an unfurnished open space on the fourth floor of The Hudson Building in De Waterkant, Cape Town, with 13 people in 2010, is today a growing agency with over 250 talented, creative and diverse people, across a Cape Town and Johannesburg campus, and an agency that has...

Bank Zero

A SIMPLE YET ADVANCED DIGITAL BANK, FOR BUSINESSES AND INDIVIDUALS

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...

ELEGANT FUEL

CHANGING THE FACE OF FUEL IN SOUTH AFRICA – ONE FORECOURT AT A TIME

We are a young, innovative and ever-expanding company. All our ventures are driven by a passionate, entrepreneurial spirit and the desire to meet our customers’ needs....

KUDOTI

KUDOTI- A TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM THAT ENABLES FMCG BRANDS TO TRACE THEIR WASTE MATERIAL

A TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM THAT ENABLES FMCG BRANDS TO TRACE THEIR WASTE MATERIAL, PROVIDES REALTIME DATA FOR BETTER DECISION MAKING AND IMPROVES SUSTAINABLE MATERIAL PROCUREMENT

Kudoti was founded in 2019, offering a tailored solution based on our clients sustainability goals and offers an end-to-end solution from developing strategy with our clients, implementation thereof, and right through to tracking and tracing and reporting, enabling brands to become fully circular through real-time data. Unlike solutions from outside...

GIRLS FLY PROGRAM AFRICA FOUNDATION

GIRLS FLY PROGRAM AFRICA FOUNDATION- AVIATION AND SPACE TECHNOLOGY FOR SOUTH AFRICAN GIRLS – UNLEASHING THEIR POTENTIAL

AVIATION AND SPACE TECHNOLOGY FOR SOUTH AFRICAN GIRLS – UNLEASHING THEIR POTENTIAL

In SA, despite the gains girls have made in access and efficiency markers of education, they still lag boys in quality of performance in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM). Even though, more girls than boys sat the Grade 12 examination in math and physical science, boys outperformed girls...

HEAVY CHEF

HEAVY CHEF -THERE’S A SAYING THAT GOES NEVER TRUST A SKINNY CHEF. THIS GOES FOR BUSINESS ADVISORS

THERE’S A SAYING THAT GOES NEVER TRUST A SKINNY CHEF. THIS GOES FOR BUSINESS ADVISORS, CONSULTANTS, AND EXPERTS, TOO

A Heavy Chef is someone that speaks authoritatively about a specific subject because they have vast experience in that area. Some of our Heavy Chefs are not internationally known but still making a notable impact in their spaces, or who’s been performing notable work in the background. It is someone...

AGGREKO

AGGREKO- GOING GREEN – MEETING GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL GOALS WITH CLEAN ENERGY

GOING GREEN – MEETING GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL GOALS WITH CLEAN ENERGY

South Africa will have to make a distinct shift to embrace the new norms in global climate and energy landscape discussions. Current infrastructure relies heavily on fuels that are not necessarily the most environmentally friendly, and this poses a threat to the country’s role in a global energy sector with...

MYSOCIALIFE

MYSOCIALIFE- IS AN EDTECH TRAINING PROGRAM THAT TRAINS PRE-TEENS AND TEENS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD ABOUT ONLINE SAFETY

IS AN EDTECH TRAINING PROGRAM THAT TRAINS PRE-TEENS AND TEENS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD ABOUT ONLINE SAFETY, DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP AND MEDIA LITERACY, IN ORDER TO FIRST MAKE THEM CONSCIOUS AND AWARE OF SAFETY ONLINE, WHICH WILL ULTIMATELY ALLOW THEM TO EXPLORE INTELLIGENTLY AND LATER EXCEL IN A COMPETITIVE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

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,...

CARBON1

CARBON1-PIONEERING SOUTH AFRICA’S DIGITAL MARKETING TRANSFORMATION

PIONEERING SOUTH AFRICA’S DIGITAL MARKETING TRANSFORMATION

Let’s start at the beginningBack in 2009, Programmatic ad buying was in its infancy locally, despite its success being celebrated internationally. This spurred on the birth of Mark1, a company that would go on to pioneer technology and data-driven media buying in the South African market. Fast forward to 2020,...

THE MAKERSPACE

THE MAKERSPACE- WE DRIVE SOCIAL COHESION THROUGH THE COMMON LANGUAGE OF MAKING

WE DRIVE SOCIAL COHESION THROUGH THE COMMON LANGUAGE OF MAKING, A LANGUAGE THAT TRANSCENDS CLASS & CULTURE AND THAT UPLIFTS AS IT ENLIGHTENS

By leveraging the natural generosity inherent in maker culture, the project is able to unlock a new level of efficiency in skills transfer. Creating a safe environment where anyone can learn to use new technologies, where experienced professionals can share their knowledge and help the next generation. Makers” make things,...

FLOW COMMUNICATIONS

FLOW COMMUNICATIONS- WHERE MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS MAGIC HAPPENS

WHERE MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS MAGIC HAPPENS

Flow Communications believes in working with great people, on work it loves, and on work that will make the world a better place. That’s not a glib statement. Indeed, it goes to the very heart of what kind of company Flow is: it speaks to its values and integrity, how...

INTEGER HOTSPOT

INTEGERHOTSPOT- THE INNO-GRATION AGENCY

THE INNO-GRATION AGENCY

“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...

CITI

CITI-TWENTY-TWO YEARS AGO

TWENTY-TWO YEARS AGO, THE CAPE INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE (CITI) SEEDED IT’S VISION OF A FUTURE FIT INCLUSIVE SOCIETY, IN THE WESTERN CAPE, THEN A PREDOMINANTLY AGRARIAN ECONOMY

Using Michael Porter’s cluster theory as a cornerstone of its strategy, CiTi designed interventions to grow, transform and enable a leading digital economy on the continent.   CiTi’s interventions have been acknowledged to have supported South Africa’s charge to the top of the inaugural fDi Africa “Tech Ecosystems of the...

DATADISTILLR

DATADISTILLR- COLLABORATE AND EXPLORE DATA LIKE NEVER BEFORE

COLLABORATE AND EXPLORE DATA LIKE NEVER BEFORE

Data is the source of all learning, and nothing should get in the way of that. Data should be easy to access and explore. We spend too long working on our data instead of with our data. Data tells a story, and it’s our job to unearth and tell that...

RAILRUNNER

RAILRUNNER - NECESSITY IS ONE OF THE DRIVERS OF INNOVATION

NECESSITY IS ONE OF THE DRIVERS OF INNOVATION, INITIATED BY CHANGE IN CIRCUMSTANCES, FACTORS OF INFLUENCE, ECONOMIC REQUIREMENTS AND JUST A DESIRE TO WORK BETTER AND SMARTER

With the rapid growth of the logistics industry, it became necessary to develop systems limiting the handling of cargo to speed up the delivery process. During the 1990’s the late Harry Wicks, of Buffalo, NY, USA developed and patented early RailRunner concepts for a bimodal transportation system designed to take...

RESPEK NATURE

RESPEK NATURE-PLANTS SPEKBOOM

PLANTS SPEKBOOM, A CO2 CAPTURING INDIGENOUS SUCCULENT, ON TRACTS OF DENUDED LAND NEAR GRAAFF-REINET AND IN THE LARGER KAROO REGION OF SOUTH AFRICA. LAUNCHED IN AUGUST OF 2020, RESPEK IS A BLENDED DIGITAL AND BOTANICAL CARBON OFFSET PROGRAMME.

The hardy spekboom is considered a pioneer species within the Karoo thicket biome. This means that the plant itself can assist in the regeneration of the indigenous brush, with many other species benefitting from its shade and the nutrients it brings into the soil. As a succulent, spekboom is the...

THE GIANT FLAG

THE GIANT FLAG -IS A WORLD-FIRST GREEN INNOVATION PROJECT THAT CELEBRATES THE SPIRIT OF SOUTH AFRICA

IS A WORLD-FIRST GREEN INNOVATION PROJECT THAT CELEBRATES THE SPIRIT OF SOUTH AFRICA, HER LAND AND HER PEOPLE, WHILE BRINGING TOGETHER JOB CREATION, CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION, CLEAN ENERGY AND TOURISM

The Giant Flag is a world-first green innovation project that celebrates the spirit of South Africa, her land and her people, while bringing together job creation, climate change mitigation, clean energy and tourism. The Giant Flag will be made up of millions of coloured desert plants, agricultural tunnels, a tourism...

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The Publisher

Debbie Ihlenfeldt

Debbie has extensive experience in the advertising and media industry with a strong emphasis on purpose-driven communication. Aside from working alongside many multi-nationals and homegrown South African organizations, she has also helped shape communications at various NGOs within the healthcare sector. Debbie has a wide network and is a master at coordinating messaging and aligning... click to read more

Anne Kirkpatrick

Anne has a rather unique ability to connect people and their projects.  For the last 30 years she has immersed herself in the business of recognition and, besides a slight detour to run a media monitoring company in the mid-nineties, has devoted much of her career to recognising and rewarding talented individuals and their remarkable... click to read more

The Publisher

Debbie Ihlenfeldt

Debbie has extensive experience in the advertising and media industry with a strong emphasis on purpose-driven communication. Aside from working alongside many multi-nationals and homegrown South African organizations, she has also helped shape communications at various NGOs within the healthcare sector. Debbie has a wide network and is a master at coordinating messaging and aligning... click to read more

Anne Kirkpatrick

Anne has a rather unique ability to connect people and their projects.  For the last 30 years she has immersed herself in the business of recognition and, besides a slight detour to run a media monitoring company in the mid-nineties, has devoted much of her career to recognising and rewarding talented individuals and their remarkable... click to read more

Other Ecosystems