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

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...

FINCLUSION GROUP

WHO ARE THE FINCLUSION GROUP?

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...

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...

NAHANA FOUNDATION

CREATIVITY CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

The Nahana Communications Group is a collective of leading specialist agencies that provide creative solutions across the marketing ecosystem....

SHARKS RUGBY UNION

SHARKS RUGBY UNION- NOT JUST BLACK AND WHITE

NOT JUST BLACK AND WHITE

Rugby isn’t the same as it was 20, or even 10, years ago. COVID-19 had also left a profound impact on sport. Such are the changes that the Sharks’ competition isn’t always facing them on the rugby pitch on Saturday afternoons. Instead, this team competes against other industries and entertainment...

SKYFIELD MARKETING

SKYFIELD MARKETING-WAS ESTABLISHED TO MEET THE GROWING DEMAND FOR EVENT TECHNOLOGIES AND DIGITAL EVENT BRANDING. THE COMPANY SERVICES MOSTLY ADVERTISING AGENCIES

WAS ESTABLISHED TO MEET THE GROWING DEMAND FOR EVENT TECHNOLOGIES AND DIGITAL EVENT BRANDING. THE COMPANY SERVICES MOSTLY ADVERTISING AGENCIES, EVENTS COMPANIES AS WELL AS LARGE CORPORATES

Event WiFi RentalsEvent venues often do not have adequate WiFi to service their visitors and this is where SKYFIELD will assist. At indoor events, the venue may have a fiber line but it is overloaded and slow, exhibitors often need to have fast WiFi to demonstrate their products or do...

CHEFS WAREHOUSE

CHEFS WAREHOUSE -WHIPPING UP A WINNING RECIPE

WHIPPING UP A WINNING RECIPE

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...

GOODBYE MALARIA

GOODBYE MALARIA-IT’S TIME TO SAY GOODBYE

IT’S TIME TO SAY GOODBYE, TO MALARIA

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...

YIEDI

YIEDI -A COMPANY DESIGNED BY ENTREPRENEURS FOR ENTREPRENEURS

A COMPANY DESIGNED BY ENTREPRENEURS FOR ENTREPRENEURS

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...

SHOUT-IT-NOW

SHOUT-IT-NOW - TACKLING HIV THROUGH INNOVATIVE

TACKLING HIV THROUGH INNOVATIVE, TECH-ENABLED, COMMUNITY-BASED PROGRAMMING

Shout-It-Now (Shout) is an innovative social enterprise, empowering youth to own their sexuality. We concentrate on hard to reach communities; we go to the places where they are, provide services they want, in such a way that they choose to keep coming back. We are a local South African organisation...

BAZ ART

ART SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS -BAZ-ART CREATES PUBLIC INTERACTION THROUGH URBAN ART

Co-founders Alexandre Tilmans (Sales, Marketing and Financial Director) and Melissa Cucci (Operations and Art Director) started the company in 2016 with the vision to make South Africa a flagship and main actor in the public art and marketing sector....

ELAN BLYTHEDALE COASTAL ESTATE

ELAN BLYTHEDALE COASTAL ESTATE-THE FUTURE OF ESTATE LIVING ON THE NORTH COAST OF KZN

THE FUTURE OF ESTATE LIVING ON THE NORTH COAST OF KZN

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...

CREATING KLEIN JAN

CREATING KLEIN JAN - CREATIVITY IN THE KALAHARI

CREATIVITY IN THE KALAHARI

When Michelin star chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen first laid eyes on Boscia House, a one-hundred-year-old farmhouse situated at the beautiful Tswalu Kalahari in the Northern Cape, he saw the vastness of the region as a canvas on which to create something special. Worlds away from the beautiful waters...

OGILVY

OGILVY-HOW FEARLESS PARTNERSHIPS DRIVE BRAND GROWTH

HOW FEARLESS PARTNERSHIPS DRIVE BRAND GROWTH

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...

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...

INC.AFRICA

INC.AFRICA -WHY AFRICA’S INNOVATION STORY MUST BE TOLD AND WHY INC.AFRICA IS WRITING THE NARRATIVE

WHY AFRICA’S INNOVATION STORY MUST BE TOLD AND WHY INC.AFRICA IS WRITING THE NARRATIVE

Why are there so many books about Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in online book stores and libraries, but so few of the innovators redefining Africa? “All you have to do is Google an African innovator and almost nothing pops up,” says researcher Nnamdi Oranye, who is also...

FLUX TRENDS

IS A BOUTIQUE TRENDS CONSULTANCY THAT SPECIALISES IN HELPING COMPANIES TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD WE LIVE IN AND WHERE WE ARE HEADED

The Flux research methodology falls under six pillars T.R.E.N.D.S. - Technology, Retail & Marketing, Economy, Natural world, Diplomacy and Sociocultural. These six pillars encapsulate all the business and consumer trends that companies need to be cognisant of....

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...

2U

2U’S- BOLD VISION FOR THE FUTURE

A BOLD VISION FOR THE FUTURE

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,...

NAYLOR AND CROY PHYSIOTHERAPY

NAYLOR AND CROY PHYSIOTHERAPY- SMARTS FOR SPORT

SMARTS FOR SPORT

Young girls can dare to dream big and aspire to greatness. Rene Naylor has 130 caps as part of the Springbok Rugby’s medical and management team. While Naylor is a physiotherapist, she is also a motivational speaker taking her story to girls and boys from all walks of life in...

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,...

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...

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,...

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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