INNOVATE™ South Africa

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 story of Nando’s is well-known to South Africans who grew up alongside us in our relatively new democracy. In 1987 two friends shared a meal at a humble Portuguese eatery in Rosettenville, Johannesburg. Here they were inspired by the taste of the African Bird’s Eye Chilli, a spice that...

We were never just advertising people wanting to do big TV ads, we were entrepreneurs wanting to build brands and businesses. We were also very inexperienced and naïve and while that made things much more challenging in the early years, it has made us more effective the more time has...

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...

Gabi Lowe and Pippa Shaper are Certified Life Coaches – experts in creating and teaching Authentic Resilience. Their mission is to train people to learn the tools and skills of authentic resilience, to recover from difficulties; to equip them with strategies to endure and overcome life’s challenges with a sustainable...

SnapScan is more than just a smartphone app. It’s a contactless, mobile payment solution that makes it easy and safe to pay and receive payments in a store, online, at home, and on the go.   Our storyFounded in 2013, SnapScan gained traction at markets and coffee shops in Stellenbosch....

Untapped potential: a breeding ground for innovation and disruption. South Africa is overflowing with infinite talent. Unlocking their potential means unlocking opportunities. Millennials are excelling by themselves and for themselves. South Africa’s students and junior talent are the very essence of untapped potential. They are breaking down barriers. Alexa Georga...

  I heard an apt soundbite from Tim Ferris on a recent podcast: ‘Your network is your net worth’, and for anyone contemplating starting a business, ‘who you know’ is always greater than ‘what you know’. “My main focus in 2010 was to give myself three months and then if...

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...

Chorus Call founder, Dr. Giorgio Coraluppi, started with Compunetics in 1968 when they won the US Navy contract for control and communications equipment, employed in the AWS (Anti-Submarine Warfare) program. The original idea grew to three companies that provide hardware, software, and conference services to the international markets. In 1990,...

The world is obsessed with changing businesses for good. Ask the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship South Africa (Branson Centre) for its take on that, and it’ll tell you that is actually a misnomer. Fundamentally, business is good. The focus of the Branson Centre is entrepreneurialism and social responsibility. The Branson...

Founded in 2017, by Melusi Tshabalala (creative professional, entrepreneur, author, speaker, humourist, language & culture activist), Everyday Speak is a culture, dialogue, language activism, advertising and design company. Driven by the ethos – Creativity can make the 21st century Africa’s century – Everyday Speak develops ideas and solutions that touch...

With experience in oil & gas, mining & metallurgy, infrastructure, petrochemical and clean power our team of experts perform structural, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, piping, platework (SMEIPP), tank, fabrication and management services for projects of all sizes and complexities within the company’s two business units, Construction and Turnarounds & Maintenance. The...

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...

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...

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...

Google’s mission is to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful with a firm commitment to improving people’s lives with technology. Africa is a hub of innovation and innovative uses of technology. As a land of opportunity, Africans can shape and solve the challenges they face...

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,...

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...

I TRAVELLED TO ANFIELD JUST BEFORE THE HARD LOCKDOWN. I’M A HUGE LIVERPOOL FAN AND WANTED TO WATCH THE TEAM PLAY AT HOME BEFORE THEY WON THE LEAGUE, WHICH – FORTUNATELY – THEY DID. SO I RETURNED HOME ON A HIGH, BUT THEN GLOBAL AND LOCAL SPORT CAME TO A...

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...