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

RETROVIRAL MATCHKIT

RETROVIRAL MATCHKIT-Slick & Easy

Slick & Easy

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...

FARM SANCTUARY SA

FARM SANCTUARY SA: PIGCASSO INSPIRING A KINDER

PIGCASSO INSPIRING A KINDER, MORE SUSTAINABLE WORLD

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...

RECO

RECO-ONE DREAM

ONE DREAM, ONE APPLICATION, ONE VISION

Reco. Was founded in 2017 with only one dream, one application. one vision, and that is to create a tool to enhance and help financial advisors’ workflow. Our core vision expanding to providing solutions to complete the circle with, technology – Insurance and telecommunication to businesses and organisations.   The...

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...

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...

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...

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...

GOOGLE

GOOGLE - LAND OF OPPORTUNITY

LAND OF OPPORTUNITY

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...

CAPITEC

CAPITEC - LET’S BUILD A BANK

LET’S BUILD A BANK

Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come, suggested Victor Hugo, French literary genius, in 1852. Capitec was – and is still – such an idea, but you might not have thought so at the time. At the beginning of the 21st century, the general consensus was...

HONEST CHOCOLATE

HONEST CHOCOLATE- DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK

DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK

Honest Chocolate was founded in 2010 by two friends Anthony Gird and Michael de Klerk. When they couldn’t find high quality, locally made chocolate on the retail shelf they decided to start making their own. When their friends couldn’t get enough of these homemade treats, Anthony and Michael realised there...

MEDIOLOGY

MEDIOLOGY - SMART WITH HEART

SMART WITH HEART

Intuitively Innovative Mediology is South Africa’s largest independent integrated media and digital marketing agency. Founded in a media-agency-sea-of-sameness, Mediology distinguished itself by harnessing the science of media planning, fusing it with insights and wrapping it around the big ideas that differentiate brands. Thereby enhancing brand stories and narratives by placing...

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....

YOCO

YOCO-PASSION

PASSION, TALENT AND A SHARED SENSE OF PURPOSE SEE YOCO GROW INTO A LEADING AFRICAN TECHNOLOGY COMPANY IN A FEW SHORT YEARS

In a few short years since launching in 2015, Yoco has grown into an African technology company that is ready to take on the world. With its focus on creating opportunities for small businesses, breaking down the barriers they face, and helping them to participate fully in a more inclusive...

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...

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....

WHYFIVE INSIGHTS - BRANDMAPP

WHYFIVE INSIGHTS - BRANDMAPP- A WEALTH OF CONSUMER INSIGHTS

A WEALTH OF CONSUMER INSIGHTS

Where do brands and marketers look to understand middle-class consumers go to find actionable, realistic, useful data? That was the question the team at WhyFive Insights asked almost a decade ago when they launched a unique annual survey and data set called BrandMapp. “We were working in media at the...

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...

MAHLAKO A PHAHLA

MAHLAKO A PHAHLA - AN ORGANISATION THAT IS AFRICAN WOMEN-OWNED

AN ORGANISATION THAT IS AFRICAN WOMEN-OWNED, MANAGED AND INSPIRED, THAT PROMOTES AFRICAN AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND EXCELLENCE

Mahlako a Phahla, founded by sisters Makole Mupita and Meta Mhlarhi, is named after our mother Mahlako to pay homage to her pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit in building a successful family business at a time when it was difficult for many black people to do so.   Mahlako is an...

BRANSON CENTRE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP SOUTH AFRICA

BRANSON CENTRE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP SOUTH AFRICA- SCREW IT

SCREW IT, LET’S DO IT!

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...

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...

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...

IMIZIZI

IMIZIZI- Redefining People Management In Africa

Redefining People Management In Africa

We look after the engine of your business because your people are what makes a difference. We help our clients to improve their performance and accelerate their growth by having a holistic view of their business and finding unique solutions customised for their environment. We have outstanding People Management capabilities...

XTENDEVENT

AFRICAN INNOVATION ENABLES BRAND SUCCESS WITH XTENDEVENT.COM

Traditional in person trade exhibitions have been historically expensive, effectively restricting participation of smaller businesses and start-ups....

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...

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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