INNOVATE™ South Africa

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...

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,...

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....

This journey all started with a boo boo. The excitement of climbing and over doing it leads to cuts, scrapes and worn down finger tips. With the psyche high to continue climbing I mixed a concoction of ingredients that I thought would help nourish my tender tips and treat any...

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...

The third eye represents intuition and insight—an inner vision and enlightenment beyond what the physical eye can see. Modern shoppers are increasingly time-starved and brand-agnostic. It is therefore imperative for brands to understand as much as they can about the people who are buying their products and how they feel...

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...

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...

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...

Innovation is the lifeblood of Daily Maverick – from its origins as a print magazine featuring long-form current affairs, to its current form as a digital news publisher with more than five million unique visitors every month.   Founded by Editor-in-chief Branko Brkic and CEO Styli Charalambous in 2009, eagle-eyed...

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....

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...

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...

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 woke… going back to our roots. The new buzzword is #gogreen in terms of health and wellness.   And we’ve been fortunate and blessed with the opportunity of being a part of this new era, introducing and promoting Le Afrika sustainably sourced 100% natural products with their...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

King Price Insurance launched with a world-first innovation – premiums that automatically decrease monthly as cars depreciate in value – and hasn’t stopped since. When they opened their doors in 2012, South Africa’s conservative insurance industry didn’t think they’d last three months. But, a decade later, the R100 million start-up...

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...