Keynote speakers

Dr Jabu Mabuza

Dr Jabu Mabuza

Chairman Telkom

Jabulane (Jabu) Mabuza is the Chairman of Telkom SA SOC Limited. He is widely recognised as a successful entrepreneur. He retired from the position of Group Chief Executive of Tsogo Sun Holdings Ltd, and as Deputy Chairman of Tsogo Sun Holdings. Jabu is the current Chairman of the Casino Association of South Africa (CASA), former President of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), Co-Convener of the CEO Initiative, Chairman of the Africa portion of the merged Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller, Chairman of the Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA). Appointed Chairman of Eskom on 20 January 2018 and subsequently resigned as Executive Chairman of Sphere Holdings on 23 January 2018.

Ann Bernstein

Ann Bernstein

Executive Director CDE

Ann Bernstein heads the Centre for Development and Enterprise, South Africa. An independent think tank CDE is South Africa’s leading development policy centre, with a special focus on growth, unemployment, education and the role of business. A member of the Transition Team, then the Board of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (1994 – 2001). In 2005, a Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy, Washington DC. In 2007, joined the Brenthurst Foundation board. In 2008, 2009 invited faculty member, World Economic Forum, Davos. In 2013, Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Centre, Washington DC. Her book, The Case for Business in Developing Economies (Penguin 2010) received favourable reviews in South African media, Economist, Financial Times and elsewhere; and awarded 2012 Sir Anthony Fisher Award by the Atlas Research Foundation, Washington DC.

Bongiwe Mlangeni

Bongiwe Mlangeni

Executive Director Social Justice Initiative

Bongiwe Mlangeni is the Executive Director of the Social Justice Initiative (SJI), South African non-profit organisation which promotes philanthropy in support of human rights and social justice work. Previously, she consulted as Communications Director at the Graca Machel Trust and was the founding Deputy Director of Corruption Watch. She has also worked as a journalist, covering socio-economic and women’s rights issues in Southern Africa. She holds postgraduate degrees from Wits University and London School of Economics. 

Entrepreneur panel

Lynette Ntuli

Lynette Ntuli

CEO Innate Investment Solutions

Lynette Ntuli is the Founding Director and CEO of Innate Investment Solutions, a professional services firm in the built environment that provides property and infrastructure development services; and enterprise asset management solutions. Ntuli has held senior leadership roles in the commercial, development and investment spheres of the property management and trade and investment sectors, and serves as a non-executive director on several listed and unlisted boards and real estate organisations. Passionate about youth development and leadership, Lynette is a Founding Director and Chairman of IgniteSA.com, a youth oriented digital media and programme platform which curates content in Education, Skills and Entrepreneurial Development in South Africa. Lynette is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, a 2014 Mandela Washington Fellow and a 2018 Tutu Fellow. She is a multiple media and industry award recipient and currently presents Business Day TV Show (BDTV, Channel 412), SME Funding, in a weekly time slot.

Ian Dommisse

Ian Dommisse

Founder EcoBrick

Ian Dommisse is a social entrepreneur and architect curious about alternative, environmentally friendly construction methods. In 2013 he founded The EcoBrick Exchange (EBE), a recycling non-profit, which promotes the building of preschools and structures of value using up-cycled plastic waste. Using EcoBricks as a catalyst to nurture environmental awareness & responsibility, the EBE aims to improve the schooling environments of children. A passion for nature: Ian is also a gardener and landscape designer specialising in edible experiential gardens.

Nthabe Zondo

Nthabe Zondo

CEO Bumbles™ Babies (Pty) Ltd

Nthabe is the CEO and co-owner of Bumbles™ Babies, a baby foods manufacturing company that produces South Africa’s first healthy range of baby food offering a clean label status; meaning unsalted and unsweetened, with no preservatives, no fillers, just 100% real food. Nthabe holds a Masters’ Degree from Leeds University, United Kingdom and has held various leadership positions in blue chip companies. Her 18 year career has seen her manage and lead a number of international and local brands in the FMCG, tourism, beverages, food manufacturing, financial services and banking sectors. Lipton Tea, Rama, Flora, Mrs Balls chutney, Ponds, Old Mutual, Absa, Pick n Pay, Crispa Gold are some of the brands that she has worked on. She serves as board member on the boards of FoodBev SETA , Essays of Africa magazine, Bumbles Baby Foods and Msebe Foods.

Thulani Ntshuntshe

Thulani Ntshuntshe

Co-founder Five Star Fire

Thulani Ntshuntshe is the General Manager of Five Star Fire. He graduated in 2008 from high school where he had started and ran some of his informal businesses. He studied Business admin with the Maharishi institute. During those years he registered a construction company with a friend which never took off. That experience prompted his next move which was partnering with a business incubator. He joined The Awethu project in 2013 and started an eco-friendly, mobile car wash. The car wash started in Constitution hill and later expanded to the Maboneng precinct where it grew to 5 employees in 3 months. In 2014 he Co-founded Five Star Fire with the Awethu project using a R1.3 million investment from the SEFA Awethu Youth Fund. Five Star Fire is a fire protection company that specialises in the supply and servicing of fire equipment like fire extinguishers, hose reels etc. The company has grown to 6 employees including Thulani. We have done work for companies like Nestle, Mercedes Benz, Thebe investments, Bidvest to mention a few. The vision is to grow the biggest fire protection company in South Africa.

Panel Discussion

Lullu Krugel

Lullu Krugel

Chief Economist PwC SA

Lullu Krugel is the Chief Economist for PwC South Africa and a Partner in PwC’s Advisory business. For Lullu and the team of Economists at PwC, their aim is to assist clients to understand how their activities and decisions impact the Economy in South Africa, but also how the external economic and political environment impact their business.  Lullu is a regular commentator in the media and a presenter and local and international conferences. To keep the balance, you will find her running a half-marathon every now and again and she is also a member of a chamber choir.  Lullu holds an M.Com Economics and Risk Management degree from the NWU.

Qaanitah Hunter

Qaanitah Hunter

Political journalist EWN

Qaanitah Hunter is a political reporter at EyeWitness News. Her insightful political columns appear on the Daily Maverick. She is an award winning reporter who was previously at the Sunday Times and formerly at the Mail & Guardian. Her work on investigating state capture has garnered her many accolades. Hunter is a Wits Graduate and a fictional author.

Hilary Joffe

Hilary Joffe

Business Columnist

Hilary Joffe has recently joined Brunswick as a Senior Advisor. Hilary was formerly Editor-at-Large of Business Day, the South African national newspaper, and is well-known to the firm as one of South Africa’s most distinguished journalists. Hilary worked at Business Day for over twenty years, and also spent three years as the General Manager and National Spokesperson for Eskom, the South African electricity utility. Prior to this, she was a Senior Economist at Standard Bank, and worked for Finance Week, Weekly Mail, and for the Financial Mail in senior roles. She writes a column for Business Times.

Panel Discussion

Pamela Mondliwa

Pamela Mondliwa

Senior researcher CCRED

Pamela Mondliwa is a senior researcher at the Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development (CCRED) at the University of Johannesburg. She is also an economist at Acacia Economics, a boutique economics consultancy that offers expertise in competition and regulatory economics in Africa. Prior to joining CCRED she worked as an economist in the policy and research division of the Competition Commission of SA. Pamela’s research interests include competition and access to markets; industrial development; and regional economic development. She has provided research support to various government departments and advises competition authorities in the region. She is also a member of Gauteng Premier, David Makhura’s Economic Advisory Panel.

Prof. Ivor Chipkin

Prof. Ivor Chipkin

Founding director Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI)

Ivor Chipkin is the founding director of the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI) linked to the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Cape Town, which has been a pioneer in the field of institutional studies in South Africa. He is also an Associate Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand. He completed his PhD at the École Normale Supérieure in France and was previously based at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER). He received an Oppenheimer Fellowship at Oxford University in 2005. In 2007 Chipkin published Do South Africans Exist? Nationalism, Democracy and the Identity of ‘the People’ (Wits University Press), and has also published widely on questions of government, governance and the state in South Africa. Shadow State: The Politics of State Capture is forthcoming with Wits University Press in 2018.

Nicole Fritz

Nicole Fritz

Executive Officer Freedom under law

Nicole Fritz is the CEO of Freedom Under Law. She was the founding Executive Director of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC). She is an honorary lecturer at the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria and at the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Law, and has taught constitutional, international and human-rights law as a faculty member at the Wits School of Law and at Fordham Law School in New York. She served as law clerk to Judge Richard Goldstone at South Africa’s Constitutional Court and obtained her LLB from the University of the Witwatersrand, thereafter completing an LLM in International Legal Studies at NYU Law School as a Hauser Global Scholar. She is a trustee of the Women’s Legal Centre.