Programme for Event

This programme is subject to change and alterations. Organisers cannot be held responsible.

Saturday 20 March 2010

12h00 Driving in the Frontier Economy – Professor Nick Binedell
Nick is the Founding Director of the Gordon Institute of Business. He is in regular dialogue with political, business and academic leaders around the globe. He is well known and respected for his highly informed and content packed presentations, which always exude a refreshing air of positiveness about South Africa’s current and future scenarios. Nick will share how SA is shaping up in these turbulent times.

13h30 Get Ready for World Cup 2010 – Learn the Diski Dance

14h00 South Africa: The Quest for Belonging and Social Cohesion - Professor Cheryl de La Rey
The quest for belonging, a sense of community and a place that we can call home are defining features of human well being. Professor Cheryl de la Rey the recently appointed Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria is a Psychologist who has specialized in Social Psychology. She will talk about the psychological importance of location and belonging. She will also share her perspectives the important role of education in building social cohesion in South Africa.

15h30 Get Ready for World Cup 2010 – Learn the Diski Dance

16h00 Heading Home For Business – Business Panel Discussion
A Panel discussion focussing on Entrepreneurship. The key to economic growth and unemployment in South Africa is going to be through Entrepreneurs creating real jobs. Gareth Knight, CEO and Founder of Technovate and Avi Lasarow, Founder and CEO of Trimega Laboratories have created businesses in the UK and SA. Be inspired by their stories and share their lessons. Ashley Mathura, Head of Business Start Ups and BEE at FNB, shares some of the SA Business Fundamentals.

Sunday 21 March 2010

11h00 Challenges Facing South Africa – Panel Discussion
Professor Nick Binedell chairs a lively discussion on the challenges facing South Africa, including issues of politics, education, crime, and jobs. The panel will include Professor Cheryl de la Rey.

12h30 Get Ready for World Cup 2010 – Learn the Diski Dance

13h00 Ayoba. South Africa’s Time has come! – Aaron Mokoena
The 2010 World Cup Football is going to be the next defining moment in South Africa’s history. The Bafana Bafana Captain has the key role in leading the team to victory. Aaron will ignite us with his passion for the game with his story from the township pitches to the Premier League. And all the reasons why we need to get behind him and his team. He represents a true Global South African, by using his influence and position to launch The Aaron Mokoena Foundation.

13h30 Aaron Mokoena signing session

14h30 Get Ready for World Cup 2010 – Learn the Diski Dance



Confirmed Speakers

Aaron Mokoena - Bafana Bafana Captain

Aaron Mokoena was born on November 25, 1980 in Boipatong, 70 miles south of Johannesburg. Nicknamed “Mbazo” or “the Axe”, Aaron initially aspired for a basketball career in South Africa, but later switched to football while in his teens. Aaron played in South Africa in the late 1990’s with Jomo Cosmos before moving to Europe.

Aaron rose in stature as a player as a member of the youth club of Bayer Leverkusen, following which he had a joined the world renown Ajax Amsterdam before moving to K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot. Following impressive spells for both club and country Aaron transferred to the English Premier League Club, Blackburn Rovers in March 2005 where he achieved over 100 appearance. In May 2009 Aaron joined Portsmouth FC on a three year deal and was immediately awarded the captain’s armband. He scored his debut goal for Portsmouth in the FA cup match against Coventry City in January 2010.

Aaron Mokoena became the youngest player ever to have represented South Africa when he made his international debut at the age of seventeen in 1999 for the 2000 Summer Olympics qualifiers.

In the 2002 World Cup he went on to replace Lucas Radebe as the captain of the South African side just before leading national squad at the African Cup of Nations held in Ghana in January 2008.

By the time he was 24 he had made more than 25 international appearances for South Africa and in June 2008 replaced Shaun Bartlett to earn the honour of becoming South Africa’s most capped player.

In October 2009, Aaron became the most capped Captain to represent South Africa. Aaron is currently the most capped player for South Africa with a total of 98 caps. Aaron will reach the monumental 100 caps for Bafana Bafana just before the World Cup opening match at Soccer City on 11th June 2010.

Professor Cheryl de la Rey - Vice Chancellor and Principal of University of Pretoria

Education at all levels is one of South Africa's biggest challenges. Cheryl has vast experience with this issue. Before joining the University of Pretoria she was the CEO of the Council on Higher Education, a position she assumed after having been Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Cape Town.

Professor de la Rey completed her Bachelor of Arts, Honours and Master's degrees at the University of Natal and her PhD at UCT. She has published books and journal articles in her discipline, Psychology.

Professor de la Rey's current external commitments include the International Council of Science's Strategy and Planning Committee, the Council of the Botswana University of Science and Technology, the National Advisory Council on Innovation, the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust and Board of the Stellenbosch Insitute for Advance Studies (STIAS). She is registered as a Psychologist by the Health Professions Council of South Africa; is a fellow of the Psychological Association of South Africa and a member of Academy of Science of South Africa.

 

Professor Nick Binedell - Director Gordon Institute of Business Science

Nick has been voted the best speaker at previous events and accompanies us once again.. Nick offers an all round view from an incredibly knowledgeable all-round perspective on what is happening in South Africa.

He is the Founding Director and Sasol Chair of Strategic Management of the Gordon Institute of Business Science.After an initial career in mining and manufacturing, Nick has spent the past 20 years in Business Education. He has a PhD from the University of Washington in Seattle.

His area of expertise is in the field of business strategy formulation, and his academic and consulting work, although dominantly in South Africa, includes work in the United States, Europe and Australia.

www.gibs.co.za

 

Gareth Knight – Managing Director, Product Lead, Chief Coffee Maker - Technovated

Gareth curently straddles two continents as he shifts his focus to setting up his business in South Africa. Gareth will share with you his current learnings and practical insights into starting a new business in SA.

Gareth is a digital maven and open source evangelist. Educated as a zoologist, he is a veteran of two dot com crashes in London, one web 2.0 acquisition, and runs Technovated.

Previously, Gareth served in London as Director of Product Management for MyHeritage.com, a global family genealogy company based in Tel Aviv.

Before joining MyHeritage, Gareth landed seed funding from London’s top early stage investors to co-found Kindo.com, a global family social network with an international team spread around the world. He then led the Product team in London to roll out a localised version of Kindo in 17 languages within 6 months, as well as an aggressive search engine campaign, both of which resulted in users from circa 220 countries and an enviable growth rate.

Kindo was voted one of the top 3 most promising Internet companies in the UK for 2008, and was later acquired by MyHeritage in August that year.

Gareth is also organising a web and emerging tech conference, which will bring global experience and perspective to the African context. He also mentors people in Johannesburg who are looking to find their way in the digital industry.

Gareth splits his time between Technovated offices in London and Johannesburg.

www.technovated.com

 

Ashley Mathura - Head:Start-ups and BEE at FNB Commercial Banking

Ashley Mathura, Head of Start-Ups and BEE at FNB Commercial Banking, has been in the banking industry for over 12 years. As an experienced banker and social entrepreneur, he is passionate about the economic development of South African small businesses.

After completing a BCompt degree in Accounting and Auditing through UNISA, Ashley started his career as a franchise and SME manager which provided valuable understanding into the requirements for a successful start-up business. He then moved on to Empowerdex with the focus of establishing the KZN regional office. During this period he gleaned an in-depth knowledge of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and the issues and opportunities this presented to the financial services sector.

In 2007 Ashley was appointed head of BEE Business Support at Standard Bank with the aim of strategically growing BEE lending to Black SMMEs in accordance with the Financial Services Charter. Having left the banking industry for a year to focus on building his own successful business venture, he gained unique insight into the support structures that start up businesses need to thrive and become sustainable.

Ashley is passionate about the role of FNB Commercial Start-Ups in creating a focused area to increase the efficiencies and success rates of local start up businesses and making FNB the start-up bank of choice. He recently completed his Masters in Business Administration at the Gordon Institute of Business Science.

www.fnb.co.za/commercial

 

Avi Lasarow - Managing Director (Founder) at Trimega Laboratories Limited

Avi Lasarow was born in Johannesburg in 1976 and moved to the UK in 1998 to work for Citibank. In 2005 he established Trimega Laboratories in London. The company has developed a range of techniques for testing substances of abuse. Its core business is laboratory-based analysis of hair samples, but other services include Roadside Drugalyzer™ Testing for law enforcement, Hair Steroid Testing for athletes and, most recently, Hair Benzodiazepines Testing.

In 2008, Trimega Laboratories won the title of Best Use of Technology in the Barclays-sponsored Startups Awards, was a regional winner in the HSBC Start-up Stars and a finalist in the National Business Awards and the 2009 Fast Growth Business Awards. The company is not generating revenues passed £3M per annum.

Not content with a UK-based company on the cutting edge of substance-abuse testing, South African businessman Avi Lasarow moved back to South Africa and launched an equally successful chapter of his business in Cape Town, proving that business acumen gained in the UK can be successfully transferred to home shores

http://www.startups.co.uk/6678842909850142686/avi-lasarow.html
www.trimegalabs.com