Speakers

• Kwena Mabotja
  

  Kwena Mabotja

  Africa Regional Director SAP Next-Gen

  She is the Regional Lead for the Global Gender Agenda, a collaboration with organisations such as UN Women, which aims to leverage innovation and technology as an enabler to empower and enable women and girls through public-private partnerships.

  She is also a Non-Executive Director at Moment Business Consultants an organisation that provides business consulting services to startups and SMEs in South Africa.

  Kwena has more than ten years overall industry experience. As a former management consultant, she has worked with business leaders across various industries to solve critical business challenges.

  She is considered amongst the top 1% of Africa’s youth leaders, having been selected as a Mandela-Washington Fellow- the flagship program of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative, as well as an Afrika Kommt Fellow, a German-led program to develop future leaders of Africa.

  Kwena is an international conference speaker having been invited as a keynote speaker and panellist at various international events. She is a spokesperson and thought leader on the topic of empowering youth, women and girls as key contributors in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

  Kwena is a change multiplier who is passionate about empowering Africa’s youth and women through skills development, innovation and technology as a key driver in unlocking economic growth for the African continent and the World.

• Nekesa Were
  

  Nekesa Were

  Nekesa Were is the Managing Director of iHub, Nairobi – Kenya. She has been with iHub for over 7
  years, with over 400 companies coming out of the Hub during this time, making it one of the most
  successful innovation hubs globally. Nekesa sits on the Board of AfriLabs and Creatives Garage, and

  she volunteers at Uzima Foundation. With over 10 years’ of experience in Leadership, Human
  Resource Management, Operations and Communications, Nekesa also founded the Inspire Harvest –
  a Kenya based Digital Communications and Operations Management Company which develops and
  executes the digital strategies of several influential grassroots governance NGOs in Kenya working
  on transparency, accountability and developing leaders. Nekesa Were is very passionate about
  developing and executing strategies that will provide the foundation and stability for iHub to lead
  the innovation agenda and drive the innovation conversation in the Kenyan, African and global
  technology sector.

• Njeri Mwagiru
  

  Njeri Mwagiru

  Njeri Mwagiru is a Senior Futurist at the Institute for Futures Research (IFR), Stellenbosch University.
  She leads the African Futures portfolio, and is editor of the IFR monthly, quarterly and annual
  subscription publications on African Business Futures. She is also co-founder of a research and
  business development organisation SCEZONS that has facilitated long-term institutional partnership
  building between United Nations (UN) bodies and universities in South Africa.
  Njeri Mwagiru has a Masters in International Relations from the University of the Witswatersand and
  holds a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Cape Town Graduate School of
  Business. Her research and professional interests include leadership, organisational performance,
  knowledge, gender and diversity, inclusivity and transformation.
  Dr. Mwagiru has worked with a range of organisations in several capacities and contexts including
  research; higher education teaching and skills building; executive management training; policy,
  strategy and programme development; short course design, planning and delivery; project
  coordination; evaluation of initiatives for valued business, public sector, and international partners.
  Her professional work and research contributions focus on capabilities of individuals, organisations
  and countries in Africa to realise sustainable growth and collectively beneficial development. Her
  vocation is to support knowledge sharing and exchange, facilitate integrated strategic planning, and
  enhance decision-making and performance to achieve desired futures.

• Saidah Nash Carter
  

  Saidah Nash Carter

  Saidah Nash Carter is a digital business native with a passion for value creation and the use of
  technology to create new opportunity for business and for humanity. She began her career with
  Reuters NewMedia during a period of profound digital transformation and went on to build and
  launch some of the first online news services for early internet sensations like Yahoo! and AOL.
  She thrives pushing the boundaries of corporate thinking and business development through
  emerging technology, co-creation, and a focus on sustainability. She has an eye for identifying
  opportunities to stretch businesses to new frontiers while remaining connected the company’s core
  DNA and value proposition. This strength led her to design one of the first customer co-creation
  programs in Thomson Reuters resulting in a new way of approaching partnership and IP ownership
  and creating a pathway for richer collaboration with both customer and partner ecosystems.
  As SVP- Africa Innovation, she launched Thomson Reuters data science and innovation lab in Cape
  Town, one of seven innovation Labs globally and the only one in an emerging market. She is
  particularly proud of her team’s work delivering Thomson Reuters successful Africa Startup
  Challenge, Africa's first Intrapreneurship Conference, and her flagship initiative to bring financial
  inclusion to Africa’s small scale farmers – Bankable Farmer.
  Today she leads Bright Insights Global (BIG), a boutique consultancy and expert network committed
  to helping companies do better business in Africa. BIG’s network expertise spans financial services,
  media, private equity, law, talent management, digital product and business development. BIG was
  formed out of a desire to design and accelerate forward thinking, purpose driven, globally
  competitive organizations that will drive sustainable economic development across Africa.
  She is also passionate about Africa’s Intrapraneur ecosystem and works to identify, connect and
  empower these thought leaders inside large corporations who are working to leverage innovation,
  inclusion and impact to make their companies more sustainable. She works in partnership with the
  global League of Intrapreneurs (https://www.leagueofintrapreneurs.com/), as League Catalyst for
  South Africa.
  Most Recent Awards & Recognition: 2017 Inspiring 50 Women in Tech, United Nations 2018 Voices
  of African Mothers Innovation Award, League of Intrapreneurs Global Fellow – 2019

• Thandi Dyani
  

  Thandi Dyani

  For the last 15 years Thandi has been focusing on development issues, social entrepreneurship and
  ecosystem building in Denmark and Sub- Saharan Africa. In government institutions, NGOs, as
  founder, consultant, manager and CEO.
  Purpose means many different things to many people. For her a life of purpose translates into
  working with creating value, not only for myself by attaining my personal goals but creating impact
  for society through a collaborative approach.
  Her current role is as CEO of Impact Hub Johannesburg – a rewarding role, exciting and full of
  purpose. To change society, to empowering my all female team and to create meaningful impact.

  She do consulting on the side and build bridges between my two continents, splitting her time
  between Denmark and South Africa and traveling with her kids and husband. Being from both
  countries it is a privilege to be able to work, live and love with a foot in both countries.