Executive events that build senior audiences, and turn them into your pipeline.

Latest content

Watch

Presented
by

Event recap10 min read

How Jozi My Jozi Is Rebuilding Joburg, One Block at a Time

Colin Iles · 14 Oct 2026

Bea Swanepoel on how Jozi My Jozi, a team of 24, relit the Nelson Mandela Bridge and is rebuilding Joburg's inner city: clean it, make it safe, light it.

Article4 min read

What a trip to China taught me about AI and people

Colin Iles · 22 Sept 2026

I went to China to chase late parts and to test a fear: that AI had hollowed out my ability to work with people. Here is what I found instead.

Watch

Presented
by

Event recap11 min read

What the Springboks Measure That Business Doesn't

Colin Iles · 21 Sept 2026

Bob Skinstad on Rassie Erasmus's battle stats, the bomb squad, and why most firms have an AI absorption problem, not a value problem.

Watch

Presented
by

Event recap12 min read

Why WeBuyCars Refused the ERP and Built Its Own

Colin Iles · 11 Sept 2026

In 2018 WeBuyCars ran on one Google Sheet. Wynand Beukes on why they refused an ERP, built their own software, and now trade cars without humans.

Presented
by

Article3 min read

The New Rules of Leadership in an AI-Powered World

Colin Iles · 26 Aug 2026

Bob Skinstad captained the Springboks, then stopped at 31 and started again at something he was not yet good at. On leadership, sport and AI.

Presented
by

Article2 min read

AI Buys Cars: Inside WeBuyCars

Colin Iles · 26 Aug 2026

WeBuyCars sells 180,000 cars a year and has let AI agents buy 2,800 of them. Deputy CEO Dr Wynand Beukes on what is running underneath.

Watch

Presented
by

Event recap11 min read

How Capitec Got to 26 Million Clients Without Losing Its Nerve

Colin Iles · 13 Aug 2026

Capitec CEO Graham Lee on the four principles behind 26 million clients, why the word no matters most, and where AI is already changing the bank.

Watch

Presented
by

Event recap8 min read

The Quiet Force Behind African Fintech: Inside the Crossfin Playbook

Colin Iles · 20 Jul 2026

Dean Sparrow and Anton Gaylard on backing founders, surviving the wiGroup crisis, building iKhokha against the banks, and the case for patient capital.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

If You're Under 30, I'll Gently Plead With You

Colin Iles · 20 Jun 2026

Colin Iles on why copying the habits of successful leaders fails, what GLP-1 weight loss taught him about hidden advantages, and why purpose beats ambition.

Watch

Video interview

Lessons From TymeBank's Rise

Colin Iles · 15 Jun 2026

Cheslin Jacobs, Chief Commercial Officer of TymeBank, on building a bank with no branches, no ATMs and no call centre. Delivered as part of the Future Financial Leadership Programme with The Financial Academy.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

From Paper Loans to AI Banking

Chijioke Dozie · Co-Founder & CEO, Carbon

Chijioke Dozie on Nigeria's $5bn credit gap, Carbon's 7-minute loans, and how AI is reshaping digital banking in Africa. Full recap and video.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

AI Meets the African Bush

Willem Kellerman & Dirk Strauss · Co-founders, Veriphy

Chisl co-founder Willem Kellerman on how Veriphy and Project Gaia used AI drones to census South Africa's biggest reserves, backed by AWS H200 GPUs.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Building Where Incumbents Won't

Alan Knott-Craig · CEO, Fibertime

Alan Knott-Craig on how fibertime reached 415,000 township homes on 5-rand-a-day fibre, why wireless fails, and the REIT model funding a 100-billion-rand mission.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

AI Might Save the World, But Only If Humans Get Out of the Way

Colin Iles · 18 Apr 2026

Colin Iles asks whether AI could have saved the Titanic, and why the real risk is not AI getting it wrong but humans ignoring it when it is right.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Inside the $205M Bet on African Tech

Hans Otterling · Founding Partner, Norrsken22

Hans Otterling backed Spotify and Klarna, then turned south. He tells The Backroom why Norrsken22's $205m fund treats Africa as a timing play, not charity.

Article

Where Is the Pangolin?

Colin Iles · 3 Apr 2026

You think Google or Microsoft should have built this. They didn't. A small South African startup did.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

In 2030, Why I Would Regret Not Asking Better Questions

Colin Iles · 26 Mar 2026

A fictional 2030 memoir by Colin Iles: a law firm partner who adopted AI early, made millions, and still ended up unemployable. Who pays when AI fails people?

Watch

Presented
by

Event recap6 min read

Farzam Ehsani on Why VALR Sacrifices Money for Values

Colin Iles · 3 Mar 2026

VALR CEO Farzam Ehsani on building Africa's largest crypto exchange, profitability, USDC minting, stablecoins, and why regulation must catch up to the technology.

Watch

Presented
by

Event recap6 min read

Charles Savage on Scaling Easy Equities and Backing ZARU

Colin Iles · 3 Feb 2026

Easy Equities founder Charles Savage on ZARU, the AI accelerant, and building a listed fintech from a nine-cent share price to 1.2 million clients.

Watch

Presented
by

Event recap7 min read

Africa Must Bet on Itself: Aboyeji on Building From the Continent

Colin Iles · 11 Dec 2025

Future Africa co-founder Iyinoluwa Aboyeji tells the AWS Founders Series why global capital will not return, why fintech copycats bore him, and what actually builds a unicorn.

Watch

Presented
by

Event recap7 min read

GB Agboola on Flutterwave and Africa's Payment Superhighway

Colin Iles · 19 Nov 2025

Flutterwave founder GB Agboola on why Nigeria was the hardest market to start in, the $1bn quarter, and how PAPS and stablecoins could reshape African payments.

Watch

Presented
by

Event recap7 min read

How Mounir Nakhla Built MNT-Halan Into Egypt's First Unicorn

Colin Iles · 10 Nov 2025

Mounir Nakhla started by financing tuk-tuks in 2010. Fifteen years on, MNT-Halan has served 8 million customers and disbursed over $15 billion. Here is how he did it.

Watch

Presented
by

Event recap7 min read

Melvyn Lubega on Building Africa's First Edtech Unicorn, Go1

Colin Iles · 13 Oct 2025

Go1 co-founder Melvyn Lubega on building Africa's first edtech unicorn from Oxford to Y Combinator, why customer obsession beats Silicon Valley funding, and the discipline of purpose.

Watch

Presented
by

Event recap6 min read

Clickatell's Pieter de Villiers on 25 Years From Four Lines of Code

Colin Iles · 8 Sept 2025

Clickatell co-founder Pieter de Villiers on building the world's first SMS gateway from a Cape Town flat, raising from Sequoia, and why he wishes he had taken more risk.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

Africa's Tech Growth Needs More Than VCs, It Needs Corporates

Colin Iles · 30 Aug 2025

Colin Iles talks to AfricArena's Christophe Viarnaud about why African corporates, not just VCs, must start funding startups the way Microsoft backed OpenAI.

Watch

Presented
by

Event recap7 min read

Vuyo Mpako on Building Old Mutual's Venture Arm, Next176

Colin Iles · 7 Aug 2025

Vuyo Mpako, managing director of Next176, unpacks how Old Mutual's venture arm built an 18-company portfolio and why African corporates should be backing startups.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

Africa Doesn't Have a Startup Problem, It Has a Trust Problem

Colin Iles · 26 Jul 2025

Colin Iles on why VCs fund founders they trust, why that favors Ivy League profiles like Zuckerberg and Bezos, and why African corporates must step in.

Watch

Presented
by

Event recap7 min read

TymeBank's Tjaart van der Walt on Building a Bank by Design

Colin Iles · 10 Jul 2025

Tyme Group's Tjaart van der Walt on how design, distribution and crazy belief built an 18.2 million customer digital bank across South Africa and Asia.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Leadership in an Exponential Age

Herman Singh · CEO, Future Advisory; former group chief digital officer, MTN

Herman Singh, CEO of Future Advisory and former Chief Digital Officer at MTN and Vodacom, on leading through AI, agentic systems, collapsing hierarchies, and the death of junior roles.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Respect, Power and Accountability with Mteto Nyati

Mteto Nyati · Former CEO of Altron and MTN South Africa, Chairman of Eskom

Mteto Nyati, one of South Africa's most respected leaders, on his journey from a rural trading store to leading IBM, Microsoft, MTN and Altron, and why unchallenged respect hinders progress.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

What If Unemployment Could Be a Good Thing?

Colin Iles · 19 May 2025

Colin Iles imagines a 2050s South Korea where AI agents and collapsing fertility rates combine, and asks whether fewer jobs could ever be a good outcome.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

Will AI Finally Give Us the 15-Hour Workweek?

Colin Iles · 12 May 2025

Colin Iles revisits Keynes's 1930 prediction of a 15-hour workweek, and asks whether AI and robotics will finally deliver it, or replace work altogether.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Leadership Beyond the Textbook with Lincoln Mali

Lincoln Mali · Group CEO, Lesaka Technologies

Lincoln Mali, CEO of Lesaka Technologies and author of Blazing a Trail, on influence over hierarchy, building cultures of trust, and leading with purpose.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Leading the SABC with Nomsa Chabeli

Nomsa Chabeli · CEO, SABC

SABC CEO Nomsa Chabeli on her journey from marketing to leading one of South Africa's most critical media institutions through digital disruption and transformation.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

How Standard Chartered Ventures Is Transforming Banking

Colin Iles · 20 Mar 2025

Gurdeep Kholi of SC Ventures and Christian Lindener of Mach49 on whether big banks can build and scale new business models like startups.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

How To Build A Growth Engine

Colin Iles · 27 Feb 2025

Mark Simoncelli and Dave Blakely of Mach49 on building growth engines inside large corporates through venturing and incubation.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

Lessons From the Edge: A Micro-Entrepreneur's Journey

Colin Iles · 3 Jan 2025

Colin Iles on leaving a senior banking role in 2019, the low point that nearly broke him, and the five lessons that turned FUD into a working business.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

The 1% Bet: Are You Afraid to Take It?

Colin Iles · 29 Nov 2024

Colin Iles on Astro Teller's $1 billion at 1% odds question, why corporates always choose safety, and why that's now the riskiest choice of all.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

In Conversation With Dr Mark Nasila

Colin Iles · 13 Nov 2024

A conversation with Dr Mark Nasila on data, risk and analytics in financial services.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

It Has Never Been More Critical to Find Our Niche

Colin Iles · 30 Sept 2024

Colin Iles on why niche businesses like Nerve Money and Nvidia beat generic ones, and why AI makes finding a defensible niche more valuable than ever.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

Stop Asking for Feedback. Why It Can Really Hurt

Colin Iles · 30 Jul 2024

Colin Iles on New Coke, the RAC speeding survey, and why Five Guys built a multi-billion-dollar chain by watching behavior instead of asking for opinions.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Breaking Barriers With Nombasa Tsengwa

Colin Iles · 23 May 2024

Dr Nombasa Tsengwa, Group CEO of Exxaro Resources, on the path from agronomy to leading a major mining company, and building inclusivity in a male-dominated industry.

Article3 min read

High Performance Is a Myth in a World of Ordinary Humans

Colin Browne · 16 May 2024

Colin Browne argues the cult of high performance burns out ordinary teams, and that empathy, respect and optimism are what actually unlock great work.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

Remove This to Win, But Beware of the Consequences

Colin Iles · 16 May 2024

Colin Iles on why Uber, Netflix and TikTok all won by removing friction, what Klarna's AI assistant proves, and whether a frictionless world costs us jobs.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Artificial Intelligence For Executives

Colin Iles · 24 Apr 2024

Dr Jay van Zyl on what AI means for financial services, why institutions struggle to adopt quickly, and whether centralised or decentralised models work better.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

Will Robots Run Companies?

Colin Iles · 31 Mar 2024

Colin Iles on Dictador's AI CEO Mika, Mustafa Suleyman's forecast for autonomous business execution, and why boards should plan for algorithmic leadership.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

My Leadership Journey From Healthcare To Telco And Tech

Colin Iles · 27 Mar 2024

Dr Ryan Noach, former CEO of Discovery Health, on twenty five years across healthcare, a not-for-profit and launching a bank, and his move to lead DNI.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Bryan Habana On The Power Of Purpose

Colin Iles · 1 Mar 2024

Bryan Habana on carrying what he learned in elite sport across into business, what transferred cleanly and what did not.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

Why KPIs Can Kill Companies

Colin Iles · 10 Jan 2024

Colin Iles uses Abraham Wald's WWII bomber armor puzzle to explain how DBS Bank's Paul Cobban found 250 million wasted customer hours hiding in plain sight.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

Data Offers Huge Opportunities, But Only If You Trust Your People

Colin Iles · 15 Nov 2023

Colin Iles on why Messi's slow start, Yongqianbao's typing-speed credit model, and TikTok's no-choice interface show data only works if leaders let go.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

New Advantages and Opportunities for African Entrepreneurs

Colin Iles · 19 Sept 2023

Colin Iles on Nolwazi's backroom rental business, GG Alcock's Kasinomics, and why South Africa's R50 billion informal sector is a huge opportunity banks miss.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Predict the Future: How Top CEOs Use Data to Stay Ahead

Bill Schmarzo · Data strategy leader, Dell Technologies; former CTO, Dell EMC

Bill Schmarzo, one of the world's top voices on data monetisation and former Dell EMC CTO, on why companies fail to turn data into value and the blueprint for fixing it.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Corporate Venturing And Routes To Market

Colin Iles · 30 Jul 2023

Stavros Nicolaou of Aspen Pharmacare on why enabling entrepreneurs on the ground, not ownership changes, is what actually transforms an economy.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Ethical AI with Kerryn Arnott

Kerryn Arnott · Ethical AI lead, Standard Bank

Standard Bank's ethical AI lead Kerryn Arnott on how companies can embrace AI rapidly and at scale without unintended consequences.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

Adapt or Die: What Must Boards Do to Improve Survival Chances?

Colin Iles · 4 Jul 2023

Colin Iles on Chegg's ChatGPT collapse, Jeff Bezos's Day 1 philosophy, and why boards must fight executive hubris before disruption arrives suddenly.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Can Banks and Telcos Partner to Improve Society?

Colin Iles · 28 Apr 2023

Leaders from Vodacom and Standard Bank on whether banks and telcos can, should, and will partner to improve society, the first OneHub Insider Conversation on ESG as a business opportunity.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

The Future of Ethical Sourcing

Justin Dillon · Founder and CEO, Freedom (FRDM)

Social entrepreneur Justin Dillon and Standard Bank's digital ESG lead Joel Buatre on why ethical sourcing has become a competitive advantage rather than a cost.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

Why Storytelling Is a Powerful Tool in Business

Colin Iles · 17 Apr 2023

Colin Iles on Steve Jobs recruiting John Sculley, why purpose-led firms like TOMS and Unilever outperform the S&P 500, and why for-profits struggle to tell stories.

Forbes Africa column4 min read

Business Models Are Changing. Why It's Good for Women

Colin Iles · 8 Mar 2023

Colin Iles on why diversity training hasn't moved the needle for women leaders, and why the shift toward purpose-led business, seen at PepsiCo and Patagonia, will.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

The Future of Blockchain with Monica Singer

Prof Monica Singer · Africa Lead, ConsenSys (former CEO, Strate)

Prof Monica Singer shares her vision for the future of blockchain, whether DeFi will disrupt financial services, and how DAOs might change the fabric of corporations.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

The New Rules Of Capital Markets

Colin Iles · 21 Aug 2022

Louis Geeringh of Futureworld on the shift in capital markets over recent decades, and why most South African companies are still running playbooks business schools have taught since the fifties.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Inclusive Innovation with Tashmia Ismail

Tashmia Ismail · Founder, Youth Employment Service

Tashmia Ismail, founder of the Youth Employment Service, on what inclusive innovation really means, whether it works, and her own journey through the workplace.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

How to Build a Viral Super App

Gour Lentell · Founder, Moya

Moya founder Gour Lentell on building a data-free super app with over 6 million users and hundreds of thousands of new joiners every month.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

The Future of Financial Crime

Nic Swingler · Group Head of Financial Crime, Absa

Absa's Group Head of Financial Crime, Nic Swingler, on the true scale of financial crime, why state capture went undetected, and whether crypto helps the banks or the criminals.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

The Power of Partnerships with Tauriq Keraan

Tauriq Keraan · CEO, TymeBank

TymeBank CEO Tauriq Keraan on the Pick n Pay partnership, purpose, and how collaboration became the secret to building South Africa's fastest-growing digital bank.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

The Future of Banking Is Open?

Andre Hugo · Founder and CEO, Spot Money

Andre Hugo, founder and CEO of Spot Money, on building South Africa's first open banking marketplace and why the big banks could not build it themselves.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Is Self Sovereign Identity Going Exponential?

Andrew Baker · Head of EC2 Engineering, AWS

AWS Head of EC2 Engineering Andrew Baker and a surprise guest from the Sovrin Foundation on whether self sovereign identity can fix digital identity for good.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Behavioural Banking with Hylton Kallner

Hylton Kallner · CEO, Discovery Bank

Discovery Bank CEO Hylton Kallner on how a purpose-led health insurer became one of South Africa's biggest success stories, and why it moved into banking.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

How Do You Build a $1.25 Billion Business in a Pandemic?

Alex Bouaziz · Co-founder and CEO, Deel

Deel co-founder Alex Bouaziz on raising over $200 million, reaching 150 countries, and hitting a $1.25 billion valuation in under two years with a fully distributed team.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Is the Traditional Staffing Model Dead?

Dr John Wentzel · Chief Executive Officer, Adcorp Holdings

Adcorp CEO Dr John Wentzel on the gig economy, degree-free hiring, and whether the pandemic is the tipping point that kills the industrial-era staffing model.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Leadership Lessons from Rob Paddock

Rob Paddock · Co-founder, GetSmarter and Valenture Institute

Rob Paddock, co-founder of GetSmarter, on the leadership lessons he learnt building the $100 million online education platform.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Crisis Creativity: The Right Time To Redefine Your Company

Colin Iles · 20 Nov 2020

Anton Musgrave of Futureworld on creativity under pressure, and why a crisis is the moment to redefine what your company is for.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Breaking The Rules And Winning

Colin Iles · 20 Nov 2020

Charles Savage, CEO of Easy Equities, on building a business with unorthodox models and why the conventional route was never an option.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Racial Bias in the Workforce

India Martin · Racial Equity Consultant to CEOs and Leadership Teams

India Martin talks to Colin Iles about what companies can, and should, be doing to manage racial bias within the workforce.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Transformation in Banking with Andy Baker

Andrew Baker · CTO, Absa Group

Absa Group CTO Andrew Baker on transforming a big bank's technology, why cloud and open source are reshaping the industry, and why email and PowerPoint are cancerous for organisations.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Why Digital Transformations Fail

Tony Saldanha · Author, Why Digital Transformations Fail

Tony Saldanha, author of Why Digital Transformations Fail, on why 70 percent of transformation programmes go wrong and what leadership can do about it.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

How Zaf Mahomed Turned Around Cell C's Balance Sheet

Zaf Mahomed · CFO, Cell C

Zaf Mahomed, CFO of Cell C, on turning around 8.7 billion Rand of debt by shifting the telco from network owner to network renter, on The Inspire Series.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

How To Invent The Impossible

Colin Iles · 30 Apr 2020

Richard Browning, founder of Gravity Industries, on building a jet suit from a garage and what it takes to pursue something conventional wisdom says is impossible.

Watch

Presented
by

Video interview

Post Pandemic Strategies

Colin Iles · 24 Apr 2020

Chris Skinner on banking, blockchain and the strategies institutions need once the disruption settles.