Agenda

Africa is on a journey to digital transformation, and the end goal? - greater prosperity. Africa is welcoming the fourth industrial revolution with open arms, as such, it will allow the continent to embrace socio-economic developments fueling growth. This session will explore how tech is set to play a game-changing role in defining the vision, potential and development of the youngest continent in the world.

Key takeaways:

• Next-generation technologies - an exploration of the impact of the technologies of tomorrow with a close analysis of AI, machine learning, drones, VR, IoT, Blockchain, AR, cloud and the edge
• Examine how the inflow of investment will aid prosperity in Africa
• Promoting home-grown talent - how can we create a global market for African skills as we move into the era of digitalisation?
• Examining how we can boost the commercialisation of African tech discoveries on the world stage

Emotional Intelligence/EQ is one of the key ingredients that can catapult anyone to a position of leadership and positive influence. Looking at the future of work, this talk will focus on the intersection of EQ, tech, and entrepreneurialism; and how EQ becomes the invisible backbone to create and sustain an entrepreneurial mindset; the role of tech in driving this future; and will also serve as a collective reminder to keep going back to the basics periodically.

Key takeaways:

• Tips on self-awareness and how it impacts decision making How to use EI/EQ to develop and sustain an entrepreneurial mindset
• Learn how to incorporate EQ in order to develop and maintain good professional relationships
• How to use tech to develop a culture of collaboration and trust

The safety of children in South Africa is of growing concern with highly increased rates of gender based violence, child trafficking and drug abuse as well as violence in schools. We are looking for innovative solutions to try and help parents, educators and children to stay safe within their school environments as well as to and from their places of education. Let’s do more to use technology to help our learners continue to have access to safe education and learning spaces.

Today, digital technologies are powering disruption in every corner of the world with companies of all shapes and sizes remimagining the way the world works and lives.

But why is it that some organisations have achieved more value than others? What do winning organisations do and what have others learnt from?

Key Takeaways:

• Traits of successful organisations driving value from the digital revolution across strategy, culture & technology
• What does it mean for your role in this digital revolution
• Personal reflections from a Managing Director passionate about inclusivity of women in technology

Acknowledging how we can all play a part in overcoming how deeply ingrained unconscious bias is in the tech industry is the first step in tackling the problem. We cannot simply depend on leadership to address the issue anymore, we all must speak up and take action to build a more diverse and inclusive workplace. This panel will discuss the challenges we must overcome and the changes we must implement to eradicate subtle biases.

Key takeaways:

Identifying your businesses problem areas

Being brave in labelling the bias

Implementing training throughout companies to raise awareness of day-to-day gender bias

Defining the tone of your companies culture to dissolve archaic and inherent gender stereotypes

Understanding the ways companies can support females in balancing their responsibilities between work and personal life

Having a gender-balanced workforce is no longer a ‘nice to have’. With a saturated tech market, comes the need for companies to fight for a competitive edge. It has been proven that a gender-diverse workforce leads to an increase in creativity, enhance innovation and improve financial performance. This session will focus on how the industry must collaborate to close the gender gap and unleash female potential.

Key takeaways:

Strategies to overcome the cultural mentality of rural areas in Africa to females in technology

Identifying the skills that need to be included in primary, secondary and tertiary curriculums to increase female exposure to core tech skills

Understanding the importance of partnerships between public bodies and private businesses in addressing the contributing factors to the gender gap and how we can overcome them to empower more women to consider tech

Join us for an interactive design experience. Using the design principles and practices utilised in our UX/UI service design process, you will have the opportunity to practice designing your very own client experience. Thereafter we will show you a real-life example of our NTT Manage Centre portal, where we apply these practices.

Key takeaways:

• The importance of user experience in building customer focused applications
• How being agile helps business stay up to date with customer demand
• How to balance quality and business demand

Things are going great - we've built a product, it's selling, we're creating impact for our clients - and I am focused on building, hiring, managing, mentoring and retaining our team. What happens when we go from 5 to 50 or 50 to 500?

Attend this workshop for practical guidance on how to build and maintain culture, because how we work together determines what we work on, who gets the work done and what it accomplishes.

Key Takeaways

• Learn what culture is (and isn't) and how it determines who you hire, fire, promote
• Practical steps for how to define what type of company are you
• Understand how culture, processes and systems are connected
• Who is responsible for building and maintaining culture - is this a single person's job?

The majority of tech professionals are aware of the benefits of having a professional support network to an individual's career. But knowing how to build one, nurture it, and leverage off it often proves much more challenging. This interactive workshop will provide you with the practical skills to foster a business network from initial introductions to industry peers through to utilising your connections to facilitate your next job move.

Key takeaways:

• How to identify allies & establish professional relationships
• How to give your network TLC to ensure relationships are mutually beneficial
• Key tips to use when ‘networking up’

Each Challenge Your Peer session will be facilitated by a team leader who will dictate the direction and focus of the conversation. These facilitated networking sessions will operate under Chatham House Rules in order to encourage open conversations and trust amongst attendees. You will be required to book to attend a Challenge Your Peer session and spaces will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Africa is in the midst of a shift to the cloud as businesses opt to deploy cloud applications to transform their businesses. With so much hype around innovations on offer once successfully migrated, it's often difficult to make sense of how you can effectively go about optimising your investment. Join this advanced session as we cut through the noise to focus on exactly what your pathway to value from the cloud is.

Key takeaways:

• Key tips on how to maximise your cloud-storage
• How to maximise cloud-usage
• Understanding how AI can drive innovation in the cloud
• Guidance on how to approach change management processes following cloud adoption
• Understand the importance of cloud KPI's
• Pinpoint the cloud-specific roles you should create in your business to safeguard value

The world, and consequently the world of work, is changing rapidly. How businesses operate, how they compete in the experience economy and even how they attract and retain talent is constantly evolving. It takes a new kind of leader to navigate these dynamics and one of the core strengths required is authenticity. Leaders who rule by title, fear and authoritarian tactics will find it increasingly difficult to thrive. Traits like empathy, creativity, curiosity, ethics and humility are becoming more and more sought after in leaders … and women have the edge.

Key takeaways:

• The qualities of authentic leaders
• Why ethics matter in a world where trust is the new currency
• How women can shine in leadership
• The importance of exec sponsors/mentors

Standing up & taking action to initiate a company wide change to close the workplace diversity gap can seem daunting. By joining this workshop it will arm you with the ability to effectively set the wheels in motion to create a radical change to the diversity and inclusion balance in your company.

Key takeaways:

• How to ensure the foundation to your program is truly diverse
• The importance of setting achievable objectives and targets
• Why embedding an inclusive ethos is just as important (& as challenging) as becoming diverse
• Securing program champions - the greater the internal buy in, the more legs your program will have

How we’re viewed by our colleagues and peers has always been an important element to how quickly we progress through the professional ranks. Due to the growing dominance of social media in our professional lives, the importance of ensuring our online brand mirrors the reputation we’ve built in the workplace is becoming evermore prevalent. By taking part in this hands on workshop you will learn how to build an online brand, how to maximise your presence online and how to capitalise off it for your next career move, or jump!

Key takeaways:

• Understand the importance of establishing a strategic foundation of what you want your online brand to look like
• Learn how to build a powerful and connected online network
• Understand how to use the best tone when self-promoting to your online community

As Africa transitions into the next era of digital transformation, with it, comes the requirement for companies to start embracing the opportunities disruptive technologies such as AI, IoT and VR have to offer in remaining competitive. By joining this educational workshop, you will learn how adopting next-gen technologies and industry 4.0 can put you on the pathway to becoming a truly digitally-driven company.

Key takeaways:

• Identifying the obstacles standing in the way of companies embracing 4.0 tech
• The role of upgrading legacy networks to 5G to support digital transformation
• How will high-capacity networks support big data technologies like IoT?
• What further investments need to be made to realise their full potential?

Do you sometimes feel like you are an imposter in your career and that everyone is on the verge of finding out? In this workshop we’ll explore imposter syndrome, a feeling that often significantly damages the careers of promising and exceptional women in the technology and entrepreneurial environments. We’ll look at how to identify whether you are experiencing imposter syndrome, how to overcome this and how, as a leader, you can help the women in your organisations to overcome this.

Key takeaways:

• How to become your own observer and catch yourself when feelings of being an imposter arise
• Practical techniques to use when experiencing imposter syndrome
• Guidance for leaders in how to create environments which do not support imposter syndrome

Leading authentically through times of greater complexity, changing customer and employee expectations, and increasing ambiguity requires greater levels of self-awareness and a new way of leading. Come and explore how authenticity relates to the different leadership styles and resulting workplace climate. Join this session to explore the qualities of authentic leaders, hear Ocea share her personal journey and highlight how leading with authenticity can help you to succeed in your technology career.

Key takeaways:

• Be yourself – learn how to bring your authentic self to work
• Believe in yourself – shoot the crows
• Understand how to identify the right leadership style for each situation
• Each one – Teach one
• Lift as you rise

This session will address the causes of the gender pay gap including dismissing myths and sharing key statistics around the size of the problem in SA and the tech sector in particular. It will cover the business case for gender diversity and pay parity and key concepts including unconscious bias, structural disadvantage, unpaid labour and the maternity gap. We will discuss what can be done to close the gender pay gap in tech - with international best practices and an understanding of the SA legal framework including the equal pay for equal work principal.

Key takeaways include:

• Identify the legal framework that requires redress
• Arm yourself with the necessary statistics when rallying around equal pay day
• Learn the vocabulary to be adopted to effectively address the problem in workplace
• Understand the necessary tone at the top to begin to dismiss pay parity

By giving people the tools to build a community is an essential part of building an inclusive culture where everyone feels a sense of belong. This is even more important when trying to scale and maximise the impact of products you’re looking to build. By joining this workshop it will arm you with not only the understanding but the ability to effectively set the wheels in motion to create internal communities that will aide the inclusive culture in your company.

Key Takeaways:

• Learn how to build for inclusion and leverage product design to drive internal communities
• How to use employee resource groups to create a sense of belonging
• Hear how to embed a sense of community into company processes, training, and employee performance

As businesses begin to scale, the use of design systems allows teams to work at speed to build a consistent feel and design to digital products. Despite ultimately unlocking work efficiencies to build truly modern UX design teams, challenges in constructing design systems are common. By joining this interactive workshop you will receive step by step guidance to conquering common pitfalls and maximising the benefits on offer. You'll also be taken through the trials and tribulations of creating ABSA's mobile banking app design system and the learnings gained from the process.

Key takeaways:

• How to identify the right tools for your design system
• How to manage the political and technical challenges that arise between design and development
• What does it mean to build a best in class design system - what are the required foundations?
• How to make the design system easy to use to ensure developers embrace it into their current workflow
• What to consider in establishing an effective governance model for your design system
• How to make the business case for a design system to stakeholders

Have you got lots of professional aspirations yet lacking clarity on how to achieve them? Is what you’ve always been doing no longer working? Join this workshop to discover and package your unique talents and strengths to release your unlimited potential.

Key takeaways:

• Identify the benefits to career reinvention
• Learn the reinvent formula to success
• Map out an effective action plan in re-positioning yourself

Whether you’re addressing intimate internal teams or external pitches to new customers, public speaking will feature in some form in all our career lifetimes. Being able to add strong public speaking to your repertoire will allow you to perform better in interviews, boost confidence and develop your communication skills. We can’t guarantee this workshop will cure all public speaking anxieties, but it will give you the tips and tricks to fool your audience into thinking you’re a seasoned pro.

Key takeaways:

• How to prepare for a presentation
• Vocal development
• Key message delivery
• Understand the key telltale signs of lack of confidence
• How to adopt body language to boost confidence
• Tips on how to hook an audience
• On-the-spot problem solving - how to react when something goes wrong
• Receive real-time feedback for improvement on your public speaking approach

Each Challenge Your Peers session will be facilitated by a team leader who will dictate the direction and focus of the conversation. These facilitated networking sessions will operate under Chatham House Rules in order to encourage open conversations and trust amongst attendees. You will be required to book to attend a challenge your peers session and spaces will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Smart cities are a true amalgamation of the most advancing technological discoveries we’re playing witness to on a global stage. By Government's taking the step to initiate smart technology projects, they, in turn, open the city up to a wide range of investments from international tech companies looking to support the next wave of development for connected cities.

Key takeaways:

• Understanding the importance of public-private partnerships in aiding the development of smart city hubs
• How are smart city projects on the continent supporting the commercialisation of African innovations?
• Learn how smart cities are producing a technologically engaged generation - how are they filling the tech skills pipeline of the future?

As tech startups surge across the continent, new entrepreneurs are turning to social enterprise as the industry becomes more empathic to the role technology can play in improving the lives of Africans. We’ve united a selection of female founders to share their accounts of how starting a business empowered them and advice for success for those considering the move from employee to entrepreneur.

Key takeaways:

• Accounts from female founders on their motivations for becoming entrepreneurs
• Analysing the impact of socially empathic ventures
• Exploring how to successfully share stories of female entrepreneurs into communities to spread empowerment

Technology is now maturing quicker than regulation across many areas in Africa. Compliance with certain regulations can prove an obstacle to tech uptake and implementation illustrated through Uganda's 2019 social media taxation. This presentation will explore how tech companies can best navigate the regulatory landscape whilst working in unison with policymakers to build cohesive regulatory frameworks.

Key takeaways:

• Understanding the impact of certain policies on tech uptake
• Pinpointing the barriers to entry for tech startups in Africa - where are the loopholes?
• Comparison of different countries unique regulatory climate
• Leave the session understanding how to embrace regulation to drive competitive advantage
• Come away with use cases of how Fintech is challenging the regulatory status quo

Forget about incremental change in African technology, the future is coming at the speed of light. While not quite that fast, Zipline’s autonomous drones are flying at 100 kmph, and this new technology is already changing medical logistics in rural areas in order to save lives. Join this session to hear from a leader scaling flight operations across Ghana. Without the right mindset and tools, this job would seem impossible. Can you see the future? It’s within the Line of Sight.

Key takeaways:

• Understand what it takes to build a drone delivery system
• Technology breaks as you scale - learn how to build this notion into your future tech plans to ride the waves with grace
• Realising the role of drones in showing what technology can do for socio-economic development
• Learn how to stay proactive in your tech career as rapid change is the new norm
• Understand how scaling requires leaders to learn and execute along the way

For many, identifying the individual of a higher position than them to act as their advocate is a key milestone in their professional career. This unique session will bring together a mentor and their mentee to share their experiences on the process of mentoring to offer clarity to those looking to identify the right career advocate for them.

Key takeaways:

• How to seek out championship - where to find your advocate
• How do you gain and retain visibility to a potential mentor?
• Understanding the different types of mentors to find the right fit for you
• Once finding a good mentor, how do you become a good mentee?
• How can you make sure you’re getting the most out of the mentorship?

When establishing a new business venture, many founders believe that securing funding is the key to success? But do you really want an investor, and if so, when is the right time? This session will highlight the implications of securing funding at different stages of the startup journey to offer insight into best practice for budding business entrepreneurs.

Key takeaways:

• Knowing the implications that taking investments has on a business
• Clarity on the fundamentals needed in the early stages of a venture before taking investment

Many are beginning to seize the opportunity that adopting IoT technologies offer. This seminar will share with you how IoT is no longer simply a buzzword when it comes to smart cities, smart buildings and smart transportation. When IoT is implemented correctly Businesses are able to derive greater levels of efficiency, reliability, safety, security, health and growth opportunities.

Key takeaways:

• Hear the key driving factors for implementing IoT
• Identifying the challenges organisations face when implementing IoT
• Learn how you can overcome such challenges around implementation through strategy, operationalisation and continuous improvement plans

For most women the idea of starting their own tech business is super exciting and super scary all at once! The ideas, inspiration, drive and passion are there but so is the self-doubt, fear of failure and questions around where to start and what to do next? In this session , Annette Muller & Andrea van Greunen join forces to bring some hard realities, interesting facts and super real tips to the room, that will empower you to leave inspired, motivated and geared to "give it a go!". Combined, the duo have more than 20 years of experience within Corporate Enterprise, SME and Tech Start up environments. They are extremely passionate about enabling future forward females to do great things and yes...to change the world!

Key takeaways:

• Am I ready for this?
• How to conceptualise a future proof idea and assess its feasibility
• Where to start and how do I go about fundraising?
• The importance of team culture and finding the right people from the start