Robbie Brozin co-founded Nando’s in 1987, over the next two and a half decades, Nando’s grew from a single shop into a global brand now spanning more than 1,200 restaurants across over 20 countries. He built it on a philosophy that’s become legendary in South African business, that culture, creativity and people matter more than process, and that great brands are built from the inside out.

Since stepping back as CEO, Robbie has poured the same founder’s energy into social impact and civic work, from anti-malaria initiatives to the Jozi-My-Jozi movement aimed at rebuilding confidence in Johannesburg. For anyone building a brand or a culture, there are few people in the country with more hard-won perspective to share.

Brent is the founder and editor of Good Things Guy, South Africa’s leading good-news platform, which he launched in August 2015 after turning a viral drinking-game nomination into a random act of kindness that spread around the world. What started as one positive story a day now reaches tens of millions of South Africans and has become the country’s go-to home for good news.

A self-taught journalist, author and sought-after speaker, Brent has been named one of the Mail & Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans and a Primedia LeadSA Hero. His talks blend storytelling with practical tools for building resilient, purpose-led teams, a genuinely different lens on leadership and the stories we tell ourselves about our country.

A serial entrepreneur across nearly five decades, Ian founded Sorbet in 2005, buying and rebranding six salons despite having no background in beauty, and grew it into South Africa’s largest salon chain before selling it to Long4Life in 2017. His real expertise isn’t beauty at all; it’s culture, and the belief that getting the people and the environment right is what makes a business genuinely hard to copy.

Today Ian teaches exactly that through the Hatch Institute, coaching entrepreneurs and executives on leadership and customer service. A vocal advocate for honest conversations about culture and inclusion in South African workplaces, he’s one of the country’s most respected voices on building organisations that treat people with dignity, and make money doing it.

Rapelang is an internationally renowned technology entrepreneur who featured on the cover of Forbes Africa before the age of 30. She first made her name co-founding Yeigo Communications, a pioneer in mobile VoIP, before founding Rekindle Learning, an edtech company that helps people and organisations learn faster through bite-sized, mobile-first experiences.

Named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and an Entrepreneur for the World, she’s spoken on hundreds of stages alongside the likes of Malcolm Gladwell and President Paul Kagame. With a computer science and business background from UCT, Rapelang offers a rare combination of deep technical insight and a clear-eyed view of where learning and work are heading on the continent.

Erik is a bestselling author, keynote speaker and executive coach known for transformative work in leadership performance. Holding a Master’s in Executive Coaching from Wits Business School, he’s worked with organisations including PepsiCo, Toyota, Microsoft and Anglo American, and was named to the Global Gurus Top 30 Leadership Professionals for 2026.

Drawing on psychology, neuroscience and real-world business experience, Erik gives leaders practical frameworks for navigating complexity and building resilient teams. His core insight, that team transformation flows downstream from leader transformation, anchors talks that are as actionable as they are engaging.

Allon founded and leads Raizcorp, described by The Economist as the only genuine business incubator in Africa, which supports more than 500 businesses at any given time. He built his model on a hard-won belief that real support for entrepreneurs goes far beyond funding, it’s about mentorship, skills and the emotional resilience to keep going.

A two-time bestselling author of Lose the Business Plan and What to Do When You Want to Give Up, Allon is also recognised by the World Economic Forum as one of only 15 global experts on fostering entrepreneurship. Few people have spent more time in the trenches with founders, and fewer still can talk about building a business with his blend of candour and practicality.

Grace’s story is the kind that sticks with you: from a shop assistant on the streets of central Johannesburg to CEO of one of South Africa’s most beloved brands. She leads Ocean Basket, Africa’s largest seafood franchise, with restaurants across 16 countries and a career spanning more than 30 years.

What sets Grace apart is her philosophy of leadership, warm, real and deeply committed to human connection, rejecting old top-down hierarchies in favour of equal partnerships. She’s a powerful voice on people-first leadership, transformation in the hospitality industry, and what it takes to lead a global team.

John is one of South Africa’s sharpest and most fearless comedians, an award-winning performer who’s played stages from local clubs to the Royal Albert Hall. But there’s a serious operator behind the stand-up: he’s the co-owner of Whacked, a talent management, events and production company he started in 1997, which today manages comedians and business speakers across Southern Africa.

More recently, John completed an MBA at Henley Business School and reinvented himself as a diversity, equity and inclusion strategist. That mix — comedy, business and behavioural insight — makes him an unusually compelling voice on communication and team dynamics. Expect candour, sharp wit and a refreshing refusal to sugar-coat.

Nick co-founded Veldskoen Shoes in 2016, taking a humble South African classic and turning it into a global footwear brand worn by the likes of Prince Harry and Ashton Kutcher, and later backed by Kutcher and Mark Cuban. He learned, in his own words, that you can build a global brand and still hit the ceiling of what’s scalable, a lesson that shaped his next move.

That move is Made in RSA, a growth-tech business he founded and leads as CEO, built to help South African brands reach buyers in the US, EU and Asia. Its mission is simple, help local companies sell more abroad so they can create more jobs at home. Nick is candid about both the wins and the hard exits, which makes him a genuinely useful person to learn export and brand-building from.

Murray co-founded Neighbourgood in July 2020, born out of the pandemic, and grew it into one of South Africa’s most innovative, fast-growing property businesses in the co-living and co-working space, now with sites in Cape Town and the United States. The model centres on taking older buildings and reimagining them as connected, community-led places to live and work.

After a string of earlier ventures, Murray found his stride in what he calls “intentional community”, spaces where members get access to a whole network of locations and events, not just a desk or a room. For anyone thinking about property, community or building something genuinely new in a tough market, his perspective on space and belonging is hard to match.

Tiffany is a multi-award-winning copywriter and international speaker. She’s written for around 570 brands in 16 countries and trained tens of thousands of people, and her accolades include Most Effective Copywriter in Southern Africa and Africa’s top copywriter.

Known for talks that are energetic, practical and genuinely funny, Tiffany covers everything from brand voice and messaging to digital marketing, productivity and imposter syndrome. At the Main Event she’s running a women-only workshop on negotiating and charging like a grown-up, a session built around getting paid what you’re worth and saying it well.

Tshepo’s origin story is now the stuff of local legend: he launched his denim brand with an R8,000 loan, 100 pairs of jeans and a bicycle for deliveries, and founded Tshepo (Tshepo the Jean Maker) in 2015.
He set out to build a premium denim label rooted in craftsmanship and storytelling, every pair hand-finished, every detail intentional.

That obsession with quality has earned him global recognition, including a 2019 commission to make jeans for Meghan Markle and dungarees for baby Archie. With a brand built on community, empowerment and an unmistakable crown logo, Tshepo has become one of the most recognisable names in African fashion.

A specialist Nutritional and Integrative therapist whose work sits at the intersection of women’s health, personal identity evolution, and emotional wellbeing. With a deeply compassionate and evidence-informed approach, Nicole’s work is for women navigating the transition from perimenopause through menopause, helping them reclaim their wellness and a sense of self that is entirely their own.

Drawing on both nutritional science and integrative therapeutic modalities, Nicole’s core purpose is to dissolve the confusion, shame, and ignorance that surrounds womanhood. From food noise, disordered eating and diet culture recovery to people-pleasing, self-abandonment, and beliefs that have quietly held women back for decades.

Greg is the founder and CEO of G&G (The Goosebumps Company), the experiential agency he established in 2003 to give people an escape from the ordinary and help brands become extraordinary. Over two decades he’s become one of the key players in South Africa’s live-events industry, delivering productions like Rage Festival, Sensation, Armin Only, the BMW M Festival and the Samsung Galaxy Experience.

He’s also refreshingly honest about the business behind the spectacle, the upfront risk and the tight margins of bringing global acts to a price-sensitive market. For anyone in marketing, sponsorship or events, Greg offers a rare look at what it actually takes to build experiences people remember.

Richard started his career as a rock ‘n’ roll roadie, running lights on tour for the likes of Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Bon Jovi, before founding Missing Link in 1997 at the age of 22, the presentation and communication powerhouse that’s since become South Africa’s leading firm of its kind. For more than 25 years he’s coached multinationals, thousands of executives and professional speakers (many of whom have gone on to the TED stage).

Having spoken in around 50 countries across six continents, Richard is also the founder of AI agency Too Many Robots and the author of four books, including Legacide, Boredom Slayer, Here Be Dragons and his latest, Relentless Relevance. Equal parts entertaining and provocative, he helps leaders communicate with confidence, sell the right story and stay relevant in a fast-changing world, with, in his words, just enough mischief to keep things interesting.