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Zak van Niekerk was born in the heart of Namaqualand (Springbok) where he also went to school. As a farm boy he ran after sheep in the Boesmanland (his family still lives there) and tried his best to be a farmer like his father and brother, but with no luck, because his first love was always music.
He had his own band during his high school years, but he was the only one who was serious about music. He then decided to do his own thing since then until now.
During his matrix year he was assigned SANA church choir en concert group, also known as the Canaries, for a period of two years.
At the end of his first year the government decided to close the department and Zak van Niekerk was forced to make plans for the sudden future.
He then decided to study further and luckily Tygerberg College accepted him, although it was a late appliance.
He received a record deal the same year. At the age of only 19 his debut album (Bekfluitjie Boogie) was released on the 14 January 1999.
Zak van Niekerk second album (Springbok toe) saw the light in 2000 and he left BMG a year after the album was released, because he decided to do his own thing again.
For nearly three years he toured through South Africa and showed in different places for an income.
In 2003 he made his breakthrough! He signed contract with Leo Music en things started to happen.
His third album “Lekkerkry” was then released and the album has Gold status. Two other album followed “Byt My”, nearly gold and “Oe Na Na” going strong.
Zak van Niekerk is certainly one of the best comedians and that includes his party and listening music. With his unique way he plays the harmonica, many agree he is one of the best!
With his humour, music and comedy, he always gets a party going!
As he always says: “GOOI MIELIES BROER TOT ONS WEER ONTMOET!!”
3 FLUTES
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David Kibuuka is undeniably one of South Africa’s top comedic talents!
Having spent over ten years in the business, he has performed on various stages around the world from New York to London, Toronto to Kigali, Nairobi, Gaborone, Harare and of course, everywhere in South Africa!
Having garnered close to 50 000 Twitter followers from his comedic endeavors, David is widely known and he continues to thrill the different kinds of audiences where ever he goes.
Seen weekly on eTV’s twice-Emmy nominated comedy show, ‘Late Night News with Loyiso Gola’, (now in its 12th season), David has the opportunity to showcase his talents to a weekly audience of more than 800 000 viewers.
Hailing from Uganda and a graduated Finance Honors student from Wits University, Dave has a unique brand of humor that combines wit and intellect without losing touch with his audiences.
He broke into the comedy world when he won 5FM’s ‘Freshest Five Stand Up Comedy Nationwide Comedy Search’ and he hasn’t looked back since …
Equally comfortable MC’ing or performing at any event.
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Richard Poplak is an award-winning author, journalist, and filmmaker. He has become one of the most widely read and controversial political journalists in South Africa, editing at large for the Daily Maverick. Poplak has reported from over 25 developing countries, for the Financial Times, Atlantic Monthly, The Guardian, among others. He was recently part of a team that won the prestigious Global Shining Light award for investigative journalism.
Richard has worked as a freelance journalist and writer since 2005. His work has been anthologized numerous times, and he frequently appears on Al Jazeera, BBC, CBC, and elsewhere as a commentator on topics that range from world events to sport: he is considered a go-to voice on the burgeoning Sino-African relationship; on South African politics; and on international cycling.
Richard Poplak is a former Rockefeller Fellow, and a recipient of the Bookmark Award for the best journalist in South Africa. He is also a contributor in the innovative global investigative journalist collective Deca Stories.
As a member in the Gupta Leaks team, Richard Poplak helped break one of the biggest stories in South African media history. The journalistic consortium won the Taco Kuiper Investigative Journalism award, Vodacom Journalist of the Year, and was cited for a Nat Nkasa Bravery in Journalism award. In 2019, the team won the prestigious 2019 Global Shining Light award, the highest honour in investigative journalism.
Before Richard Poplak became a journalist, Richard trained as a filmmaker and fine artist at Montreal’s Concordia University (1992-1995) and has produced an directed numerous music videos, television commercials, and documentary films. He is the co-director of a documentary feature film on the public relations firm Bell Pottinger, called Influence, which is premiering in competition at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020.
Keynote Topic
INFLUENCE: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS PUBLIC RELATIONS COMPANY
Synopsis
The feature-length documentary film INFLUENCE charts the recent advancements in weaponized communication by investigating the rise and fall of the world’s most notorious public relations and reputation management firm: the British multinational Bell Pottinger.
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Professor Shirley Zinn is the former Group Head of Human Resources at Woolworths Holdings Limited. Prior to this, she was the Head of Human Resources of Standard Bank South Africa and Deputy Global Head of Human Resources for the Standard Bank Group.
Prior to this she was the Group Executive HR at Nedbank. Before this, she was the General Manager for Human Resources at the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
She is also an Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria’s Department of Human Resource Management, and recently been appointed as Adjunct Professor at the University of Cape Town.
Shirley is the Past President of the Institute for People Management South Africa and registered as Master HR Professional with South Africa Board for People Practice.
Professor Shirley Zinn hails from the Cape Flats in Cape Town, and started her career as a secondary school teacher of English, then moved to the University of the Western Cape where she lectured in Teacher Education.
After this, Professor Shirley Zinn served at Southern Life as Training Manager and then moved to the Department of Public Service and Administrations’: South African Management Development Institute, in Pretoria as Director.
She held the position of Executive Employment Equity at Computer Configurations Holdings. Before her appointment at SARS, she filled the role of Regional Human Resources Director for Middle East and Africa for Reckitt Benckiser, a global company listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Professor Shirley Zinn is the former Chairman of DHL: Global Forwarding SA, and currently a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of JSE listed AdvTech (Lead Independent and Chair of Remco) and Sygnia Asset Management (Lead Independent, and Chair of Remco and Social and Ethics Committee).
She also serves as a director on the Boards of Tuesday Consulting, Empowerment Capital, Knowledge Resources, Business Engage, Community Chest, and the Boston Consulting Group SA. In addition, she is the HR Advisor to the Board of Silvertree Internet Holdings.
Professor Shirley Zinn also serves on the Takeover Regulation Panel Board and on the Council of the University of Cape Town. She is a Trustee on the Nedbank Eyethu Community Trust, Ambassador for the Orbis Africa Charity, and the former Chairman of Starfish Greathearts Foundation.
She also serves on the Advisory Boards of Monash South Africa, and the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Shirley is the past President for the Harvard Alumni Association South Africa and a Fellow of the Institute of Directors SA.
She also previously served as the Chair of the Institute of Bankers. She was recently appointed as the Patron for South Africa Council of Business Women.
She is a coach and mentor to several women across multiple industries She has presented at numerous national and international conferences as a keynote speaker.
In 2015, she wrote her autobiography entitled “Swimming Upstream” which focuses on her personal and professional journey. It has officially been announced as a best-seller.
In 2016, she presented several “Swimming Upstream” talks nationally at corporates, schools, universities and charities, with the hope of motivating and inspiring especially youth and women that they can achieve despite adversity, and to never give up.
She holds a BA (University of the Western Cape); Post Graduate Higher Diploma in Education (University of the Western Cape); B.Ed. Honours (UNISA); M.Ed. (University of the Western Cape); Ed.M. (Harvard); and Doctorate in Education (Harvard).
Professor Shirley Zinn was awarded the Top Woman in Business and Government and Top Executive in Corporate South Africa by Topco Media in 2008. Professor Zinn also was recognized by the Black Business Quarterly and received the Award for Top Woman in Business and Government and most Visionary Woman in 2008.
She also received an award from the World Human resources Congress in Mumbai in 2007 and 2013 respectively for Excellence in Global HR Leadership. In 2012, was listed in the Top 30 Wonder Women in South Africa by the Wits Business Journal.
Professor Shirley Zinn was awarded Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government for 2016 in the SME Sector by CEO Global.
She also completed her ninth Two Oceans Half Marathon in March 2018.
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Andy Golding is an employee experience specialist and co-founder of Still Human. Her primary focus and area of impact is businesses relevance in a rapidly changing world. To achieve this she works with companies to craft and build cultures that are always innovation ready as well as designing employee experience to ensure that people are being switched on and grown.
She assists companies and leaders in businesses across diverse sectors from start-ups to established, century old organisations to become places where the best talent wants to work, chooses to come to and where they thrive.
Andy Golding has personal experience working in awful work environments as well as awesome work environments across various sectors from performing arts to strategy. She became fascinated with the impact of employee experience creates on performance, retention and business execution capability and this fascination led her to embark on a massive research exercise that included spending time inside some of the best companies to work for both locally and abroad.
The findings thereof, combined with her personal experience working in different environments, culminated in her starting a business focused on company culture and employee experience. This was later merged into Still Human.
A keen researcher, blogger, speaker and facilitator Andy Golding has written for and continues to contribute to many publications at the forefront of business, human capital and employee experience design. Andy regularly speaks to audiences across industries on a variety of topics within the theme of Relevance, and facilitates for teams across the organisational hierarchy on creating exceptional culture and employee experience.
The key topics that she addresses include:
Andy Golding was also named one of Entrepreneur Magazine’s ‘50 Top South African Business Women to Watch’ in 2018 and is the co-author of We Are Still Human (and work shouldn’t suck).
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Helen Nicholson has a BCom degree from Wits University where she studied to be an accountant.
After working in the financial industry in South Africa, Helen lived in the Middle East for 5 years where she developed and sold her own successful business in Dubai before returning to South Africa.
She gained international corporate experience in the IT industry, coordinating the marketing Middle East operation for Novell.
On her return to South Africa, Helen Nicholson consulted and lectured at Wits Business School where she still guest lectures on the MBA programme and on various in-company programs. She also lectures at GIBS and the UCT Graduate School of Business.
Helen has a bi-monthly regular column in the Star Newspaper on the power of networking. She is the Director of The Networking Company, specialising in educating people to ‘Grow your Network, Grow your Business’.
Helen Nicholson recently published the business best-seller, ‘Networking – How to get Your Black Belt in Business Success’.
Helen Nicholson is a passionate South African who thrives on the meaningful work she does as a consultant in the area of ‘leadership development’.
Helen is a mentor at Shanduka Black Umbrellas for aspiring African entrepreneurs and she is a founding member of the Professional Speakers Association of South Africa.
She currently offers two presentations; ‘Mindfulness – a Business Game-Changer’ and ‘Grow Your Network, Grow Your Business’:
The ‘Grow Your Network, Grow Your Business ‘presentation will enable you to:
Linkedin Course
The Beginner/Intermediate module is a stand-alone course. There is a 10% discount if you attend all three modules.
The Opposite to Advertising
Basically, content marketing is the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling. It is non-interruption marketing. Instead of pitching your products or services, you are delivering information that makes your buyer more intelligent.
The essence of this content strategy is the belief that if we, as businesses, deliver consistent, ongoing valuable information to buyers, they ultimately reward us with their business and loyalty. According to Roper Public Affairs,
• 80 percent of business decision makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus an advertisement.
• 70 percent say content marketing makes them feel closer to the sponsoring company, while
• 60 percent say that company content helps them make better product decisions.
Think of this – what if your customers looked forward to receiving your marketing? What if when they received it, via print, email, website, they spent 15, 30, 45 minutes with it?
Why LinkedIn?
Other than Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn is strictly business – and has become a “secret weapon for B2B activities” for Helen Nicholson and such as:
1. Replacing Cold Calling
2. Generating New Leads
3. Finding the Decision Maker
Networking
How to get your black belt is business success
Do you want to build a network of useful contacts in order to kick-start your career but don’t know how?
Are you aware of the crucial importance of networking but lack the know-how to get started?
Or do you think networking entails just pitching up at a cocktail party and handing out your business cards?
If any of the above, this book is for you!
The Connected Leader Book
“The Connected Leader” sees two leading best-selling authors, Helen Nicholson – Business Networking Specialist and Dr Nik join forces to give insights into what being truly connected means, both face-to-face and digitally in the new world of work and working mothers
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Mandla Isaacs is a public speaker, and facilitator. He is Managing Director of Zehuti Advisory, a communications and strategy firm.
His main areas of expertise and interest are: political economy, business strategy/trends, South African and African development, international relations, public policy/administration and politics.
His career has spanned management consulting, including with McKinsey – where he advised companies and governments across Africa on strategy and change management – as well as public service, where he was head of research and speechwriting for the Minister of Home Affairs and Finance.
In four years in government, Mandla wrote speeches for Parliament, investors, foreign diplomats and communities, among other stakeholders.
He also wrote two budget speeches – the October 2017 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement Speech, and the February 2018 Budget Speech – which are two of the most closely followed communications on the national calendar.
He regularly provides analysis on South Africa-focused political economy, international relations and development issues in online columns, on radio and TV.
He is a former champion debater and coach in British Parliamentary-style university debating.
Mandla Isaacs – Political Economist was educated in the United States (BA Political Science, Howard University) and South Africa (MA International Relations).
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