Some of the world's biggest influencers at BCX Disrupt Summit

Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker columnist and best-selling author - image credit: BCX Disrupt Summit Facebook.

The two-day event will feature a high-calibre speaker line-up of disruption leaders, many of whom are in South Africa for the first time. On the first day of the Summit speakers will include:

• Charlie Ayers, best known as “the chef who fed Google” and recipient of an honorary doctorate degree for his contributions to the culinary arts. 
• Jane McGonigal, director of game research and development at the Institute for the Future in California.
• Lars Silberbauer, senior global director of social media and video at Lego.
• Mariéme Jamme, named one of Britain’s 100 most influential people of African and African Caribbean heritage, technologist and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.
• Nick Goldman, mathematician, genome scientist and a member of the management team at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI).
• Rapelang Rabana, founder and CEO of learning technology company Rekindle Learning and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader for 2017. 
• Rich Mulholland, best-selling author and global speaker.
• Sipho Maseko, Group CEO of Telkom and an executive director of BCX. 
• will.i.am, global music artist, creative innovator, entrepreneur and tech investor.

Aside from paradigm-shifting addresses by these speakers, the first day will also feature a panel discussion titled How to Create the Future, with Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker columnist and best-selling author; Ian Russell; Mike Ettling, human capital and finance management executive and former SAP SuccessFactors business leader; Rapelang Rabana and will.i.am.

Stimulate new thinking and inspire positive action

“A ground-breaking, world-class learning experience, this two-day summit promises to stimulate new thinking and inspire positive action as the globe’s top thought leaders and industry pioneers tackle the most pressing disruptors facing business today,” says Russell.

The second day of the BCX Disrupt Summit features another South African first – an exclusive masterclass hosted by Malcolm Gladwell. The workshop will comprise an intensive, interactive group seminar examining beliefs around personal obstacles and the qualities that distinguish high achievers.

Dean Carlson, founder of BrainFarm and co-host of the Summit, says this will be an interactive forum that offers unparalleled opportunities for delegates to engage with these leaders who have their fingers on the pulse of disruption and innovation. “In today’s fluid business environment, knowledge sharing is more powerful and more critical than ever before. We promise that delegates will never think the same way again.”

Cutting edge disruption topics

Business as we know it is headed into uncharted territories, characterised by perpetual and unpredictable change, reimagined business models, and future-forward technologies that will dramatically change industry in ways we can’t even imagine. At the Summit, South Africans can engage with some of the world’s greatest disruptors.

The purpose of the BCX Disrupt Summit is to bring these vitally important thought leaders and conversations about disruption to South Africa for the first time and tackle the big, future-thinking questions. If you had 2.6 billion collaborators, what could you build? How do you harness the collective intelligence of relatively untapped audiences like gamers, hackers and start-up founders, often the most creative, co-operative and future-ready networks on earth? How do you turn innovation into profit? These are just some of the cutting-edge disruption topics that will be tackled at the Summit, which is set to push delegates into new realms of thinking they never believed possible.

“I believe South Africa has the potential to become one of the world’s next big technology and innovation powerhouses,” says Russell. “By tapping into the knowledge of these influencers and thought leaders, we can enable the type of disruptive thinking that will attract the attention of the rest of the world.”

For further information and bookings, click here.