5 ways SingularityU South Africa plans to #futureproofAfrica

Singularity University (SU) – the global learning and innovation enterprise that educates individuals and organisations on accelerating technological change – in October announced SingularityU South Africa as the fifth and newest SingularityU country partner. SingularityU South Africa will work with established businesses, entrepreneurs and future innovators to create new opportunities for innovation and impact in South Africa and around the continent. This first African-based faculty aims to #futureproofAfrica in the following four ways.

1.   Creating the South African leaders of tomorrow through education

As a country partner, SingularityU South Africa now boasts a local faculty, which aims to build an empowered network of globally connected changemakers across Africa, who are able to innovate and implement solutions to many of the challenges that face Africa today.

SingularityU South Africa runs custom education, innovation, executive and impact programmes that leverage rapidly accelerating technologies in innovative ways. We design the optimal solution for your organisation regardless of whether you need educational programmes for your c-suite or management level, talent development for your rising stars, or to innovate at the edges of your industry.

At SingularityU South Africa, you will not only meet and work with South Africa’s foremost experts on converging technologies and innovation but also gain access to Singularity University’s global network of thought leaders, scientists, entrepreneurs, and executives.

Our flagship SingularityU South Africa Executive Programme (EP) is a three-and-a-half-day immersive course in Johannesburg, South Africa for up to 50 delegates. It examines how key converging technologies will shape our future, while exploring ethical leadership in a world of rapid change. This intensive programme is intended for senior leaders in business, government, and the non-profit sectors who have the desire to have a positive impact at scale, and who want to create their organisations’ – and the world’s future – not simply react to it. 

By convening a class of future-oriented senior influencers from all over Africa from a broad range of industries, the programme fosters insightful dialogues with uncommon partners and builds a supportive community of like-minded peers. We want to #futureproofAfrica into the fourth industrial revolution and not chase the tail of disruption.

We believe that the future also lies in our youth, which is why 30 top achieving secondary and tertiary school learners were hosted at the SingularityU South Africa Summit 2018. The two-day summit was also livestreamed to the students of the African Leadership Academy in Mauritius, which is run by Fred Swaniker, who was one of the SUSA2018 speakers and aims to groom three million leaders for Africa by 2035.

2.   SU Ventures creates widespread impact

SingularityU South Africa received 112 applications for this year’s leg of SU Ventures South Africa that was hosted at the SingularityU South Africa Summit 2018. With careful consideration through a voting process undertaken by the three of the South African SU Ventures SU, this list was whittled down to the top five entries that illustrated the most potential to #futureproofAfrica. They were (in no particular): Onno Huyser of Greenfly Aviation; Gift Lubele of GN Lub; Benji Coetzee of Empty Trips; Spencer Horne of FlyCloudline and Fusi Mbokane of Malikia African Tours. Each of the five finalists had five minutes to present their idea on the SU Ventures stage to the four judges – Monique Giggy (Vice President, SU Ventures), Neil Sogard (Managing Director, SU Ventures), Belinda Carreira (Executive Head, Interactive Marketing at Standard Bank) and Mic Mann (SingularityU South Africa Summit 2018 co-organiser). This was followed by a three-minute Q&A session by each finalist.

The 2018 SU Ventures winner was Benji Coetzee from Empty Trips, which aims to make cargo transportation more eco-friendly and cost-efficient. Her prize includes a trip to Silicon Valley to participate in the 10-day Singularity University Sprint Programme, with the hope of ultimately getting global funding from the SU ecosystem, which will surely revolutionise her business and help her leapfrog transportation across the continent.

3.   Global Start Up Programme

For the first time since its launch in 2008, the Singularity University Global Start Up Programme (GSP) will be coming to Africa. During the course of a year, each GSP has nurtured the ideas of innovators to help them transform from start-up phase to become national and global portfolio companies. Since then, the GSP has given rise to more than 1 000 impact innovations from over 45 countries around the world.

The year-long GSP, which can be completed online from anywhere in the world, will take place in Denmark in May and will be stationed in South Africa for the month of August 2019 and will welcome 60 global participants. It will be curated by SingularityU co-founders Peter Diamandis and Ray Kurzweil. This immersive, hands-on, month-long programme will also be overseen by global and local SU faculty members and industry experts. It is tailormade for future-focused entrepreneurs to transform their ideas from business plan to create tangible impact across the country and continent within a safe and nurturing environment. This flagship programme aims to help positively transform the future of humanity and #futureproofAfrica. Its goal is to inspire Africans to solve some of the continent’s biggest challenges and impact the lives of a billion people.

4.   Creating opportunity through networks

The SingularityU South Africa Summit, its executive and customised programmes, alongside the chapter events, bring together thousands of Africa’s political and thought leaders, as well as entrepreneurs, c-suite executives, start-up founders, NGOs and students to discuss the rapid advances of exponential technologies, as well as the unexpected ways in which they converge to create a future of abundance for humanity.

We know that as the African proverb goes, “It takes a village to raise a child”, so it will take many villages to #futureproofAfrica. We strive to create the connections between start ups and angel investors, NGOs and business executives, and likeminded individuals who are at the edge of innovation. This is why we built in a gamification element into our SingularityU South Africa Summit app that rewards networking. We have heard countless success stories of the meeting of minds, the forging of new business partnerships, and funding finding noteworthy recipients. It’s these networks and connections that are the bedrock of the SingularityU community and will help to create lasting impact. Join our community and mailing list.