Business Founder at DB-LAB, Dave Betts is a husband, father, musician, entrepreneur and business leader with an appetite for life, love, laughing, music, and working with people. He has a passion for helping people turn their vision, purpose, and mission into reality.

He has successfully taken many start-ups from an idea through various funding rounds and seen them become profitable businesses. Dave Betts is the co-founder of EnergyDrive (EDS), a company that disrupted the energy optimisation industry. The approach was out of the box; and as a result, EDS has grown to be an international company with teams in SA, UK, EU & the US, and gone on to win awards from the SAEEC.

His coaching business, DB-Lab, offers business and life coaching that supports you in creating a clear, confident, capable path. I believe that we grow through turning our mistakes into an opportunity for growth and that authenticity is key to leading yourself, and others, well.

Kabelo Ncholo is the founder and CEO of Y-Brand, a marketing agency. He formed his business the year 2004 with a R350.00 tip as a waiter. Today, Y-Brand operates throughout the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, with a headquarters in Johannesburg and regional offices in Cape Town, Durban, Namibia (Wnidhoek), and Zambia (Lusaka).

He studied event management with Damelin College, project management with the University of South Africa, graduated in Business Management with the University of Reading in London and later enrolled for an MBA with Henley University the year 2015. He is currently pursuing an Executive MBA degree with the University of Cape Town. His hobby is reading, and he is interested in books on leadership, business management, marketing, and communication. He wrote his own business autobiography, How I Made My Dream Life with Only R350, which sold over 10,000 copies after its release date of March 31, 2021.

His areas of specialization include strategic management, marketing communication, and project management. He is focusing on expanding his business’s presence in Africa, which is why he opened offices in Namibia and Zambia, with Nigeria to follow. He sees a huge opportunity to capitalize on the expansion of his African operations.

He was the Global Entrepreneur Ambassador from 2016 to 2019, the current face of Telkom Business, an Adidas ambassador, and a public speaker specializing in motivational, entrepreneurship, and marketing strategy topics. To name a few, he has been a keynote speaker at Marketing Indaba, Marketing Advertising Design conference (MADEX), Mall Indaba SMME Opportunity Roadshow, Global Entrepreneurship Week, and Tomorrow’s Leaders Convention.

Rashid Toefy is the Deputy Director-General in the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, with the mandate of creating jobs in the Western Cape economy.

Rashid has served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) and has worked extensively in the travel and tourism industry, both in South Africa and abroad. He spent three years based in Amsterdam, developing business and marketing strategies for businesses in over 30 countries, working extensively in Central Europe and Latin America.

He has a degree in Economics and Environmental Science, as well an MBA, and has recently embarked on a PhD, focusing on “How leaders make strategic decisions in crisis conditions”.

Rashid hates settling for mediocrity and wants to do profound things that impact positively on all those around him.

Gillian has a background in health and social sciences. She has experience in the research and non-profit sectors, providing information to decision-makers to enable them to deliver interventions with impact.

After pursuing postgraduate studies in Business Administration and Public Health, she joined the Bertha Centre Health Financing Team as a Senior Project Manager in collaboration with the South African Medical Research Council. Gillian is passionate about finding innovative solutions to make healthcare accessible, affordable, and equitable

Professor Mikael Samuelsson has been involved in award winning research, consultancy work and training of entrepreneurs since 1998.

Born in Zimbabwe to a Jewish mother and an Italian father, Danny Diliberto believes it was the love for food in his home that helped him grow up understanding the importance of well-prepared food. Quoting Danny, he says “Food was the centre of our home, and I was so blessed to be surrounded by an abundance of beautiful food around me. Reflecting on my past, I believe it was in my childhood years at home that I learnt that good food not only feeds the body, but it feeds the soul too.” He believes that it was this love for food and the hospitality that his home offered to friends and family that attracted him to the restaurant industry, and it was through this work that he eventually founded Ladles of Love. Today through his wonderful organisation he can touch millions of peoples’ lives through food.

Cheryl Paarwater is a seasoned business leader with over two decades of experience in Sales, Marketing, and Operations Management across a wide range of industries. As the owner and Managing Director of Enerlytics and Call Lab BPO, she has excelled in driving business growth and success. She also has a 8 year old boy, Blake, who is actually the real boss and a business partner and husband, Wesley Pekeur, who is the GM of Enerlytics. Cheryl’s academic journey is equally impressive, holding a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, a BCom Hons in Marketing, and a Postgraduate degree in Business Management. Currently, she’s pursuing her Executive MBA from the University of Cape Town, which she aims to complete by the end of 2023. While Cheryl may be relatively new to the BPO industry, she has quickly found her passion within it. Her “why” is deeply rooted in creating positive change and meaningful job opportunities. She believes that the BPO industry offers a unique platform to realize her mission of fostering impactful change. Cheryl is driven by her commitment to impact sourcing, ensuring that her business practices are ethical, sustainable, and have a positive influence on the communities involved. Moreover, she is dedicated to empowering the youth of South Africa by providing them with the skills and opportunities they need to succeed, which she sees as a key element in her broader mission to create meaningful employment opportunities for the young people of South Africa.

Ryan Ravens is the CEO of Accelerate Cape Town, representing top-tier corporate business in the Cape Town city region; as well as Chairman of Amaya Space – a startup established to commercialise innovation from the CPUT spacetech program.

He currently holds three degrees including an MBA from the University of Cape Town (UCT), in addition to numerous globally recognised professional certifications such as CIPM and PRINCE2. A life-long entrepreneur, Ryan owned and managed a successful management consultancy for a number of years before he was approached by FIFA in 2006 to develop and implement the masterplan for the 2010 World Cup.

Following the successful delivery of the FIFA 2010 World Cup, he served as a Group Executive for the Gauteng Growth & Development Agency, before returning to his entrepreneurial roots with investments in numerous start- ups including solar renewables, large-scale project advisory services, and cloud-based software development, before moving to Cape Town in 2015 to take up the Accelerate role.

Ryan has extensive experience in leadership positions across both public and private sectors, has worked in all the major SA cities, as well as geographically diverse regions such as Shanghai, Lagos, Doha, and Zurich. Ryan believes in the power of education to transform lives and is passionate about making a positive difference in the SA socio-economic landscape.

Serisha Barrat is a remarkable tech entrepreneur and influential figure in the tech industry, particularly within the African context. Her dedication to creating positive social and economic impact is evident through her various endeavours and contributions through her legal tech start-up Lawyered Up and newly formed app called Boardroom.