Advancements & achievements
Transkei Isolomzi Outreach Project in South Africa extends educational opportunities to rural community
Recognized by Lead SA 2018 as a Western Cape regional program of excellence, Transkei Outreach Project aims to bring together students from Cape Town and their rural peer counterparts to engage academically and culturally.... Read More »
South Africa's Heroic Gift of the Givers NGO Tackles Cape Town Water Crisis & Leads Effort to Drill New, Safe Boreholes in Rural Communities
South Africa’s iconic disaster relief NGO, Gift of the Givers, is once again leveraging innovation and human courage to solve a crisis, and is helping to push back Cape Town’s dreaded “Day Zero,” when engineers will be forced to close water taps.... Read More »
Rhodes' veteran parasite warrior champions Africa specific solutions at America's leading public health institute
At 87 years of age, South African-trained Clive Shiff is surely one of the most experienced full-time researchers and lecturers in America’s entire health sector, and has successfully championed an environmental, Africa-specific model for the west’s response to parasitic diseases in the continent of his birth.... Read More »
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South African Business Star Brings Mandela's Leadership Model to the West
An award-winning South African businesswoman is bringing Nelson Mandela’s leadership lessons to Harvard, and offering Western executives and politicians a new, purpose-driven model for the 21st century. Her efforts could ultimately help launch the first leadership academy in the West devoted to teaching Mandela’s principles.... Read More »
South Africa's Olympic filmmaker pioneers a platform to address the global crisis of employee uncertainty and self esteem
Emmy-nominated South African-born filmmaker Caroline Rowland is pioneering a new, TED Talks-like business solution to address the coming wave of corporate need for emotional resilience in its workforce – as well as a critically needed open-access platform for the public.... Read More »
How a South African winemaker helped create a new Napa for the US and a Direct to Customer business model that is energizing the industry
JC Van Staden has brought a very South African model of radical innovation to the US wine market and is set for social media-driven brand success.... Read More »
CROWDSOURCED SOLUTION EMERGES FOR GREY GOODS BRAND SAFETY THREAT
Silicon Valley-based start-up – with key roots in Southern Africa – is leveraging crowdsourcing as a part of a highly innovative solution to affordably identify grey goods at scale, and remove them from shelves.... Read More »
SA Frozen Food Innovator to Expand in USA With Line of Novelty Desserts and Appetizers Hand Made at Scale
An award-winning South African frozen specialty foods innovator and sustainability leader is poised to rapidly expand in the U.S. and other global markets with a unique differentiator. It is one of the only artisan food makers in the world that can prepare large volumes of tasty, nutritious frozen fruit and dairy desserts, as well as farm-grown appetizers, using highly skilled, hand production techniques in a state of the art facility that is close to its own agricultural ecosystem.... Read More »
.png "10th Province is Newly Energized and set to Connect SA with Global Partners")
10th Province is Newly Energized and set to Connect SA with Global Partners
The “10th Province”—which describes the loyal South African diaspora—is positioned to tip the scales for a positive South African future, and is already being referenced by its finance minister as a strategic asset. Just last week, one of the brightest of the expat community’s galaxy of business stars, Roelof Botha, was elevated to the helm of the world’s most famous venture capital firm, Sequoia Capital, and immediately named as a new “flagbearer for . . . the Tenth Province” by BizNews. While some traditional overseas chambers and clubs have seen their advocacy weaken, organizations that are actively leveraging the contact books and influence of the diaspora include Brand South Africa, the Global South Africans movement, and networks like the SABLE Accelerator.... Read More »
EXPAT PLANS TO HELP SAVE THE WHITE RHINO ARE GAINING STEAM
The audacious plan by a South African ex-pat businessman to save the white rhino has moved from a news curiosity to the brink of historic reality. ... Read More »
Amazon Launchpad Offers New Global eCommerce Channel for South African Startups
Amazon’s new platform for startups is emerging as a potential way for South African product innovators and inventors to access global online shopping markets—as long as they have the ability to produce quality product at scale.... Read More »
.png "Following 500 Percent Growth and a New Presence in Silicon Valley, Disruptive ADC Solutions Firm SNAPT Offers Free Web Acceleration Services to SABLE Startups")
Following 500 Percent Growth and a New Presence in Silicon Valley, Disruptive ADC Solutions Firm SNAPT Offers Free Web Acceleration Services to SABLE Startups
CEO Dave Blakey told SABLE that Snapt’s goal was to secure 1% of the world’s ADC market within 3 years, forecast to be worth $8 billion in 2019, and grow to 5% in the five years after. ... Read More »
.png "Cloud in a Box Innovation Set to Disrupt Digital Content in Africa and Challenge Entertainment Models in the West")
Cloud in a Box Innovation Set to Disrupt Digital Content in Africa and Challenge Entertainment Models in the West
Seed-funded by TED Talks – which calls its innovation “extraordinary” – South African media start-up Eduze is seeking additional funding partners to expand both commercially and for social impact.... Read More »
SOUTH AFRICAN DATA DRONE INNOVATION PRIMED FOR GLOBAL EXPORT
A South African start-up is rapidly emerging as the world’s most affordable and easy-to-use data drone system for agriculture, mining and topographical surveys.... Read More »
.jpg "SA STARTUP DRONESCAN EMERGES AT THE LEADING EDGE OF THE AERIAL STOCK TAKE REVOLUTION IN A DRONE EFFICIENCY ARMS RACE TRIGGERED BY WALMART")
SA STARTUP DRONESCAN EMERGES AT THE LEADING EDGE OF THE AERIAL STOCK TAKE REVOLUTION IN A DRONE EFFICIENCY ARMS RACE TRIGGERED BY WALMART
Using patented technology that can map a warehouse interior, the company’s software-enabled platform can not only count product 100 times faster than humans, but can also immediately tell exactly where items are – saving countless hours and HR dollars.... Read More »
How a South African swimming champ is unearthing a new pool of profits and opportunity for mid sized companies in the U.S.
Warren Vickers, a former South African national swimmer, is seeking the gold standard in the financial alternative risk market, in a rapidly widening business lane that is unearthing significant new profits, employment and safety for mid-sized companies.... Read More »
 (Extended).jpg "From a Namaqualand Village to the New Frontier of Medical Research at Stanford")
From a Namaqualand Village to the New Frontier of Medical Research at Stanford
Lydia-Marie Joubert, having produced world-class research in botany, microbiology and microscopy at the University of Stellenbosch for over two decades, now heads biological scanning electron microscopy at Stanford University.... Read More »
Former Sheriff of Wall Street Joins Disruptive Financial Services StartUp as it Breaks Growth Records
The financial technology start-up Blooom, profiled by SABLE last year, has emerged as the fastest-growing robo-advisor in history, racing to $300 million in assets under management in less than two years. Meanwhile, company president Greg Smith – a South African entrepreneur – announced to SABLE that former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chair Sheila Bair has joined the Blooom Advisory Board.... Read More »
Actor Producer Stelio Savante Boosts a Deeply Challenged Tide of South African Actors to Hollywood
Stelio Savante is the networking dynamo at the hub of the South African community competing for stardom in Hollywood. But the prolific, award-winning actor and producer told SABLE that he has deep concerns over the impact of the collapsing Rand and of poor teaching skills on actors still developing their careers in South Africa. ... Read More »
HOW UBUNTU EDUCATION FUND IS DISRUPTING THE NONPROFIT MODEL
Jacob Lief’s new book – “I Am Because You Are” – directly challenges the risk-averse culture of the non-profit world, and champions a new path in which Africa’s most vulnerable children should receive “everything.”... Read More »
WORLD LEADER IN FLEET MANAGEMENT AND TELEMATICS ENTERS THE US MARKET
Armed with the world’s most advanced vehicle telematics technologies – innovated in response to high crime rates in South Africa – Cartrack is expanding to the US, and other key global markets, as a leading fleet management and insurance solution... Read More »
HOW A NEW EFFORT TO FIND LIFE BEYOND EARTH ECHOES DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION IN BUSINESS
The likely discovery of life beyond the solar system will be directly attributable to the extraordinary, unheralded success of female astronomers, who are leading the effort – and businesses should embrace a similar influx of female entrepreneurs to see similar rewards... Read More »
DISRUPTIVE MOBILE EVENTS APP TO BE LAUNCHED IN THE US
SOUTH AFRICAN Internet entrepreneurs are set to disrupt the booming mobile event app industry in the US – and slash the technology costs of hosting exhibitions and conferences. Representing a new, “fourth wave” in event technology, HelloCrowd has innovated a revolutionary business model and platform to become the first to offer a rental option for event organizers.... Read More »
HOW SA LEGEND SHAUN TOMSON IS BUILDING A GLOBAL WAVE OF HOPE
Having surfed the world’s greatest waves to victory, a legend of the sport is now building a wave – a global swell of positive commitment, which he believes will improve and even save lives, and have the same effect for businesses.... Read More »
Building a Business One Brick at a Time
Christo Wiese, chairman of Shoprite, Pepkor, Brait and director of Steinhoff, will be inducted into the World Retail Hall of Fame, in Rome. He is the first retailer from Africa be honoured in this way. He jokes that he is just a shopkeeper. Technically it could be true. He oversees an empire that spans four continents, almost 20 brands and over 10,500 stores. ... Read More »
South African Graduates Unveil the World's Most Advanced Low Cost Hand Prosthetic
A small team of South African post-graduate students has developed the most advanced low-cost hand prosthetic in the world, with a 3-D printed product set to disrupt the medical device market.... Read More »
How South Africa's Gordon Cragg has Protected Hope in the Global Battle against Cancer and HIV
A South African organic chemist has emerged as one of the key collaborative figures in preserving the plants and creatures which may yet turn the tide against cancer and HIV/Aids.... Read More »
Why MXIT Should be a Source of Both Lessons and Pride for South Africans
In 2009, a South African instant messaging app was bigger than Twitter. A global pioneer in various mobile technologies, Mxit seemed coiled to vault to the top of the social media world; to fill the ballooning space now occupied by WhatsApp. So what happened?... Read More »
One of the Greatest Female Thought Leaders is Now Empowering Women Entrepreneurs for the Future
Larraine Segil has quietly become one of the most influential Women Thought Leaders ever to hail from South Africa – and has shaped the growth of Fortune 500 companies as one of America’s leading gurus on business alliances.... Read More »
Africa's Leading Financial Services Investment Group Extends a Hand to Entrepreneurs
Looking to Build for the Future, RMB and RMI Holdings, South Africa’s Top Investment Group in the Banking and Insurance Sector, Meets With The SABLE Accelerator, BPI Network, and Silicon Valley Connections In Search of Disruptive Entrepreneurs in the Financial Services Market.... Read More »
From Wall Street to Kansas City: Greg Smith on Financial Reform
Three years ago, Greg Smith shook the foundations of Wall Street with a famous Op Ed to the New York Times, entitled “Why I am Leaving Goldman Sachs.” The South African expatriate’s courageous public resignation and his bestselling book that followed exposed a culture of greed and recklessness within the investment banking system, triggering a global debate on customer-oriented reform. The former Goldman derivatives vice president has since been invited to have a more direct role in the reform process, as the President of Kansas-City startup Blooom.... Read More »
How one African Misruptive Innovation Company is Storming a Key US Market
A South African start-up is rapidly defining a new kind of business disruption in the US tech sector. Call it “mis-ruptive” innovation: breaking into a major new market by accident – and then storming that market by sticking to the same, humble business model devised for the original market.... Read More »
How a Single Rhodes Breakthrough Could Save Countless Lives And Turn College Labs into Accelerators
The potential to save countless lives is just one of the seismic outcomes emerging from a new HIV treatment test developed in South Africa. In producing a prototype which can measure patients’ CD4 counts in under 20 minutes, a team at Rhodes University have also done nothing less than pioneer a new model for innovation itself.... Read More »
Why one South African technology can solve 7 puzzles
IMAGINE a single innovation that could help solve seven problems all at once for South Africa: an innovation that could provide off-grid power; wireless internet; public safety; job creation; fire hazard safety; blackout immunity; AND an answer to its national cable theft epidemic. In developing the world’s most advanced green street light, a small team of engineers at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa have produced exactly that. Local entrepreneur, Nikolas Jankovich-Bésán, is now ready to take the award-winning Twerly to the streets of South Africa, and then on to global markets.... Read More »
Smartphone App Joins War on Cancer
What if your smartphone could diagnose your cancerous genome? The CBS News show “60 Minutes” featured a profile of South African-born Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong who is intent on disrupting cancer treatment. He was a respected surgeon before he made his name in the cancer world by developing a drug for treating pancreatic, lung and breast cancer patients. Although the FDA took over a decade to approve Abraxane, the drug became a blockbuster, and made Soon-Shiong a billionaire. To realize his vision, Soon-Shiong’s company, NantHealth, has developed high-speed machines for sequencing a tumor’s genome. Run by supercomputers, NantHealth plans to find every single genetic mutation that causes cancer.... Read More »
Interview: Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX
The Khan Academy interviews South-African born, Canadian American business guru, engineer, and investor Elon Musk. Elon is the Founder, CEO and CTO of SpaceX, CEO at Tesla Motors, Co-Founder of PayPal, and Chairman of SolarCity. In this compelling interview he discusses his roles at Tesla and SpaceX, as well as how he envisioned the technologies that have become breakthroughs in the modern world. ... Read More »
IDC Helps Fund South Africa's Engine of Innovation
How is development measured? The IDC shows its value in how well it is expanding the country’s industrial capacity and economic inclusion. The IDC was established to address the shortages of manufactured goods that had resulted from the disruption of trade between Europe and South Africa during World War II. The core development funding interventions of the IDC are carried out by 13 strategic business units, each aligned to the sectors identified through the various iterations of government policy. The latest of these is the National Development Plan, which has been broadly adopted by government, business and labor, albeit with some reservations, notably from organized labor. ... Read More »
How South African Technologies Are Changing the World and Competing in the Marketplace
From lithium batteries to lasers to streaming video in developing areas - here is how South African technologies are changing the world. South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)—was the driving force behind the world’s lithium batteries, from those in your laptop to cell phones and the Chevy Volt, in addition to the time machine now used by the world’s leading road engineers. And the SABLE Accelerator understands that South Africa’s CSIR, a government- and private sector-funded research and innovation hub, has just made a major global breakthrough in laser technology, which could help shape the future as fundamentally as the “tube” behind television.... Read More »
South Africans Lead Commemorative 9/11 Play
In a rare honor for foreign stars, the Broadway show 110 Stories—which has featured Samuel L. Jackson and Susan Sarandon—will be produced, directed, narrated and co-performed by South African expatriates when it opens in Los Angeles at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center on September 11, 2013. All net proceeds from the performance will be donated to benefit Operation Gratitude, a nonprofit organization that sends care packages to the military. Producer Stelio Savante said he had been motivated to use the play as a showcase for South African talent, and all three stars said they had personal connections to the tragedy of the attacks on New York.... Read More »
Iconic South African Sports Commentator Kim Shippey Still Files Stories in the U.S. at Age 80
Many South Africans will remember Kim Shippey as the soundtrack to either the chaos of the rebel rugby tours or to the civility of the Wimbledon finals. Others will remember Shippey as a pioneer of radio and TV broadcasting in South Africa, having been the iconic host of everything from Sportsvision and Destinations to the quiz show Pick a Box and classical concerts. Now 80 years old and living in the U.S., Shippey will mark 60 years in broadcasting in November. And he is still working nine-hour days full time, filing radio and editorial pieces for the Christian Science Monitor’s channels and periodicals.... Read More »
South Africa's Vitality Group Has a Healthy Start in the U.S.
Is your body as old as you are - health wise? Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey—the new wellness research arm of The Vitality Group, which is a member of South Africa-based Discovery Holdings Limited—Vitality revealed that Americans are, on average, five years older than they thought, and a quarter of Americans are more than eight years older than what their birth certificates suggest. In a partnership with Prudential, also called PruHealth, Vitality has already had a major impact in the U.K. as a health insurance benefits scheme.... Read More »
The Most Remarkable South African Hero You've Never Heard Of
Smoking kills 5 million people around the world annually, dwarfing death tolls even from AIDS and war. So what happens when the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control binds 168 countries to strict limits on smoking? South African human rights lawyer, Patricia Lambert saves 7.4 million lives, that’s what. Patricia Lambert was South Africa’s lead negotiator on a global treaty that has been implemented in 41 countries to date. Her team assists lawyers and lawmakers in almost 50 low- and middle-income countries to enact legislation to limit the ravages of smoking and to mount a fight against the massive resources of big tobacco.... Read More »
HOW SOUTH AFRICANS ARE SHAPING THE FUTURE
What do Sir David King, Dr. Neil Turok, Elon Musk, Trevor Mundell, and Dr. Ian Goldin have in common? There is a reason why these five South African expatriates are re-inventing the world’s future. There are dozens of other South African innovators punching far beyond their weight in cutting-edge industries, but these five actually lead fields wedded to the global future. Based on direct interviews and analysis by SABLE, a striking common feature emerges among them and applies to the potential edge emerging among ordinary South African entrepreneurs. They were able to call out the king as a man wearing no clothes and dress the peasants instead.... Read More »
SABLE Maps Ways to Increase South Africa's Life Science Competitiveness
Mastering the entire lifecycle of the products which end up in the world’s medicine cabinets is like being a rocket scientist who pilots his own space rockets; personally invents safer fuels and capsule parachutes; forges new rules for space technology development with NASA; launches commercial rocket parts companies; and lobbies for new treaties with the Unites Nations’ space directorate in Vienna. The SABLE Accelerator’s managing partner Dr. Stephen Bell has uniquely acquired precisely that level of hyper-diverse mastery in the global life sciences industry, from the lab to the mergers boardroom to the inner halls of government regulators.... Read More »
US Exchange Program Inspires South African Innovators
Six South African entrepreneurs were expected simply to attend an inaugural life science executive development program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. The goal? Soak up some tech transfer ideas. Instead, the experience has triggered at least two serious business plans for new enterprises, and may already have identified the single key hurdle to small business growth in South Africa. Led by Bentley University and Boston’s South Africa Partners NGO—a partner organization of The SABLE Accelerator—the Massachusetts-South Africa Technology Fellowship (M-SAT) has set up a two-way exchange between some of South Africa’s brightest innovators and biotech and IT start-ups in Boston.... Read More »