SHOWCASING AFRICA’S EXCELLENCE

The South Africa National Convention Bureau (SANCB) has launched a thought leadership campaign to highlight some of the exceptional talent that can be found in Africa. The purpose is to demonstrate that our people are at the forefront of innovation, and we have much to offer the world.

Finding the best environment for a successful business event is not only about air connectivity and the available venues and hotels. Access to incredible speakers and skills is also critical to creating an enabling environment for ideas to flourish and spread, and ultimately to advance industries and economies, explains Zinhle Nzama, acting chief convention bureau officer at the SANCB.

“We have decided to profile Africans who are pioneers in their professions, to show that our intellectual capital is firstworld and our value proposition is more than just our infrastructure, amazing weather and hospitable cultures. In fact, we believe it is our ability to innovate and solve problems that makes Africa such an attractive business events destination,” she adds.

Here we introduce you to four of these thought leaders, who have partnered with the SANCB, and you’ll soon understand why the SANCB invites the world to ‘arrive intrigued and leave inspired’.

Professor Abdon Atangana

Award-winning Leading Applied Mathematics Professor at the University of the Free State (UFS) Professor Abdon Atangana is a highly soughtafter and critically acclaimed researcher and mathematician who has authored seven academic books, and has graduated 25 master’s degrees and nine PhDs, as well as several postdoc fellows across the global south.

Unexpected Change of Fortune

Born in Cameroon and raised by his grandmother, Abdon would go for days without food as his grandmother battled financially to keep him in school. Upon completing his first degree, he was introduced to his father’s side of the family and his uncle was appointed as his father. Overnight, Abdon went from being fatherless and financially disadvantaged to being the son of an ambassador.

Award-winning Derivatives and Equations

A differential operator/differential equation has long been used to replicate real-world problems and predict what will happen in the future. When researchers were struggling with a particular derivative, Abdon recognised the problem and, in 2016, he introduced a new fractional derivative called the Atangana-Baleanu derivative. This is now being used around the world to predict future outcomes in varied fields such as physics, technology, chemistry, etc.

A Dream for the Future

Abdon was recently nominated as president of the African Union of Mathematicians – Commission of Research and Innovation, where he will organise conferences and work towards bridging the gap between academics and industry.

Professor Namrita Lall

Professor and NRF-rated Researcher in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at the University of Pretoria

Growing up, Professor Namrita Lall was introduced to the power of plantbased medicine, which launched her 10-year journey studying phytomedicine. Among other achievements, Namrita led a project on medicinal plants and tuberculosis at the University of Pretoria that identified a South African medicinal plant that could effectively replace antibiotic treatment in tuberculosis patients, preventing the negative side-effects antibiotics caused these patients. For this she was awarded the Order of Mapungubwe in Bronze by the Presidency.

African Phytomedicine Scientific Society

While working with students from around Africa, Namrita realised they lacked the resources, funding and facilities available to students in South Africa. This inspired her to launch the African Phytomedicine Scientific Society (APSS), to bring all the medicinal plant researchers together to network, share research equipment and transfer skills through student exchange programmes, and ultimately to produce quality scientific publications with commercial potential.

An SANCB Partnership is Born

The International Society of Ethnopharmacology (ISE) is holding a conference in collaboration with APSS on 23 October 2024 in Cape Town. The SANCB has been working with them to promote the event and provide much-needed funding and bid support.

Dr John Molepo

Executive Director at the South African Association of Public Administration & Management

Dr John Molepo grew up in neither privilege nor middleclass surroundings, being born in Soshanguve township. Despite this, by the age of 28 he had earned a National Diploma in Public Management, a BTech degree and became the youngest student to attain his PhD in Public Affairs. It was during his studies at the Tshwane University of Technology that he started his path to becoming an education activist through the Representative Council of Learners – work that was later recognised and awarded by the Presidency.

Championing the cause of the disadvantaged

John founded the Thusa Ngwana Geno (‘help your brother’) initiative, which has supported up to 600 students with tuition, registration fees and job applications. They have also refurbished schools, opened community libraries and centres with Wi-Fi connectivity, and more.

Collaborating with the SANCB

The SANCB has assisted the South African Association of Public Administration and Management with delegate boosting, on-site inspections and bid support. This partnership has helped bring significant conferences to South Africa, including the 41st Roundtable Conference of the African Association for Public Administration and Management, which was held at the University of the Western Cape in December 2022.

President of African Ophthalmology Council

Dr Kgaogelo Edward Legodi has dedicated his life to his craft. When he is not overseeing his passion project, Mpudulle (‘open your eyes’) Eye Centre, he is working at Mediclinic Medforum in Pretoria or striving to improve the ophthalmology service offering in South Africa and the rest of the continent.

DR KGAOGELO EDWARD LEGODI

Continuing the Legacy of Service

Hailing from Atteridgeville in Gauteng, Kgaogelo qualified in 2003 to be one of the very few black eye specialists (ophthalmologists) in South Africa. He had always dreamed of building a specialist eye hospital. This stemmed from his grandfather’s work with the blind, and his diabetic grandmother’s deteriorating sight. Motivated by this, Kgaogelo and his wife (a fellow doctor) secured a licence and purchased the land to build an eye hospital in Pretoria North Ward 55. Mpudulle is a legacy and continuation of his grandfather’s work.

Partnering with the SANCB and Serving the Continent

In 2020, the SANCB collaborated on the World Ophthalmology Congress for their 2020 event and the partnership yielded great results. One of the proposed projects the Congress birthed was working with NGOs to train ophthalmologists in Africa.