Mike Abel
Prof Watts
Prof Cullen
Dr Judy Dlamini
The Speakers
Gallery
Dr Phiyani Lebea has been in the diagnostics field for over 10 years with experience within the public research institute (CSIR) and the private sector. He also worked on human diagnostics within a multinational company as the point man for applications at Roche Diagnostics. He has over 15 years within the research environment and vast experience within the animal and human molecular diagnostics market in the African continent. His interests include design, development and commercialisation of animal/human pathogen detection and diagnostics assays. He has academic interests in animal vaccine design and development in line with the One Health concept. His interests include recent focus on animal disease control to facilitate export of animal commodities in the African continent.
Dr Phiyani Lebea is currently the Managing Director and Chief Scientific Officer at TokaBio (Pty) Ltd. Within TokaBio he is responsible for commercialisation and validation of a pipeline of point-of-care detection assays that have relevance to the African continent. His group at TokaBio is responsible for development of isothermal PCR assays for the detection of South African variant of SARS-CoV-2. The group also work on Next Generation Sequencing for characterisation of a variety of viruses including SARS-CoV-2 and HIV in humans, and Rift valley fever in animals.
Dr Nhlanhla Msomi has had a varied career spanning R & D, academia, innovation management, policy work, corporate finance, and entrepreneurship. He was most recently Group CEO of MSQ Health, a company he co-founded with Safika Holdings. MSQ Health’s strategy was to build and consolidate a portfolio of medium sized companies through mergers and acquisitions based on an innovative integrated approach. At the time of his departure, three companies namely, Akacia Medical, Akacia Surgical and Clinisut had been acquired. Two internal Start-Ups had been developed in the areas of Diagnostics and Pharmaceuticals. In Diagnostics – several high-quality Agencies had been acquired from medium sized European and US companies.
After leaving academia in late 1999, he spent the next 16 years as a senior executive in several Organisations, both public and private entrepreneurial companies. In the Technology Innovation Agency, a public Innovation Fund, he played the role of interim / founding CEO as head done at the East Coast Biotechnology Regional Innovation Centre (LIFElab – a smaller R250m over 3 years Biotechnology Venture Fund). He also served on the inaugural Investment Committee of the Southern African Intellectual Property Fund (managed by Triumph Venture Capital).
On leaving the research and academic space, he co-founded a medical biotechnology company, BioPath Laboratories, and joined a network of molecular diagnostics laboratories with Autopath which had been set up with the liquidated assets of Pathnet. These were some of the first laboratories in the country to deploy core Molecular Diagnostics techniques, especially for HIV and other viral non serology diagnostics. The business model was based on major Pathology laboratories sub-contracting the molecular diagnostics part of the work, which at the time was not their competence.
He has previously served on the inaugural Investment Committee of the Swiss based Quantum Global Healthcare Fund for Africa ($400m). He was a major contributor to the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA), including as a Judge and Validator. IPA was a groundbreaking Pan African Innovation prize, spanning the entire continent under the auspices of the Zurich based Africa Innovation Foundation. He serves on the Board of Governors of the Italy, Trieste headquartered International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB). He is the Chairman of the Boards of AfricaBio (a biotechnology industry association) and Next Biosciences, an innovative South African health biotechnology company. He was previously on the Board of Ilex SA (a medical diagnostics company), and currently serves on the Board of Separation Scientific (a South African Laboratory and Diagnostics services company). He chairs the Board of family-owned PeSo Holdings and PCK Distributors (KZN), as well as serving on the Board of the mining company, Rossmin.
With 30 years of experience in FMCG, financial services, automotive and retail advertising, Mike Abel is recognised as one of Africa’s leading marketing, advertising and communications specialists. He has co-led the largest communications group in Africa, Ogilvy South Africa; he ran the prestigious M&C Saatchi Group in Australia; and in February 2010, he founded M&C Saatchi Abel, which to date is credited with being the fastest-growing advertising agency in the history of South Africa.
From start-up, the agency exceeded R100 million in gross profit per annum within three years of opening. In 2012, it was recognised as the Breakthrough Agency in South Africa by Finweek, and Mike was honoured as the Advertising Achiever of the Year. In 2015, just five years after opening its doors, M&C Saatchi Abel was named Agency of the Year by Financial Mail. Today the M&C Saatchi Group comprises seven companies across Africa: M&C Saatchi Abel (Cape Town and Johannesburg),Connect, M&C Saatchi Africa, Black & White Consulting, Levergy and Razor. It has an outstanding bluechip client base, and 350 talented staff across its seven offices.
Under the toughest economic climate, Mike and his partners have built a top-five communications company in South Africa, one that is regarded as the “jewel in the crown” of the M&C Saatchi group. M&C Saatchi Abel is involved in various social impact initiatives, including the Street Store – the world’s first free “pop-up-clothing store” for the homeless. Mike’s personal interest in driving entrepreneurship has led him to consult to and support many NGOs and political parties in South Africa, to help build the economy and take on the scourge of corruption. He is a regularly published columnist and sought-after public speaker, and holds a strong interest in furthering global interest in contemporary African art.
Professor Margaret Cullen lectures to MBA and DBA students at Nelson Mandela University Business School. She heads up the Strategic Focus area of Entrepreneurship, Design Thinking and Innovation. Professor Cullen, a full professor at the Nelson Mandela University Business School, is a sought-after speaker and business consultant.
Professor Cullen has co-authored and authored several research articles, book chapters and attended numerous academic conferences, both nationally and internationally. Professor Cullen consults in the areas of happiness, experiential and strategic marketing, strategy, family business and entrepreneurship. She is passionate about making a difference through the correct delivery of entrepreneurial teaching and thinking.
Professor Cullen is currently focusing on research in Happiness.
Prof Paul Watts graduated from the University of Bristol (UK) in 1995 with a first class BSc (Hons) degree in chemistry. He continued his studies at Bristol, obtaining a PhD in bio-organic natural product chemistry in 1999. Paul subsequently worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Hull, where he pioneered organic synthesis in micro reactors. In February 2002, he was appointed as a lecturer at the University of Hull, being fast-tracked to full professor in August 2011 at the age of just 37.
In February 2013, Prof Watts moved to Nelson Mandela University to hold the distinguished position of ‘Chair SARChi Research Chair in Microfluidic Bio/Chemical Processing’ and has a B1 NRF research rating, recently renewed until 2026. In total Prof Watts has published over 130 highly cited papers in peer reviewed journals, in addition to other publications and in 2011 was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in recognition of his achievements. Prof. Watts has an h-index of 35.
Prof Watts has developed a significant national and international reputation in research, which is acknowledged by the number of invitations received to present at national and international conferences as well as at worldwide organisations. He have given over 200 conference presentations (of which the majority were invited, keynote or plenary presentations) and industry focused lectures. In more recent years he has also been asked to chair numerous conferences and workshops on the technology.
Daniel Ndima grew up in South Africa and became passionate about science at a young age. After matriculating, he obtained a Bachelor’s and Honours degree in Biotechnology from the University of the Western Cape. He went on to graduate with a Masters degree in Biochemistry from the University of Pretoria. His academic pursuits allowed him to become specialized in the structural biology of infectious diseases. He has extensive knowledge of protein engineering and crystallography, bioprocess engineering and biomanufacturing. Currently, Mr. Ndima is working on a thesis highlighting the complexities of genome editing tools (CRISPR) for industrial opportunities for his Doctoral studies. Throughout his post-graduate journey, he obtained multiple awards and scholarships recognizing his excellence in academics, social responsibility, student leadership, and entrepreneural initiatives. In addition, he initiated three start-up companies as an undergraduate student and was subsequently awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Award at the University of the Western Cape.
Mr. Ndima is an Allan Gray Fellow, a Mandela Rhodes Scholar, a Brightest Young Minds alumnus, one of the African Influencers for Change as listed by UDNP Africa, a careers 1825 role model and he was featured in Africa Innovates Magazine as a top innovator. He played a vital role as a front runner in South Africa’s national response to the COVID-19 pandemic and was amongst the speakers, together with the World Health Organization, at the National Coronavirus Pandemic Conference hosted by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Astonishingly, he also participated in United Nations’ dialogue on Africa’s preparedness to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, Daniel is a Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South African (2021) under the Science and Technology category and was a three times finalist at the 2022 Black Industrialists Conference for the Black Industrialist Excellence Awards under the categories: (1) Young Industrialist, (2) Industrialist and (3) Innovation and Technology. He successfully obtained the Black Industrialist Excellence Award in the category Innovation and Technology and was awarded by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Moreover, he won the Top African Biotechnology Entrepreneur Award at the BIO Africa Convention 2022. Oxford Africa Initiative Director and Emory University (USA) Leadership were among the other winners for their role in African healthcare initiatives.
Daniel’s successful efforts not only advances the scientific community but creates a platform for science that creates jobs, improves the quality of ordinary lives, and contributes to national development and the economy. He is the founder CEO of Capebio Technologies (Pty) Ltd, which is a proudly South African biotechnology firm that develops and manufactures reagents for molecular research and diagnostics, diagnostic testing kits, forensic DNA analysis kits and other life science research and diagnostics tools. CapeBio™ is internationally applauded for its innovative novel Bio-Discovery Platform which converges bioinformatics tools and machine learning. This platform enabled the development of a SAHPRA-approved COVID-19 PCR test kit (the first one developed in Africa) and is currently being exploited to expand the diagnostics portfolio to target other infectious diseases and cancer. The second iteration is being explored for the discovery of novel therapeutic biomolecules
Judy started out as a medical doctor before changing into business. She is an entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist. After practicing as a medical family practitioner for many years, she specialised in Occupational Health and consulted for different companies. Her MBA from Wits University enabled her to change careers. She worked for HSBC Investment Bank, at the Johannesburg office in the Corporate Finance division. She obtained Doctorate in Business Leadership from UNISA in 2014, a Stanford Innovation & Entrepreneurship Certificate in 2018 and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) from Wits in 2022 . Her doctoral thesis investigated the impact of the intersection of race, gender and social class in women leaders’ career progression and strategies for gender transformation, using grounded theory and life stories. She converted her thesis to a book, titled ‘Equal but Different’.
Judy is Founder and Executive Chairman for Mbekani Group that has been in business for 26 years. She is a non-executive director of SA SME Fund, an initiative between government and the private sector to create jobs and grow an inclusive economy, she chairs the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre and the GBVF Response Fund She is the former Chairman of Aspen Pharmacare Limited (Aspen) a JSE-listed South African pharmaceutical manufacturer and distributor. Other previous board appointments include Anglo American plc, Discovery Holdings, and Woolworths Holdings. She is a published author of ‘’Equal but Different”; “The Other Story” and “Grow to be Great”.
The latter has been translated to IsiZulu and TshiVenda. She is the recipient of the African Economy Builder Lifetime Achiever Award for 2016 amongst several other awards, the most recent being the UNISA Leadership In Practice Award 2018, 2019 BBQ Platinum award, 2019 Gender Mainstreaming Role Model –Beacon of Africa award and the 2019 EY World Entrepreneur, Lifetime Achiever award recipient and the Charlotte Mannya Maxeke Chairman’s award for Women of Firsts in 2021 . She received honorary Doctorates in Business from the Nelson Mandela University in 2018 and University of Kwa-Zulu Natal in Economics in 2019. She’s the co-founder and trustee of Mkhiwa Trust, a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) that the family uses for social investment. She recently founded Female Academic Leaders Fellowship, a public benefit organisation that seeks to develop a pipeline of black female academic leaders. She’s Chancellor of Wits University, a wife, mother and grandmother.