Rupert has founded and been involved with several tech startups. His focus has been on B2C double sided marketplaces. Product validation, user adoption, scaling, user growth and pricing strategy are his key expertises.

Currently, Rupert is the head of business at SnapScan. He is part of the exco which shapes the brand’s strategy as well as leading the sales, marketing and business development ventures.

Wendy Pienaar heads up an area in Standard Bank called Emerging Payments.  This area is responsible de-hyping, de-mystifying and de-risking new payment innovations for the Group.  Currently this area focuses on new card technologies, person to person payments, digital wallets like Snapscan in South Africa and SlydePay in Ghana.  In addition, this team is investigating fascinating new technology such as Blockchain.

Wendy has been working in Financial services for the past 21 years with a focus on strategy, customer experience and digital banking. Before Standard Bank, she worked for Accenture, a global management consulting firm.

She is passionate about people, is surrounded by her supportive family (Ian and 4 girls), loves dogs and water skiing.

Head Digital Payment Wallets Standard Bank

Developing and implementing the strategy for mobile acceptance across the African continent including SnapScan, MasterPass and SlydePay. With key responsibility of defining and driving the Group strategy for Mobile Money Enablement as well as Push Payments across the continent.

Responsible for driving the ecommerce card acquiring strategy. Launching of MasterPass in RSA and setting the strategy for Standard Bank. Conceptualising and launching BluMobi for Standard Bank.

As the Chief Digital and Innovation Officer for Deloitte Africa, Valter Adão leads a team of diverse specialists that create leading digital ecosystems to assist clients and employees understand the Digital Transformation journey, uplift their digital experiences and become digital at the core, in order to thrive in a world of ever changing digital technologies.

By bringing in strategic and innovative thinking and capabilities at the intersect of emerging and exponential technologies and creative design, Valter and his team guide organisations to understand, and embrace emerging exponential and disruptive technologies by helping them move beyond potential disruption towards creating new opportunities for relevance, growth and expansion.

He is a corporate entrepreneur with extensive experience in creating new businesses across a variety of industries. He works with organizations in identifying high value, innovative opportunities, and rapidly commercialising them into viable businesses.

Valter holds an MSc and an MBA. He has been with Deloitte for 9 years.  Valter is also a member of Deloitte’s Global Innovation Executive Committee and is the Life Sciences & Healthcare Industry Leader for Deloitte Africa

Tanya Knowles is the Managing Executive of Fractal Solutions, a Division of Strate. She has held various positions at Strate including Head of the Project Management Office, Strategy, International Relations, Marketing and Human Resources. Fractal Solutions focuses on blockchain and distributed ledger technology, cryptoassets, fintech disruption and new products and services for Strate. Situated in Illovo, Sandton, Strate is South Africa’s authorised Central Securities Depository providing electronic settlement of equities and bonds transactions concluded on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. In her private capacity, Tanya is a member of the Vuleka Schools Board, Strate Charity Shares and former Chairman of the Jeppe High School for Girls Association. She is involved in a number of women’s leadership and mentoring initiatives aimed at professional business women. She holds a BA, PDM and MBA Degree all from the University of the
Witwatersrand.

Dr. Nick Walker, is a scientist, entrepreneur and venture builder. He received his PhD from UKZN, with a research focus in muscle stem cell biology and has been working as a venture builder at Next Biosciences since 2016. He is a graduate of Singularity University’s Global Solutions Program in 2016 where he founded Muzi, a decentralised HIV screening platform. Nick is also the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at OneBio, the first pan-African biotech business incubator.

Dr Jody Rusch works for the National Health Laboratory Services in the Division of Chemical Pathology at the University of Cape Town, Groote Schuur Hospital and Red Cross Children’s Hospital Metabolic Disease and Chemistry Laboratory. After leaving school he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Physiotherapy at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS), and worked in physiotherapy for a number of years, before returning to WITS to complete his MBBCH. He worked at Victoria Hospital (Wynberg), and the Institute for Maritime Medicine (Simon’s Town) before accepting a post in Chemical Pathology. His interests include biomedical innovation, the gut microbiota, metabolism, and healthspan. He has published on the gut microbiota, and been invited to speak at numerous conferences and events on this fascinating topic. He has been invited to chair “The GUT Microbiome and Metabolism” Symposium at the 2018 International Congress of Endocrinology (ICE 2018) in Cape Town later this year. Before settling in Cape Town, he has lived and worked in England and Japan.