The current third wave of the pandemic has changed the playing field for the Exponential Finance Summit 2021 online, which was slated to take place later this month. Instead, SingularityU South Africa has announced plans to combine that Summit with the larger SingularityU South Africa Summit taking place from 12 to 15 October 2021.

This shift, the company explained, is due to the value that SingularityU places on the health and safety of its team, production staff, speakers and all South Africans. SingularityU South Africa elaborated that with the third wave affecting all South Africans, it would have been impossible to produce a world class production to its community’s standards without putting people’s safety at risk.

The Singularity team would have been subject to an intense recording and production schedule over the coming weeks, in order to produce what is required for the summit.

Due to the high prevalence of Covid-19 in Gauteng at the moment, the production of these videos, keynotes, fireside chats and other materials would have placed them and their families at risk. With a longer production window, production staff and speakers can isolate over this crucial period, and resume production in the coming weeks with a lighter schedule, and lower volumes of contact. In order to ensure that the full schedule of content that is planned for Exponential Finance Summit can be delivered, an extra day as well as an additional two stages will be added to the Summit.

“We are thrilled about joining the two summits together to make this one of the largest African thought leadership, innovation and technology events on the continent, focussed on driving positive change and exponential growth so that we can #futureproofAfrica,” said Mic Mann, Co-CEO of SingularityU South Africa. “At the same time, we need to do this in the safest way possible,” he added.

The unique Exponential Finance Summit aims to stimulate an African investment innovation ecosystem by connecting South Africa and Africa’s top entrepreneurs and innovative businesses with global venture capitalists, institutional funds, private investors and global thought leaders, following an appeal made by President Ramaphosa for more investments into the country.

Various speakers have been added to the line-up for this event including:

• Andile Ngcaba (Founding Partner & Chairman Convergence Partners) – Connecting the future with 5G
• Catherine Wood (Founder & CEO Ark Invest) – Disruptive innovation
• David Hite (Managing Partner at B37 Ventures) –Investing in food security
• Paul Pagnato (Founder & CEO of PagnatoKarp) – Transparency in Investing
• Craig Bond (Chairman and President of Envel Inc) -Future of Banking
• Henri Arslanian (PwC Crypto Leader and Partner, Adjunct Professor, University of Hong Kong) – Crypto currencies and blockchain
• Phathizwe Malinga (SingularityU Faculty Member, IoT) – IoT in Finance
• Efi Pylarinou (Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory) -Fintech and Disruptive Tech
• Joshua Goldbard (Founder of MobileCoin) – The Future of banking (Fireside chat)
• Anne Connelly (Singularity University Faculty, Author) - How Blockchain could disrupt banking
• Kojo Annan (Managing Partner - Vector Global) Scaling 100x, How to invest in exponential businesses (Discussion panel)
• Lisa Andrews (CO-CEO SingularityU Australia) - Social Impact Investing (Fireside chat)
• Laila Pawlak (Co-founder and CEO of SingularityU Nordic) – Scaling with social impact
• Adam Pantanowitz (SingularityU South Africa Faculty, Biotechnology) – How secure and private is crypto when everything is on chain (Panel discussion) and Investing in you.
• Vinny Lingham (CEO & Co-Founder, Civic) – Evolution of identity
• Ronen Aires (Founder of Student Village, Coach) - Investing in your mental wellness via alternative wellness
• Hans Otterling (General Partner at Northzone) – Conscious capital
• Ashley Anthony (SingularityU South Africa Faculty, Co-founder and CEO of Isazi Consulting) – Investing in Artificial Intelligence (Workshop)
• Danielle Strachman (Co-founder and General Partner of 1517) - How to Back Founders First and Grow The Youth (Fireside chat)
• Micheal Gibson (Co-founder and General Partner of 1517) - How to Back Founders First and Grow The Youth (Fireside chat)
• Kris Østergaard (CO-CEO SingularityU Nordic) – Ethical innovation
• Christina Gerakiteys  (CO-CEO SingularityU Australia) - Conscious Capital (Fireside)
• Jody Aufrichtig (Co-founder, President & CEO of Psyence)
• Hayim Raclaw (CEO of PsyTech)

These add to previously announced speakers that include Adam Valkin, Alex Gladstein, Wee Liang Chua, Nathana Sharma, Paola Santana, Cathy Hackl, Hilda Liswani, Sam Rad, Tshilidzi Marwala, Anashrin Pillay, David Roberts and Will Weisman.

The  range of exponential growth focussed topics that will be addressed at the Exponential Summit stream at the SingularityU South Africa Summit 2021 will encompass leadership and investment, exponential technology, crypto/blockchain, future of banking, scaling, ESG, 5g, cybersecurity, social impact, inclusive growth, NFT’s (nonfungible tokens), gaming and DEFI (decentralized finance). Furthermore, the 2021 Exponential Finance summit will explore innovation that will trigger scalable investment, digital business acceleration and stimulate deal flow, with eight South African companies being showcased to potential investors.

In the coming weeks, additional announcements will be made regarding changemakers that will be speaking at the SingularityU South Africa Summit Online 2021, with expanded themes and topics including Artificial Intelligence, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Robotics, 3D Printing, Space, Digital Marketing (SEO, Online Ads, Social) and more.

“For us, it’s all about how do we educate, empower, and inspire our community with bleeding-edge knowledge from the world’s most sought after thinkers and doers, who share unrivalled acumen in the topics that they address. We are thrilled that our plans to combine the Exponential Finance Summit 2021 into the SUSA Summit are being well received, as it is vital for us to develop and build an investment innovation ecosystem in South Africa, to create an abundant economy that will improve the quality of life for all South Africans,” added Shayne Mann, Co-CEO of SingularityU South Africa.

“All tickets already purchased for the Exponential Finance Summit 2021 will automatically be converted to tickets for the SingularityU South Africa in October,” reassured Mic Mann.

“Additionally, we will be hosting a series of more intimate events online in the coming months, so that the SingularityU community of changemakers can stay engaged and continue to participate in the dialogue that they so enjoy,” he added.

The SingularityU Exponential South Africa Summit 2021 will be hosted in collaboration Deloitte and MTN. To join the SingularityU community of changemakers, or to book, visit: https://singularityusouthafricasummit.org/