The BigFive Virtual Summit coming 4 November is shaping up as a seminal event on the emerging digital ecosystem for small businesses in Africa and the Middle East.
A who's who of senior leaders from the companies that drive this ecosystem have already committed to participating as speakers. These include leaders from Google, LinkedIn, Uber, Vodacom, Standard Bank, HERE Maps, Sky.Garden, and many more to come.
Check out our programme below and plan on attending this free half-day event.
BIG5 Virtual Summit Programme 4th November 2020
“Building a Tech-Enabled Future for AME Small Businesses”
1345 - 1400: The BigFive Virtual Summit Waiting Room -- Music, Videos, and Answers to BigFive’s “Big Questions”
1400 - 1410: Welcome & Presentation of BigFive Digital’s ‘Legacy of Lockdowns’
The session will feature original research on the pandemic’s impact on local in the ASME region.
Thabo Seopa, Chair, BigFive Digital
Lyndon Munetsi, CEO, MethodX
1410 - 1425: Winning in a Post-Pandemic World
We will engage futurist and digital strategist Herman Singh in a candid and challenging conversation about how organizations must adapt to a dramatically transformed post-pandemic environment and how they can help SMMEs emerge stronger from this crisis. Singh is the author of a new book, “DI-VOLUTION: An essential guide to winning in a digitally transformed post-pandemic environment”.
Herman Singh, CEO, Future Advisory
1425 - 1450: The Big Pivot -- Re-imagining Banking & Telecom
Africa’s banks and telecoms are sitting on a massive opportunity in the form of their large SMME customer bases. Yet are the equipped to successfully become the trusted advisor that helps SMMEs modernize their operations with technology, tools, and access to capital? We’ll assemble leaders from both sectors to answer these tough questions.
William Mzimba, Chief Executive Officer, Vodacom Business Group
Khomotso Molabe, Chief Information Officer, Standard Bank of South Africa
1450 - 1510: The Small Business Fintech Revolution
Online and mobile payments have played a pivotal role in modernizing how small businesses operate. What does the future hold for SMME fintech? Will investors continue to support African fintech at current levels? We’ve assembled leaders of the region’s fintech revolution to explore these and other critical questions about one of the most important sectors of the region’s digital economy.
1510 - 1530: Selling Digital Solutions in a Covid-impacted World
A look into the digital solutions sales landscape, and how it has been impacted by the global pandemic, both in terms of what is being bought and sold, and how buyers and sellers are interacting.
George Leith, EVP Sales, Vendasta
Sandy Lohr, CEO, MatchCraft
Gilsi Sigvaldason, COO & Co-founder, Crankwheel
1530 - 1545: The Emerging Logistics Ecosystem: A Conversation with Uber
The pandemic has created challenges for the region’s logistics players — ride-hailing services, food delivery apps and others. But there is also a tremendous emerging opportunity to offer an ever-widening array of services. We will explore this landscape with Uber’s Kartik Taneja.
Kartik Taneja, Head of B2B Solutions EMEA, Uber
1545 - 1550: Special video messages
1550 - 1610: Location Awareness: Digital Maps in the COVID Era
Mapping and location data companies have played a unique role during the pandemic, from documenting how commerce partners are shifting to enable the emerging eCommerce economy. We’ll ask some key players how the experience is shaping the industry.
Yogan Naidoo, Head of Data Acquisition & Communities MEA, HERE Maps
1610 - 1630: An Update from Google: GMB for SMMEs
The conversation on small business digital presence increasingly begins with Google My Business. Join us for an update on GMB and new opportunities available for SMME aggregators to help their customers increase visibility by optimizing their GMB profiles.
Melissa Kariuki, Product Marketing, Google
1630 - 1635: Special video messages
1635 - 1700: Exploring Africa’s SMME eCommerce Revolution
eCommerce was on the rise on the continent before the pandemic hit. As Africa entered and is now emerging from lockdown, we will examine how the trajectory of eCommerce has been altered, and what opportunities this presents to the BigFive community and the region’s small businesses.
Isaac Hunja, Co-Founder, CMO & Acting MD of Sky.Garden
End of the Virtual Summit
The BigFive Digital Virtual Summit Agenda is subject to change.
Register for free here.