2009 – Opportunity in Crisis

Venue:
STIAS, Stellenbosch

Corporate Partners:
Development Bank of Southern Africa, Johnson & Johnson, Maconomy SA and Stellenbosch University.

Event Sponsors:
Dimension Data, Media 24.

Speakers:
Gordon Smith – Chief Strategist at RMB Asset Management
Michiel le Roux – Chairman of Capitec Bank
Abdullah Verachia – Head of Asia Frontier Advisory Division at Frontier Advisory
Prof. Servaas van der Berg – Developmental Economist, Stellenbosch University
Prof. Edgar Pieterse – Director of African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town
Prof. Crain Soudien – Professor in Education, University of Cape Town
Peter Willis – South African Director, Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership
Stefan Raubenheimer – CEO, South South North and co-author of Long Term Mitigation Scenarios
Prof. Mark Swilling – Academic Director, Sustainability Institute
Martin Feinstein – Enablis
(Ms. Judith February of Idasa unfortunately cancelled at the last minute due to illness.)

Overview:
The theme for the week was ‘Opportunity in Crisis’. In line with this theme, speakers were invited to speak on some of the major crises currently facing society, i.e. the economic, socio-political and environmental. Against this backdrop, the focus of the summit shifted towards the opportunities for making a positive contribution. Using Open Space Technology, delegates shared and developed their ideas with each other, and were then given the opportunity to present their ideas to the group in an elevator pitch session. Just over 20 ideas were presented in this session, from which the delegates chose seven to develop further. For the last 24 hours, delegates worked on building these project ideas into presentations, which they showcased at the Gala Dinner.