Partnership with ‘The Chosen’, 2010 MTN Business Leading CEO Council
Brightest Young Minds is pleased to announce that we will be partnering with ‘The Chosen’, 2010 MTN Business Leading CEO Council. This is a unique annual event where South Africa’s top businessmen and women unite to discuss leadership issues and to mentor those who will succeed them.
The four-day Initiative features seminars, workshops and debates where 24 of today’s top leaders will help to mould 24 Protégés – those who are the leaders of tomorrow. The Protégés will be handpicked from the delegates who are chosen to attend this year’s Brightest Young Minds summit. The Protégés will gain invaluable exposure to those indefinable qualities that turn a good manager into a great leader. They will join debates about morality and ethics, honesty and compassion, and will network with the cream of business society in an invaluable step along their career paths.
Ranked by The Sunday Times as the top event on the business calendar for five consecutive years, the 2010 event is spearheaded by MTN Business as The Headline Partner, supported by further local and global Partner brands – such as Peotona, Badimo Gas, Pam Golding Properties, Hewlett-Packard, Jameson, The Hyatt Regency Oubaai, Heidrick & Struggles, MoneyWeb, GQ, Business Report, SuperSport International, Carte Blanche, Avis, Avis Chauffeur Drive, Clarins, Southern Right, Toast & Co – to mention just a few.
This is the only platform that allows future leaders to engage in constructive dialogue with the current leaders, and to forge invaluable relationships and associations.
For more information on the ‘The Chosen’, 2010 MTN Business Leading CEO Council, click here.
To apply now for BYM 2010, click here.
New application deadline – 22 July 2010
Due to our partnership with ‘The Chosen’, 2010 MTN Business Leading CEO Council, the application deadline has now been extended to 22 July 2010!
‘The Chosen’, 2010 MTN Business Leading CEO Council is a unique annual event where South Africa’s top businessmen and women unite to discuss leadership issues and to mentor those who will succeed them. The four-day Initiative features seminars, workshops and debates where 24 of today’s top leaders will help to mould 24 Protégés – those who are the leaders of tomorrow. The Protégés will be handpicked from the delegates who are chosen to attend this year’s Brightest Young Minds summit.
For an opportunity you can’t miss out on, apply here.
For more information about ‘The Chosen’, 2010 MTN Business Leading CEO Council, click here.
Applications for BYM Summit 2010 Now Open
SA’s brightest young minds sought to be the turning point in 2010
The tenth annual Brightest Young Minds summit will be held from 7 – 11 September 2010 in Stellenbosch, Western Cape, and university students and recent graduates are encouraged to apply to attend.
The Brightest Young Minds organisation aims to channel the hearts and minds of young people into initiatives that can affect societal improvement and the annual summit is their flagship activity. One hundred delegates, representing the brilliance and diversity of our country, will be selected on criteria of innovation, leadership and academic accomplishments.
At the summit the 100 delegates will get the chance to interact with some of the top thinkers and most inspiring individuals in the country as well as have the opportunity to develop new ideas and innovative solutions to some of the challenges facing our society. The best of these ideas will be presented on the final day to a high-profile audience of business and public sector leaders.
Past alumni of the summit have included numerous Rhodes and Fulbright Scholars, thriving entrepreneurs and the founders of successful social initiatives. Ideas developed at the summit have been published in a book, been profiled in national media and lead to an award winning business idea.
According to Ralph Baumgarten, CEO of Brightest Young Minds, the theme for the 2010 summit is ‘2010: The Turning Point?’: “2010 is South Africa’s year. While the rest of the world has their eyes fixed on every single decision we make, the platform has been set for South Africa to enter the world stage. At the BYM Summit 2010, South Africa’s brightest young minds are sought, who’ll take initiative to tap into the extraordinary promise of South Africa’s entrance onto the world stage. It is up to our generation of young people to provide leadership that will remark 2010 as the turning point in our country.”
Applications for the summit are available on the BYM website (www.bym.co.za) and the closing date is 11 June. Successful applicants will be able to attend the summit free of charge.
The 2010 BYM summit presents a unique opportunity for anyone with a bright mind and passionate heart looking to do the exceptional.
2009 BYM Summit Speakers
The 2009 BYM Summit, held in Stellenbosch from 6 – 11 July, once again boasts with an impressive line-up of speakers.
The theme for this year’ summit is ‘Opportunity in Crisis’ and delegates will be briefed on the financial, socio-political and environmental crises facing society and then challenged to develop solutions and projects in response.
These are just some of this year’s contributors:
- Mr Gordon Smith – Chief Investment Officer, RMB Asset Management
- Mr Abdullah Verachia – Frontier Advisory
- Mr Michiel le Roux – Chairman, Capitec Bank
- Ms Judith February – IDASA
- Prof. Crian Soudien – Deputy Vice Chancellor, UCT
- Prof. Edgar Pieterse – Director, African Centre for Cities
- Mr. Peter Willis – South African Director, Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership
- Mr Stef Raubenheimer – CEO, South South North
- Prof. Mark Swilling – Academic Director, Sustainability Institute
- Dr. Ailsa Stewart-Smith – UCT Graduate School of Business
- Mr. Martin Feinsten – Enablis
Over and above these contributors, representatives of the four main sponsors, Stellenbosch University, DBSA, Maconomy SA and Johnson & Johnson will also give presentations to the delegates.
For any information on this year’s summit, please contact Ralph Baumgarten on +27(0)82 882 3120
Summit 2009 Event Sponsors
Besides the main sponors for the 2009 BYM summit, we are incredibly grateful for the support of the following organisations:
- Dimension Data
- Media 24
- Lourensford Wines
- Project Personera
- FinWeek
- Roodezandt Wines
Project Personera
See what Generation (B) Y (M) has to offer
Magda Wierzycka, the CEO of Sygnia Asset Management, writes on Moneyweb’s blog about Generation Y and their characteristics. Generation Y are those born between 1982 and 1995 of Generation X and Baby Boomer parents.
She describes this generation as growing up amidst ‘unprecedented prosperity’ with access to ‘better, more rounded education’. Furthermore they are: ‘extreme[ly] technology savvy’, ‘very family orientated’, ‘demanding and outspoken employees’ with an ‘overdeveloped sense of entitlement’, they ’struggle to deal with failure or criticism’ and ‘flounder if left unmanaged or unsupervised’.
I’ll agree with the technology savvy.
The rest of the description might ring true for young people in the USA or some other homogenous, developed country, but it sounds a little off-tone for the vast majority of young South Africans.
One only needs to look at the tragic outcomes of our school system that fails the majority of its learners and the extremely high levels of unemployment among young people to see that this generation is not some privileged class.
It is also important to remember that the South African Generation Y has been growing up in times of major transition: a political transition with profound social impacts, accelerating urbanisation (lagging the rest of the world) and widening and deepening globalisation.
In my opinion, all these transitions present exciting opportunities, but they most definitely also bring new challenges. The SA Gen Y is the group that has to build a unified, non-racial society bridging the prejudices and mistrust of previous generations. They also have to develop and maintain their own cultures and customs while being integrated with and relevant in the global society. And while globalisation affords this generation with more opportunities, they need to more competitive and more adaptable as a consequence of international competition.
Don’t get me wrong – not for a moment do I wish to exchange the challenges faced by South African young people with those faced by their parents. But, we need to acknowledge that the environment and challenges are different and that this generation will inevitably do things in a different way. And they’ll have to, because much of what they inherit in terms of the economy, environment and global stability is not looking pretty.
So the real important question is: Will Generation Y, specifically in South Africa, falter or will they besides ‘gallingly emerging as a more powerful force in the workplace’, Wierzycka’s words, rise up to be a powerful force for good?
My bet is placed.
Over the last nine years Brightest Young Minds have identified, developed and channelled the ideas and passion of young people into making a positive contribution in our society. Every year we have been impressed not only with the remarkable talent but with the inspiring optimism and commitment of these young people. At every summit the majority of conversations are about how to make the biggest positive impact on the community. And it doesn’t stay with talking. These young people have gone on start businesses, create universities and schools, initiate social upliftment programmes, invent new products and services and ploughed their talents and energy into all manner of businesses and organisations.
The next BYM summit will take place in July 2009 and we know it will once again be an inspiring showcase of what Generation Y has to offer. If you are part of Generation Y, I encourage you to apply for the Summit and if you are or an older generation, I invite you to come and engage with these young people.
The experience will not be galling, but enlightening.
2009 Summit applications opening soon
We are excited to announce that applications for the 2009 BYM summit will open on 4 April 2009. Applications will be available on the website and over the next couple of days we will add more information about the summit and the application process.
In the mean time, spread the word as this year’s summit promises to be: Active, Beneficial, Challenging, Developmental, Exhilarating, Fresh, Gratifying, Hope-giving, Inspirational, Jovial, Knowledge-expanding, Life-enriching, Motivating, Novel, Original, Paradigm-shifting, Quality, Refreshing, Stimulating, Thrilling, Uplifting, Valuable, Wonderful, x, Youthful and Zesty.
