Today marked the first day of the KLCBT Business Conference. Business owners and CEOs joined together for a networking event and to learn more about improving business in the Lowveld.

The KLCBT CEO, Linda Grimbeek, opened the event by welcoming delegates, sharing the programme for the day, and introducing the eight speakers.

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The MMC CEO, Louis Nel, spoke about the progress his electrolytic manganese metal company has made over the past years, and that they hope to produce lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles in the future.

Alex van Niekerk, the CEO of TRAC, spoke about their latest progress in road maintenance, the building of new roads in and around the Lowveld, and shared their future projects, including building a road from the Matola River to Matola Mall in Mozambique.

Robert Duval, the CEO of Agri Mpumalanga, shared statistics about increasing farm crimes and food insecurity. He also spoke about farmers’ struggles and that farmers always make a plan, but there has to be a reason for the plan.

Cornelle Crowley from BNI spoke about ‘Networking as a sport’ and explained how networking is similar to playing a sport, and how this technique can be implemented in the business world.

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Indio Swartz from Dinges Tech spoke about the future of AI and motivated businesses to start automating business tasks, such as invoicing, with AI to save time and improve productivity.

Wayne Langbridge, the founder and CEO of WFA, spoke about online high schooling and how businesses can invest in a student’s life to help him or her become a successful entrepreneur.

Political economist Moeletsi Mbeki concluded day one’s talks by comparing social structures worldwide to those in South Africa, and pointing out why the public sector’s earnings are higher than those of the private sector.

The final event on the day’s programme was a presidential dinner attended by the keynote speakers and delegates. 

Here is a reminder of day two’s programme:

Thursday, May 22

08:00 – Delegate registration

08:30 – Recap and opening: Linda Grimbeek

09:00 – Integrated safety collaboration: Tshifhiwa Tshivengwa, Tourism Business Council of South Africa CEO

09:30 – Economic landscape: Calvin Mabona, Old Mutual

10:00 – The big plan: Victor Windvoël, Nkomazi SEZ chairperson

10:30 – Tea break

11:00 – Investment in tourism, a necessity: Oupa Pilane, KLCBT special attaché

11:30 – The state of the nation: Prof Theuns Eloff

12:00 – The big, the good and the ugly: Adv Stefanie Fick, OUTA director

12:30 – Takeaways and panel discussion led by Izak du Plessis of Nuuspod

13:00 – Closure and lunch.

Lowvelder will attend the second day of the conference to publish the final updates and news online.