Keynote Speakers

Dr Sizwe Errol Nxasana is a renowned South African business leader and social entrepreneur with a distinguished career spanning corporate leadership, education innovation and social impact. He began his professional journey at Unilever, before founding Sizwe & Co in 1989 – the first black-owned audit practice in KwaZulu-Natal. In 1996, he became the founding partner of Nkonki Sizwe Ntsaluba, now SizweNtsalubaGobodo (SNG Grant Thornton), which has grown to become the fifth-largest audit firm in South Africa. In 1998, he was appointed CEO of Telkom SA and led the company’s dual listing on the Johannesburg and New York Stock Exchanges. He later served as CEO of the FirstRand Banking Group from 2005 until his retirement from corporate life in September 2015.

Following his executive career, Dr Nxasana channelled his focus into transforming education in South Africa. He is the founder of Sifiso Learning Group – a holistic education ecosystem that includes Future Nation Schools, Nation NXT College (the Group’s teacher training unit, formerly Future Nation College), iKamva Preschool (formerly Future Nation Schools Preschool) and Sifiso EdTech. The Group also encompasses ventures in academic publishing and education-focused property development. Together, these entities are committed to reimagining African education through accessible, technology-enabled and Afrocentric learning, with project-based learning (PBL) at its core to foster critical thinking, collaboration and real-world problem-solving.

Dr Nxasana currently chairs several influential foundations and trusts. He is the Co-founder and Chairperson of the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT) and the Founder and Chairperson of the Ikusasa Student Financial Aid Programme (ISFAP), which supports financially disadvantaged and “missing middle” students.

His contributions have been recognised with honorary doctorates from the University of Fort Hare, Durban University of Technology, the University of Johannesburg, Walter Sisulu University, and UNISA. In May 2025, he earned a PhD in Project-Based Learning from the UNESCO PBL Centre at Aalborg University in Denmark.

Prof Nicky Roberts is director of Kelello Consulting and an extraordinary Associate professor at the University of Stellenbosch. Nicky leads teams of researchers, on a range of education research assignments in education. Her education research uses mixed methods and she has extensive evaluation experience (in South Africa and internationally). Her teams bring particular expertise in mathematics, languages, technology enhanced learning and assessment. The Kelello team offers monitoring, evaluation and strategic research, frequently acting as technical assistants for large entities such as governments or corporates investing in improving education outcomes. Current research assignments include:

• Review of the maths challenge programme for secondary schools in South Africa;

• Evaluation of Siyavula backlogs programme at Grade 8,

• Training and support for Foundation Phase teachers in Sasolburg and Limpopo; and

• Monitoring and evaluation partner for the GDEs Maths and Languages Improvement Programme for Grade R in Gauteng.

Nicky is the principle investigator for the Primary Teacher Education Assessment programme, and co-investigator with Dr Kim Porteus for the Maths4Primary Teachers programme.

Nicky is widely published in peer-reviewed academic journals, and book chapters. She served on the executive of SAARMSTE (Southern African Association for Research in Mathematics and Science and Technology) and is a current trustee for the International Group of the Psychology for Mathematics Education. She has co-edited two books: The Pedagogy of Mathematics in South Africa(with Prof Paul Webb) and Mathematics in the Early Grades in South Africa, (with Prof Hamsa Venkat).

Professor Loyiso G. Nongxa retired as Ad Hominem Professor of Mathematics at the University of the Witwatersrand in December 2018, having spent 18 years at the university. From 2000 until 2013 he served on the Senior Executive Team of Wits University, from 2000 until 2002 as a DVC(Research) and from 2003 until 2013 as Vice-Chancellor and Principal. He attended Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship and obtained his doctorate in Mathematics in 1982. He has taught at the National University of Lesotho, the former University of Natal in Durban, the University of the Western Cape and the University of the Witwatersrand. He served as one of the two Vice-Presidents of the International Mathematical Union (IMU) from 2019 to 2022.

He was  Chairperson of the Board of the National Research Foundation from 2014 to 2018. He was appointed by the Minister of Higher Education and Training as Administrator of the University of Fort Hare for the period April 2019 to April 2020. From 2016 he has been one of the champions of a National Graduate Academy for Mathematical Sciences which focuses on the development of the next generation of mathematicians and statisticians in South Africa. He is currently Professor Emeritus for Mathematics at the University of the Witatersrand and Honorary Professor at the University of Pretoria.

Ms Konehali Gugushe is a Chartered Accountant (SA) with more than 20 years working experience, spanning over the financial services sector and development finance. She has worked at various banks and financial services companies, including Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank (now Standard Bank CIB), JP Morgan and Nedbank, gaining experience in credit risk management, investment analysis and private equity.  Kone moved into a development focus in her career, where she has served as the Land Bank’s CRO, and as the CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund where some of her key areas of responsibility included managing multiple stakeholders across the private and public sectors. 

Kone has also completed a number of prestigious leadership programmes including the Aspen Global Leadership Initiative and GIBS Global Executive leadership development programme. 

Kone is currently the Head of Social Investing at the First Rand Group, and offers the perfect blend of business, finance and social investment skills, critical to responding to present day development challenges and to deliver and enable impact at scale. 

Bio to follow....