The 2024 Summit Agenda at a glance…
UAW2024 is your platform to learn and share ideas on how to revolutionize agriculture and bring the industry into the technology-enabled future.
DAY ONE: Wednesday 18 September
SESSION 1: OPENING SESSION & KEYNOTE ADDRESSES
Opening Message
Nkosenhle Mngadi, Board Chairperson, Enterprise iLembe, KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa)
Host Keynote Address
MEC, Agriculture & Rural Development, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Economic Overview and Investment Opportunities within the iLembe District
N M Sibiya, Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour (South Africa)
International Keynote Address: Vertical Farming, Past, Present and Future
Henry Gordon Smith, Founder & CEO, Agritecture (USA)
SESSION 2: CLIMATE SMART AGRICULTURE
The Potential of Vertical Farming in Africa and Its Challenges
Christine Zimmermann-Loessl, Chairwoman, Association for Vertical Farming (Germany)
Conservation Agriculture, Regenerative Agriculture and Utilization of Technology for Precision Farming Toward Sustainability
Anton Gresse, Animal Scientist / Lecturer / Researcher, Nelson Mandela University (South Africa)
8 Steps to a Successful CEA Project
Graeme Smith, Founder & Principal Consultant, Graeme Smith Consulting (Australia)
Urban Agriculture in South Africa: Combining Research, Action and Education
Dr Naudé Malan, Associate Professor in Business Management, University of Johannesburg (South Africa)
SESSION 3: RESILIENT FOOD CITIES
Township Agriculture: Projects to Boost Food Security
Speaker from KZN DARD
Leading from the Farm: Insights from a City Farmer
Michael Linus Ouma, Founder & CEO, Mbeko Empire (Kenya)
An Urban Agriculture Miracle
Lillian Masebenza, Founder, Mhani Gingi and Ashoka Fellow (South Africa)
Sustainable Agriculture, Innovation, Challenges and Opportunities: Insights from AB Farms and Beyond
Mogale Maleka, Co-Founder & CEO, Agang Bokamoso Farms (South Africa)
Inspiring a New Generation of Agriculture Students and Farmers: The Soneike High School Story
Leon Hanslo, Deputy Principal & Agriculture Project Leader, Soneike High School (South Africa)
PANEL DISCUSSION: Capacity Building in CEA – Enhancing Productivity and Sustainability
Moderator:
Veronica Shangali Aswani, Vice-President, African Association for Vertical Farming and Founder, Kijani Blue Agribusiness (South Africa)
Panellists:
Josephine Favre, Founder & President, AAVF (Switzerland, Tanzania)
Samson Ogbole, Founder & CEO, Eupepsia Place / Soiless Farmlab (Nigeria)
Zandile Kumalo, Founder & CEO, HyHarvest (South Africa)
Michael Linus Ouma, Founder & CEO, Mbeko Empire (Kenya)
Daniel Motshwane, Founder & MD, Afrique Rising Trading (South Africa)
Closing Remarks for DAY ONE
His Worship Cllr T P Shandu, Mayor, iLembe District Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
DAY TWO: Thursday 19 September
SESSION 4: CASE STUDIES ON SUSTAINABLE UA
K.I.S.S! Technology Adoption for Sustainable Urban Agriculture – Perspectives from the Caribbean
Denis Banuoku, Founder & Agripreneur, GreenFresh Aquaponics (The Netherlands)
How Aquaponics Can Be Profitable in South Africa
Gugulethu Mahlangu, Aquaponics Horticulturist, House Harvest (South Africa)
Aquaculture Farming – A Case Study on Technology Transfer from Asia to Africa (virtual presentation)Dr Dalal AlGhawas, Founder & Agrifood-Agribusiness Consultant, SWAPAC (Kuwait, Hong Kong)
SESSION 5: SMART TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION
FIRESIDE CHAT: Are We Ready and Prepared for AI?
Moderator:
Theophilus van Rensburg Lindzter, Founder, Learning Academy Worldwide, (South Africa, Sweden)
Panellists:
Henry Gordon Smith, Founder & CEO, Agritecture (USA)
Robert Janssens, Chief Client Officer, ECOSYSTEM.AI (South Africa)
Terrence Martin, Director & Founder, 5th Factor (South Africa)
Alex Ho, First Secretary (Commercial), High Commission of Singapore, and Regional Director for Southern Africa, Enterprise Singapore
Smart Food Growing Solutions for Urban Settings and More
Andrew Pott, CEO, Smart Food Growing Technologies (South Africa)
Cooling as a Service for Farmers
Bright Laaka, Group Executive Director, Klaus Engineering (South Africa)
SESSION 6: GROWTH & RISK MANAGEMENT
Beyond Raw Cannabis: Exploring Market Opportunities for Value- Added Industrial Hemp Products In Africa(virtual presentation)
Dr Richard Q Amissah, Researcher, University of Western Ontario (Canada)
Protecting Your Farm: Together We Can Do More
Louis-John Ferreira, Director, Eikos Risk Capital (South Africa)
Securing Finance: What You Need to Know
Representative, Landbank
Empowering Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Synergy Between Universities and Industry
Pfano Mashau, Professor, DUT Business School (South Africa)
AgrAcademy: A Learning and Earning Emerging Model for Vocational Training in Agriculture
Leon October, Agriculture Specialist, Learning Academy Worldwide (South Africa)
SPECIAL SESSION FOR AGRIPRENEURS:
FARM ECONOMICS AND PLANNING WITH AGRITECTURE’S SOFTWARE
DAY THREE: Friday 20 September
Farm Visit - Coves New Age Farming
Join the Conversations! Engage with the International & Regional Experts! Ignite New Projects! Build New Partnerships and Collaboration.
Meet, Hear and Deep Dive with the Distinguished Panel of Speakers at UAW 2024 including:
N M Jomo Sibiya
Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour (South Africa)
T P Shandu
Mayor, iLembe District Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa)
Nkosenhle Mngadi
Board Chairperson, Enterprise iLembe, KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa)
Henry Gordon-Smith
Founder & CEO, Agritecture (USA) Innovation Board Member, EFUA (Germany)
Theophilus van Rensburg Lindzter
Founder, Learning Academy Worldwide (South Africa, Sweden)
Christine Zimmermann-Loessl
Chairwoman, Association for Vertical Farming (Germany)
Denis Banuoku
Founder & Agripreneur, GreenFresh Aquaponics (The Netherlands)
Pfano Mashau
Professor, DUT Business School, Durban University of Technology (South Africa)
Josephine Favre
President, African Association for Vertical Farming (Switzerland, South Africa, Tanzania)
Michael Linus Ouma
Founder & CEO, Mbeko Empire (Kenya)
Graeme Smith
Founder & Principal Consultant, Graeme Smith Consulting (Australia)
Naudé Malan
Associate Professor, Business Management, University of Johannesburg (South Africa)
Veronica Shangali Aswani
Founder, Kijani Blue AgriBusiness CEO, WavuNow Stakeholder Relations Director, AWiA (South Africa)
Dr Richard Quansah Amissah
Neuroscientist Researcher, University of Western Ontario (Canada)
Gugulethu Mahlangu
Aquaponics Horticulturist, House Harvest (South Africa)
Bright Laaka
Group Executive Director, Klaus Engineering Group (South Africa)
Samson Ogbole
Founder & CEO, Eupepsia Place / Soilless Farmlab (Nigeria)
Andrew Pott
CEO, Smart Food Growing Technologies (South Africa)
Anton Gresse
Animal Scientist, Lecturer & Researcher, Nelson Mandela University (South Africa)
Leon Hanslo
Deputy Principal & Agriculture Project Leader, Soneike High School (South Africa)
Zandile Kumalo
Founder & CEO, HyHarvest (South Africa)
Louis-John Ferreira
Director, Eikos Risk Capital (South Africa)
Leon October
Agriculture Specialist, Learning Academy Worldwide (South Africa)
Lillian Masebenza
Founder, Mhani Gingi, and Ashoka Fellow (South Africa)
Mogale Maleka
Co-Founder & CEO, Agang Bokamoso Farms (South Africa)
Robert Janssens
Chief Client Officer, ECOSYSTEM.AI (South Africa)
Terrence Martin
Director & Founder, 5th Factor (South Africa)
Dalal AlGhawas
Founder & Agrifood-Agribusiness Consultant, SWAPAC (Kuwait, Hong Kong)
Daniel Motshwane
Founder & MD, Afrique Rising Trading (South Africa)
Karmini Pillay-Rangan
Director, Pulse Afrika, South Africa
Luvo Gugwana
Founder, Green Arch Innovations, South Africa
URBAN AGRI SPEAKERS ALUMNI INCLUDE
Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi
MEC, Department of Agriculture & Rural Development, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Nomusa Dube-Ncube
Premier, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Aliyu Abdulhameed
Managing Director & CEO, Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agriculture Lending (NIRSAL)
Prof Gert Venter
CEO, Ecogrow Kweekhuise, South Africa
Roger Tuckeldoe
Director of Smallholder Development, Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries, South Africa
Dallas McMillan
CEO, Rhizo Sciences, Canada
Graeme Smith
Founder and Principal Consultant, Graeme Smith Consulting, Australia
Henry Gordon-Smith
Managing Director, Agritecture Consulting, USA
Thaven Naidoo
Southern Africa Regional Coordinator, Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN)
Dr Michael Magondo
Chief Idea Surfer, Wouldn’t It Be Cool (WIBC), South Africa
Naudé Malan
Associate Professor Business Management, University of Johannesburg, and Council Member, Agricultural Research Council, South Africa
Adeyinka John
Senior Manager for Research, Strategy, Innovation, Result Measurement & Impact, NIRSAL, Nigeria
Angel Adelaja
CEO, Fresh Direct, Nigeria
Prof Michael Rudolph
Director, Siyakhana Multipurpose Cooperative, South Africa
Jana Jordaan
Sustainable Agriculture Analyst, GreenCape, South Africa
Esther Ndumi Ngumbi
Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Mlibo Bantwini
Executive Officer, Dube TradePort, South Africa
Michael Koch
Marketing Agronomist, Haifa Group, Israel
Jeremy Rich
Founder, Aqua Vegetables & Co-Founder, Future Farms, South Africa
Theo Niezel
Director, Aqua Vegetables, South Africa
Paul Sheppard
Co-Founder, Halon Energy Partners & Co-Founder, Future Farms, South Africa
Peter Chege Gichuku
CEO, Hydroponics Africa, Kenya
Lynn Gunning
Managing Director, NFT Hydro, South Africa
Thato Moagi
Managing Director, Legae La Banareng Farms, South Africa
Peter Douglas
Managing Director, Carbon Negative Solutions
Inge Kuschke
Agriculture Analyst, Greencape, South Africa
Rikalize Reinecke
Owner, La Pieus Aqua, South Africa
Michelle Adelman
Managing Director, Go Fresh, Botswana
Alex Ho
Regional Director for Middle East, Africa & South Asia, Enterprise Singapore
Thato Mugonda
LED Coordinator, Centre for Supplier Development, and Director, Legae La Banareng Farms, South Africa
Zandile Kumalo
Founder and CEO, HyHarvest, South Africa
Kenneth Obayuwana
Principal Consultant, Agricelerate Global Consulting, UK
Agrotosh Mookerjee
Managing Director and Chief Actuary, Risk Shield Consultants, Zambia
Dr Zorodzai J T Maroveke
Founder and CEO, Zimbabwe Industrial Hemp Trust, Zimbabwe
Trenton Birch
CEO and Co-Founder, Cheeba Cannabis Academy, and Founding Member, Friends of Hemp South Africa
Dr Dalal AlGhawas
Founder, Agrifood-Agribusiness Consultant, SWAPAC, Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong
Veronica S. Aswani
Vice President, African Association for Vertical Farming, South Africa, Founding Partner , Kijani Blue Agribusiness, Stakeholder Relations Director, African Women in Agriculture (AWiA) CEO of Wavunow
Dr Tshililo Farisani
Entrepreneurship & Leadership Expert, UKZN, South Africa
Dr Peter C Gichuku
CEO & Founder, Hydroponics Africa, Kenya
Michael Linus Ouma
Thought Leader, Founder & CEO, Mbeko Empire, Kenya
Ma Joye
Founder, Umgibe Farming Organics & Training Institute, South Africa
Daniel de Sousa
Founder, The Farm Nearby, South Africa
