In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

The Fugard Theatre
15A Buitenkant St, District Six
Cape Town, Western Cape, 7925
South Africa

Ellen Louw

Ellen Louw is an expert in Social Media Intelligence – a fascinating role that allows her to sift through our globally accessible, real-time information: what we post on social media; what we search for on Google; what we comment in forums; and what we publish as blogs. This unique skill has seen her smarts summoned by various companies, ranging from advertising to healthcare. She’s driven to better understand people: Our behaviour, interests, opinions and ambitions. Her sense-making of our published content and search data from all over the world allows her to peer into, and learn from, many perspectives. Our digital footprint displays a story about us all, as well as the stories we buy into. Ellen delivered her talk on the TEDxYouth@CapeTown stage to help us see the big picture, and of course, how to be our own ‘investigative journalist’ using social media.

Janet Sawari

Janet Sawari is the CEO and founder of The AI Review (TAIR Labs); an AI Research and Innovation Lab. Janet is a serial entrepreneur and passionate about education, social impact, and driving women's empowerment through gender inclusivity in tech. With an MBA in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship from Shanghai Jiaotong, Janet is determined to drive research and innovation on the African continent for socio-economic good. Her experiences, post 10 years of living and working in East Asia/ China, weave into her work and influence her radical approach as she continuously finds ways to make AI innovation and education more accessible on the African continent. Janet’s idea is that we can solve many of Africa's problems by encouraging young people to become inventors. She wants to use her voice to inspire an innovation movement and grow a community of young people passionate about problem-solving using hard tech.

Kelsey Buchalter

Kelsey Buchalter is a nutrition advisor, speaker, health coach and host of “The Human Theatre” podcast. She is passionate about mental and physical health optimisation, the significance of lifestyle interventions in the treatments and prevention of health problems, and understanding the body through an ancestral lens. Her biggest source of inspiration? The human body and its innate ability to heal itself when placed in the right environment. While mental and physical health optimisation is always at the forefront of her mind, so is creativity. She’s a self-proclaimed dancer, actor and singer-songwriter with a strong belief that the performing arts can be used as a means of therapy to facilitate societal change. When she’s not inspiring others with her incredible ideas about the human body, you can find her “practising” her other talent: Listening to audiobooks at top speed and sharing these ideas with others in a simpler way.

Kumbirai Makanza

Kumbirai Makanza is a multiple award-winning cleantech entrepreneur that’s passionate about Africa and its potential for sustainable development. His experience as a renewable energy and energy efficiency professional has allowed him to cultivate an incredible understanding of this space; turning his passion into obsession as he finds ways to leverage technology, big data and community-driven solutions to transform Africa’s potential into reality. His current goal is to find innovative and unique business models which offer a delicate balance of people, planet and profit. Kumbirai delivered his talk on the TEDxYouth@CapeTown stage to inspire a change in mentality of sustainable development in Africa, with a focus on turning remittance into sustainable investment.

Tasnika Goorhoo

Tasnika Goorhoo is a chemical engineer, equality advocate, and research analyst who is determined to ensure female empowerment and sustainable progress in the energy sector. She delivered her talk on the TEDxYouth@CapeTown stage to share how, within the turbulent landscape that is the energy transition, gender equality needs more momentum - starting with more women in the space. Mother nature is calling for us to protect her - and Tasnika’s listening. Acknowledging the reality that women will be some of the first and worst impacted by climate change and the global energy crisis, Tasnika’s empowered to raise her voice and help other women do the same to drive solutions, enable progress, and bridge gender inequality in her industry. She brings her belief that being better than we were yesterday will lead to sustainable progress and impactful change to the famous red dot.

Yvette Zihhalirwa

Yvette Zihhalirwa is a certified NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) Life Coach, cooking enthusiast and mother. Armed with extensive experience in social development, she’s on a mission to amplify her social impact by uniting her love for wellness, food and nutrition. She’s adding a bold dash of imagination as to how we could better promote good health in African regions. Yvette took to the TEDxYouth@CapeTown stage to re-address something long resting on our plates: How can we prevent, treat and manage diseases that stem from nutrition and lifestyle?

Ziganekozihle Makheta

Ziganekozihle Makheta is a filmmaker, performer, facilitator and founder of the film production company WANTOW WANTOW. Her passion for her industry goes beyond being in front of the camera and behind the scenes. For her, it is essential that she contributes towards the sustainability of the film industry by learning how to cohesively dismantle ancient bureaucratic ways of operating. She does this by facilitating acting workshops that provide access to creative education and training while educating actors about their rights. Ziganekozihle’s idea is about distributing films to marginalised communities in South Africa through our culture of infrastructure sustainability. She believes it is essential that girls from marginalised societies see their experiences through cinema and art, and as a filmmaker, produces authentic stories that are reflective of girls like her. Through her talk, she wants people to recognise the realities of South Africa; how we can contribute to shaping our world and maintaining our culture.