Brian Mphahlele (Judge - The Crucible)

Brian Mphahlele is an au fait Intellectual Property management, Commercialisation and Business Development Executive.

In the time that he has been in this field, he has among other things done the following (in both the private and public sector):

• Negotiated & concluded a number of royalty bearing patent and know-how license deals across various industrial sectors with local and international companies (covering legal/technological/financial dimensions)
• Negotiated patent pooling/collaboration agreements for joint exploitation with international organisations
• Raised investment for technology development and commercialization initiatives
• Founding CEO for a pharmaceutical company capitalized by a large institutional investor with assets in infectious diseases, skin therapy and women health
• Advised and negotiated Intellectual Property Rights in collaborative research and development (both national & international)

In his role as TIA commercialisation executive, he’s responsible for the full investment life cycle spanning deal origination, consummation, and ultimate exit across various industrial sectors.

Brian graduated in Science (Microbiology and Biotechnology) and Law (LLB) from Wits University and University of South Africa respectively. He also completed an accelerated executive education programme from the University of Emory Goizueta Business School

Danie Pienaar (Judge - The Crucible)

Danie Pienaar
Partner, Spoor & Fisher

Danie Pienaar is a Patent Attorney and has a BEng (Elec) cum laude and an LLB. He is an attorney of the High Court of South Africa.

He has a decade of experience in drafting patent specifications, particularly in the fields of electronic and computer-related inventions. He assists with filing and prosecuting local and foreign patent applications and industrial designs and specialises in drafting commercial agreements relating to intellectual property.

Danie advises on competition law issues, specifically in relation to horizontal and vertical agreements, as well as the interface between competition law and intellectual property.

Dr Hamilton Mphidi (Judge – The Forge)

Dr Hamilton Mphidi Head: Innovation and Technology Tshwane University of Technology

Dr Hamilton Mphidi is currently the Head responsible for Innovation and Technology Transfer at the Tshwane University of Technology. Prior to joining TUT, he spent 15 years in the technology innovation space in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector during this time he held various positions at the University of Pretoria, Embassy of the United States of America, Financial and Fiscal Commission and Sasol Technology respectively. His academic qualifications include a Master’s degree and a PhD in Information Science from the School of Information Technology, University of Pretoria. He recently completed his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Finland. He is currently a board member of Pretoria West Hospital, Rail Manufacturing Centre for Entrepreneurship Rapid Incubator, South African Library for the Blind, as well as other fiduciary and advisory roles. His field of expertise include Innovation management, intellectual property, technology entrepreneurship, information management, information and medical ethics and law and corporate governance.

Mahlatse Tolamo (Judge – The Forge)

Mahlatse Tolamo Managing Director, Global Entrepreneurship Network and Ecosystem Enabler 22 ON SLOANE

Mahlatse Tolamo is the Managing Director of the Global Entrepreneurship Network and Ecosystem Enabler at 22 ON SLOANE. Her role requires her to help the organisation grow, create awareness of the entrepreneurial community and the startups within the local ecosystem and beyond. The most important aspect of her role is bringing together like-minded startups who understand the value of collaboration and can positively contribute to each other’s development.

She is currently the Startup Huddle Johannesburg Organiser, a programme designed to build and strengthen local entrepreneurship ecosystems — by helping one entrepreneur at a time and to Educate, Engage and Connect Entrepreneurs; and the Entrepreneurship World Cup South Africa Organiser, a programme that helps entrepreneurs at all stages maximize their potential. It combines a broad-reaching pitch competition, aimed at ventures ranging from the idea stage to the growth stage, with a virtual accelerator program to help all participants launch, strengthen, and scale their enterprises

Tshembani Khupane (Judge – The Forge)

Tshembani Khupane Senior Programme Manager: Seed Fund Technology Innovation Agency (TIA)

Tshembani Khupane is a Senior Programme Manager for Seed Fund Programme at the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA). She is responsible for managing the Seed Fund Programme overseeing a portfolio of 35 Implementing Partners which are universities, Science councils and technology-based incubators which are managing over 200 innovative projects. The TIA Seed Fund seeks to assist innovators advance their ideas towards commercialisation by providing risk adjusted funding.

Tshembani has over ten years’ experience in managing and supporting innovation related investments with experience in technology transfer, programme management and fund management. Having worked with Universities, Science Councils and Incubators across the continent. She has previously worked for the Agricultural Research Council and Wits Commercial Enterprise responsible for technology transfer activities.

She is also currently assisting in the role of managing Strategic Partnerships responsible for cultivating and managing partnerships for business development and fund raising.

Dr Madichaba Phuti Chelopo-Mgobozi (Judge – The Forge)

Dr Madichaba Phuti Chelopo-Mgobozi Acting senior manager and innovation specialist Bio-economy Unit Innovation Hub Management Company (TIHMC)

Dr Phuti Chelopo-Mgobozi is currently the acting senior manager and innovation specialist at the Bio-economy Unit at the Innovation Hub Management Company (TIHMC). She is responsible for the execution of innovation and business development programmes for Biotech, Med-tech, Health-tech, Agri-tech and indigenous knowledge systems (IKS)-based technologies. Her role involves identifying and strengthening strategic partnerships with key stakeholders as well as ensuring the acceleration of companies incubated with the BioPark life science business incubator. She leads and manages various innovation programmes which include the AgriPark @ TIH, a food security anchoring programme operated at the high-tech greenhouse facility, the CoachLab Entrepreneurship Programme, a business skills development for the elevation of IKS-based innovations as well as the flagship Gauteng Accelerator Programme (GAP) Innovation Competition in the Biosciences and Medical categories. Dr Chelopo-Mgobozi has a passion for healthcare technology innovations, business development and the alleviation of high-burden diseases across Africa. She obtained her PhD qualification in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from North-West University in 2017.

Thandanani Cwele (Judge – The Forge)

Thandanani Cwele
Candidate Attorney, Spoor & Fisher 

Thandanani, holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and an LLB from the University of South Africa.

His primary focus revolves around patent prosecution for both local and international applicants, which includes drafting patent applications and providing advice on the patentability of inventions within the field of chemistry.