From a bedroom in Benoni to exponential possibility

HOWARD SACKSTEIN

The three Mann siblings, Kevin, Shayne, and Mic, hail from the quiet streets of the suburban east rand. When the oldest brother, Kevin was studying for his accountancy board exams, he needed extra income as a side hustle, so he started a Barmitzvah and wedding video business in his bedroom.

That business has grown under the mentorship of legendary business icon Jonathan Beare into a mega media production company called Mann Made Media.

“When Jonathan came to do the deal to invest in us, we didn’t even have any real furniture, we made him sit on a bean bag on the floor,” says Shayne. “Jonathan made us believe in ourselves, and from a little business, he made us understand that we could build a big media and events company.”

The transition progressed from weddings, to corporate videos, to a Shaggy concert, and then doing some of the largest country-wide roadshows for Standard Bank and Absa.

But the big break came when Absa brought Singularity University to South Africa. Mann Made won the pitch.

“We were sitting in the room with some of the most remarkable speakers in the world,” says Shayne. “We looked at each other, and we had an ‘OMG’ moment, when you’ve suddenly just seen the light. We had to partner with these people.”

Says Mic, “Singularity was so impressed with the production we put on for it, that it made us its local partner.”

Most education focuses on learning from past experiences and case studies. Singularity University has turned that model on its head by zeroing in on the dramatic changes that will shape and have an impact on the future of humanity.

“We sent Mic to California to cement the relationship,” says Kevin, “he was suffering from Tick bite fever and pumped full of antibiotics, but we put him on a plane to the Singularity executive programme. We needed to understand how we could fundamentally improve the lives of people in Africa and South Africa. Once you have been exposed to the world experts in artificial intelligence, bio-tech, drones, robotics, and disruption, you see the world in a completely different way.”

Next week, the Mann brothers host Africa’s first Singularity University Exponential Finance Summit in Cape Town. It will bring together people leading the disruption of the finance sector. Today, China is leading the way in cashless mobile payments, with more than one billion people using Ali Pay and 600 million on WeChat Wallet. Israel may well be the first country in the world to become a completely cashless society.

“Africa has the ability to lead the world in some of these innovations,” says Shayne, “it’s not burdened by legacy systems, so it’s able to leapfrog the rest of the world through the adoption of new digital technologies, all it takes is leadership.

This year, Singularity University will take place in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Lagos (Nigeria), and Nairobi (Kenya). “We are ‘future proofing’ Africa, and creating a global community of African changemakers,” says Mic.

“The Development Bank of South Africa is our partner, and we are going to find the next Elon Musk studying by candlelight in a township somewhere in South Africa,” says Kevin.

What started in a bedroom in Benoni is now one of the most innovative executive learning programmes in South Africa.