Our Stellar line up of speakers includes Keynote Speaker, Abdullah Verachia, as well as Guest Speakers Taddy Blecher, Kiara Nirghin and Natalie du Toit, and will feature Speakers from Crawford Preparatory Pretoria, the Wild Olive Society and the University of Pretoria Debate Society, under the theme of “Entrepreneurship”.
Abdullah Verachia serves as the CEO of The Strategists where he plays an active role in assisting companies and organisations craft competitive future strategies. He has significant expertise in strategy, competitiveness and sector trends and facilitates a number of high level strategy sessions and breakaways for companies and governments and also speaks globally in this area.
Having presented and consulted in over 60 cities globally, Abdullah has been recognised as a leading speaker, disruptor, strategist and thought leader on competitiveness and the interplay between strategy and disruptive innovation.
Speakers who are passionate about education
Dr Taddy Blecher is the CEO of the Community and Individual Development Association (C.I.D.A.) which founded the Maharishi Institute (MI).
MI facilitates university education, vocational training and employment for unemployed youth. Dr Blecher is passionate about the approach of Consciousness-Based Education, a system of education developing the full potential of every student.
This has led the Maharishi Institute to winning the first prize in a global competition to find the most innovative education initiative in the world. Through his work with C.I.D.A, over 17,250 unemployed South Africans have been educated, found employment and moved from poverty to the middle-class. Dr Blecher also co-founded the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship with Sir Richard Branson.
Speakers who are both trail blazers and award winners
Kiara Nirghin, the 2016 winner of the Google Science Fair and Community Impact Award for the Middle East and Africa was recently acclaimed one of the Times and The Guardians top 30 most influential teens in the world for her invention, ‘No More Thirsty Crops’.
She is currently a student ambassador for WWF (World Wildlife Fund) and was nominated as a student leader for 2017 as part of the Three Dot Dash initiative. She was a speaker at TEDxPretoria, Forbes Women’s events and been featured in various publications both in South Africa and worldwide.
Olympian and Paralympian, Natalie du Toit is a South African swimmer specialist open water swimmer and has also won five Paralympic championship titles at the Paralympic Games in 2004. She became the first amputee swimmer to qualify among abled-bodied swimmers for the 2008 Olympic Games held in Beijing.
Natalie has moved on from her inspiring sporting career to apply her skills and determination to the business world in the field of Reputation Management. She was the first person globally to carry a national flag in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Her goal is to inspire all South Africans to believe that anything is achievable, even against all odds.
Thanks to the University of Pretoria, WSD South Africa is able to host an audience of 300 people this year. Our sponsors also include Akanni Office Furniture Manufacturers.
By supporting World Speech Day in developing this community of change-makers and action takers – the entrepreneurs, the dreamers, the thinkers, the doers, and thereby engaging with inspired citizens and providing a catalyst for inspiration and a platform for collaboration; our sponsors understand, value and work within a similar vision and approach.
World Speech Day South Africa
In 2017, WSD Southern Africa was launched. Under the theme of “Demonstrating the Art of Public Speaking’, 55 speakers including Youth, Professional Speakers, Toastmasters, Tedx Speakers as well as representatives from Government, Parastatals, Business and Not-for-Profits from several Southern African Countries graced the event.
Now known as WSD South Africa, the focus has shifted to intensifying efforts to increase the number of WSD events within South Africa. The theme of “Entrepreneurship” was selected on the premise that the Wild Olive Society is a Mastermind Group that Promotes Entrepreneurship. WSD South Africa’s vision is to increase the number of participating events to between 50 and 100 events throughout the country.
With “Active Citizenship” as the 2019 theme, we will not only contribute to developing public speaking skills in young people but get to be a part of this massive global phenomenon. Moreover, this platform will also serve as an opportunity for South African citizens to share in a unified voice with the rest of the world, the different ways we endeavour to and succeed in moving forward to make our country an even better place for us as a nation.
WSD South Africa will serve to complement the other mediums that are already actively doing this by keeping the dialogue on “Active Citizenship” ongoing throughout the year and will present perhaps another opportunity to come together with a common purpose.
Click on this link for more information on participation in WSD South Africa 2019. Please like, share and follow WSD South Africa on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
World Speech Day
The 15th of March is World Speech Day (WSD); a day dedicated to celebrating speeches and speech making through live events all over the world. Founded by Mr Simon Gibson (who resides in the UK), World Speech Day is a Not-for-Profit Organisation; a global effort with local impact – helping local communities share ideas by bringing people together through nothing more than the simple power of speech.
President Kennedy once said: “the only reason to make a speech is to change the world.” World Speech Day is fashioned around a simple idea: “Change The World”. The global theme for WSD is “Thoughts for a Better World”.
WSD acts as a source for new thinking – releasing the “wisdom of crowds” – gathering ideas from the unexpected, usually unheard voices of Everyman. It is about tapping into the truly original and inspirational – and then amplifying and making these voices available. The event is aimed at demonstrating skills in public speaking to youth throughout the world with the purpose of teaching them to use their voices as instruments to make the world a better place.
WSD Speakers are encouraged to put forward their ideas on how to make the world a better place.
World Speech Day has been recognised by the US Senate declaring March 15 National Speech and Debate Education Day in the US. World Speech Day was launched in 2015, with the 2016 event including more than 300 events in 30 countries; increasing to more than 60 participating countries by 2017 and 100 in 2018.