One high-impact day where Africa’s insurance leaders move beyond transformation talk and into execution reality across cloud, AI, data, distribution and human-centred design.
17th June 2026
The event has started
TechFest 2026 brings insurers, brokers, UMAs, reinsurers and technology partners together for honest, practical conversations about how insurance is being rebuilt operationally, technologically and culturally. Expect leadership-level clarity, real lessons from implementation, and a programme designed to help you make better decisions in 2026 and beyond. No product demos. No hype. Just what works in practice.
A event built for execution reality: what works, what breaks, and what leaders would do differently.
One high-impact day & seven sessionswith Africa’s insurance leaders. Leadership-led, practical discussions across the ecosystem.
Opening remarks and context-setting for the day ahead.
AI is not just changing how insurance operates. It is changing where value, trust, and bargaining power sit across the entire ecosystem. Join Marc Wilson as he explores why the biggest opportunities and risks of AI lie not in automation, but in the fundamental redesign of business models, customer relationships, and competitive advantage.
Artificial intelligence is often discussed as a tool for improving efficiency, but its greatest impact may be far more profound. In this thought-provoking keynote, Marc Wilson, Managing Partner of Global Advisors, explores how AI is reshaping the foundations of the insurance industry by changing where value is created, who owns the customer relationship, and how trust is established in an increasingly intelligent ecosystem. Drawing on global trends, practical implementation experience, and strategic insights, Marc challenges leaders to look beyond automation and consider how AI will influence business models, distribution, competitive advantage, and the future role of insurers and intermediaries.
Digital transformation was only the beginning. The next competitive advantage lies in how effectively insurers and intermediaries connect, collaborate, and participate in the insurance ecosystem. Join Graham Harvey and Tony van Niekerk as they explore how technology can eliminate friction, unlock productivity, and help the industry move from digitisation to optimisation.
For years, the insurance industry has focused on digitisation, automating processes, modernising systems, and introducing new technologies. Yet many insurers and intermediaries continue to struggle with inefficiencies, duplicated effort, disconnected workflows, and fragmented customer experiences. In this fireside chat, Graham Harvey, CEO and Co-Founder of Cardinal Group, joins Tony van Niekerk to explore how the industry can move beyond digitisation and towards true ecosystem optimisation. The discussion will examine how insurers, brokers, technology providers, claims partners, and customers can work more effectively together through better integration, smarter workflows, practical automation, and collaborative innovation. Rather than focusing on technology for its own sake, the session will unpack how organisations can leverage technology to remove friction, improve productivity, strengthen relationships, and create greater value across the insurance ecosystem.
Digital transformation is not about technology. It is about solving problems. Join Ian Thompson and Zahed Rassool as they share practical examples of how technology is improving payments, customer engagement, operational visibility, and service delivery, demonstrating how innovation creates value when it is applied to real business challenges.
Digital transformation is often discussed in terms of platforms, AI, and innovation strategies, but its real value is measured by its ability to solve business problems, improve customer outcomes, and create operational efficiency. In this practical discussion, Ian Thompson, Group CEO of QSure, and Zahed Rassool, Head of Technology Development at My Glass, share their experiences of using technology to address critical challenges across the insurance value chain. From payment collection and premium administration to service fulfilment, workflow visibility, and customer engagement, the conversation will explore how organisations can apply technology strategically to remove friction, improve transparency, and deliver better outcomes for insurers, intermediaries, service providers, and clients. The focus is not on technology itself, but on the business value it creates.
Pricing has become one of the most powerful strategic levers in insurance. Discover how AI is quietly transforming pricing from a technical function into a competitive advantage, enabling insurers to improve profitability, respond faster to market shifts, and make better decisions with greater confidence.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the way insurers approach pricing, but the real opportunity lies not in replacing actuarial expertise, but in enhancing it. In this session, Scott Holmes explores how leading insurers are using AI and advanced analytics to improve pricing precision, respond more effectively to changing market conditions, and create sustainable competitive advantage. The discussion will examine what optimal pricing means in practice, where AI delivers measurable value, and the governance, skills, and organisational capabilities required to implement AI-driven pricing responsibly.
How Agentic AI is Redefining Customer Journeys, Service and Growth
The future of customer engagement is not another chatbot. It is an intelligent digital concierge that knows the client, remembers their history, reuses their documents, guides them through complex journeys, and knows when to involve a human.
In this practical session, Alan Burger, Co-Founder and CEO Americas for InfoSlips, explores how Agentic AI is turning the traditional single client view into a living Digital Twin — one that can complete journeys, not just display information. Alan will show how AI-powered client agents can support claims, authorisations, renewals, arrears and benefit journeys; extract data from documents; prefill forms; trigger proactive follow-ups; prepare human handoffs; and create a full audit trail of every interaction. Attendees will see how every customer journey can become a catalyst for better service, stronger compliance, lower cost, improved retention and new growth opportunities.
The future broker will not win because they have more technology. They will win because they have better visibility, better structure, and more time for advice. Join the FSPHub leadership and a broker practitioner as they explore how intelligent automation can remove friction, strengthen compliance, and help build the connected advice practice of the future.
As advice businesses face growing compliance demands, operational complexity, and rising client expectations, the challenge is no longer simply adopting technology, but creating a connected operating environment where advice, workflows, compliance, and client engagement work seamlessly together. In this fireside chat, FSPHub leadership and broker users explore how intelligent automation and structured workflow management can help intermediaries reduce friction, improve visibility across their practices, and create more scalable, controlled, and client-centric businesses. The discussion focuses on practical outcomes rather than technology features, highlighting how connected workflows can free brokers to spend less time on administration and more time delivering advice that matters.
AI is no longer the advantage. How organisations apply it is. Join Hollard Insure’s leadership team as they unpack how data, external intelligence, and accessible AI are transforming insurance decision-making, and why the most competitive insurers, brokers, and underwriters of the future will be those who intentionally embed AI into the way they work, think, and serve clients.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping insurance decision-making, but its true value lies in combining data, external intelligence, underwriting expertise, and human judgment to create better business outcomes. In this leadership conversation, Andrew Coutts, Marc van der Zon, and Rashaad Alli from Hollard Insure explore how insurers can build the “new insurance brain” by integrating accessible AI, structured data, and strategic thinking into everyday operations. The discussion will focus on practical opportunities, leadership readiness, and the steps brokers, underwriters, and insurers can take today to improve productivity, strengthen decision-making, and create sustainable competitive advantage in an increasingly AI-enabled industry.
AI is becoming accessible to everyone. Competitive advantage will come from something harder to replicate: adaptable people, learning cultures, and organisations that know how to turn intelligence into action. As TechFest 2026 concludes, we explore the skills, leadership, and mindset shifts that will define the industry’s next decade.
Artificial intelligence is transforming insurance, but technology alone will not determine who succeeds. The real challenge is ensuring that people, skills, and organisational culture evolve at the same pace as innovation. In this closing panel discussion, leaders from across the talent, technology, and insurance landscape explore the capabilities and mindset shifts that will define the industry’s next decade.
