500 perspectives.
5 days.
A format entrusted to its guests.
The Conference Philosophy
You can’t talk about the future without understanding the past.
Counder connects the dots.
Yesterday built the systems we live in.
Today still has problems worth solving.
Tomorrow is arriving faster than anyone expected.
In 2027: The AI Inflection.
The Lens
Each year, a different question. What does it mean — the moment AI moves from emerging technology to foundational infrastructure.
In January, we come together to understand what it means.
Conference Topics
Counder sits at the intersection of business, sport, and culture. These fifteen sectors reflect what the network is working to understand — the questions that are most pressing right now, shaped by the partners and members closest to them. On Context Day, each one becomes a conversation under Chatham House Rule.
With limited space at Counder Conference, we are intentional about bringing together a mix of leading voices across backgrounds & industries, able to contribute to our mission of collective understanding.
During Counder & Friends, partners & members bring in guests from their networks, creating an inclusive environment that sparks further insight & connection.
Five days in Cape Town. Each with its own rhythm — from arrival and quiet reception, through depth and discovery, to celebration and connection.
The First Understanding
The network begins to form. An evening reception for all our partners — the committed core who arrive early and set the tone for everything that follows.
The Collective Opening
500 leaders arrive, grounding the week in purpose. The network sets the frame: this is where today meets tomorrow, and we are here to understand it — together. Mission Partners enjoy a pre-conference Mission Partner programme, including a hosted experience.
Making Sense Together
The intellectual heart of the week. A full day at Norval Foundation — Africa's largest contemporary art museum — dedicated to depth, connection, and open exploration. Breakout sessions led by Knowledge Partners, curated lunches, and an afternoon of informal exchange across the gardens.
Experiencing Jointly
After Wednesday's intellectual depth, Thursday shifts the energy. Get outside. Move. Explore the city. Bond through shared experience. Cape Town becomes the teacher — from private hosted experiences to community visits across the city to the Gala Dinner.
Understanding Opens Up
During the day, partners create their own functions all over the city of Cape Town, inviting their networks to Counder.
At the Counder & Friends Celebration function, Counder’s partners and members have a contingent of guests they are inviting to attend to bring a great and varied community together, contributing to a dynamic setting.
Counder Conference Alumni
Counder’s network is primarily built through its conference. Each year’s cohort are its members; afterwards, alumni. Curious people from completely different worlds — entrepreneurs, investors, executives, cultural leaders, and philanthropists — coming together to make sense of what’s going on in the world, and act on it. 2027 confirmed member attendees already include:
Christian zu Fürstenberg
Family Office, Haus Fürstenberg Holding
Dr. Christo Wiese
Chairman Emeritus, Shoprite
Thebe Magugu
South African fashion designer, Thebe Magugu
Wendy Luhabe
Chief Executive Officer, E Squared Investments | Director 3 Capital Ventures | Partner, Kingson Capital.
Neville Isdell
Former chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company
Martin Manniche
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Investor, AXON Networks
Niclas Kjellström-Matseke
Investor & Ex-CEO Novamedia | The Postcode Lottery
Prof. Claudia Zeisberger
Professor of Entrepreneurship & Family Enterprise, INSEAD | Investor
25–29 January. Cape Town.
Join