Meet Siyabulela Xuza and Peter Sage. Two remarkable individuals from completely different ends of the entrepreneur spectrum who are speaking at the South African Success Summit taking place at Sandton Convention Centre on 1st and 2nd March 2014.

Xuza is one of the new generation of Africans who are committed to developing the continents’ potential through disruptive innovations. A born innovator from Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, Xuza began a project on a rocket fuel that led to an invitation to the 2006 Nobel Prize Ceremonies and was awarded a first place at the 2007 Intel Science and Engineering Fair – the world’s largest youth innovation fair. In 2008, MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory named a minor planet “Siyaxuza”, found near the Jupiter asteroid belt, in his honour.

Xuza has garnered numerous other accolades, including a fellowship in 2010 of the African Leadership Network and is the youngest member of the Africa 2.0 energy advisory panel. As a recent graduate of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, where he pioneered micro-fuel cells for mobile energy (distributed energy that could be used to power remote and rural areas), Xuza has returned to South Africa as an entrepreneur with a passion for developing solutions for the energy industry. “As a young South African, I’m delighted to be invited to speak alongside such an incredible line-up at the South African Success Summit this year” says Xuza, “To be on the same platform as a legendary innovator of the likes of Steve Wozniak, is an amazing honour. I am passionate about what I do and I hope that by sharing my story I inspire and motivate others to achieve success in their lives. If a boy from Mthatha can do it, anyone can!”

Sage is a serial entrepreneur, having launched and operated multiple companies across various industries and continents, from health to investments to his latest venture, Space Energy. As a frequent public speaker on business topics he is well-placed to effectively communicate the vision and developments of Space Energy to the rest of the world. This multi-billion dollar project is focused on generation and transmission of clean energy and commercialisation of space-based solar power. Ever the entrepreneur, Sage comments, “People think of ideas all the time and as a result have the ability to be entrepreneurs themselves, but they don’t take action if they don’t know how. Take Space Energy for instance, it’s by no means my idea – it’s been around since 2006. It’s just that no one thought of making it into a business till now. When you put a scientist and someone from Wall Street in the same room, you get two different languages. Entrepreneurs have to be able to bridge people from all sides and find a way to make things happen.”

Sage has travelled internationally to mentor and train people from diverse backgrounds – from super achievers and successful businessmen to the homeless, drug addicts and abuse cases. He has been featured in various entrepreneurial publications and was recently nominated for the prestigious “Extraordinary Lives Award” by the largest social entrepreneurs organisation – XL Nation. A philanthropist and active supporter of multiple charitable causes, Sage also serves on the Board of Advisors for INSEAD – a global top five business school and one of the leaders in the field of entrepreneurship education.

In the end, Sage feels that people’s approach to business and entrepreneurship can get skewed, “Some people compromise their values for money because they mix up their self worth with their net worth.” As one of the most popular speakers from last year’s summit, Sage will be back on stage as the MC as well as sharing his knowledge and experiences as an extreme entrepreneur.

The summit focuses on success strategy insights and the skills needed to create a wealthier and healthier mindset along five broad themes, namely: business leadership, entrepreneurship, wealth creation, negotiating and public speaking skills and personal development.