The Trialogue Business in Society Conference is the premier industry event showcasing new and innovative thinking on the ‘S’ in ESG. Delegates are predominantly representatives of companies and nonprofit organisations, and the aim is to enhance knowledge and foster collaboration that helps business perform more sustainably in society.
This year’s conference will take place on Tuesday 5 May and Wednesday 6 May 2026, with Masterclass Monday on 4 May, at The Wanderers Club in Illovo, Johannesburg and online.
The overall theme of the conference is ‘Voices. Values. Vision‘, and topics include the role of business in society, stakeholder and community engagement, amplifying community voices, trends in CSI, education and more. A high 88% of delegates rated the 2025 conference 8 or above out of 10, with 99% saying they would recommend it to others.
KEYNOTE AND TRI TALK SPEAKERS
Nozipho Tshabalala, Conference MC and moderator
Lorenzo Davids, The Development Impact Fund
Bontle Motatsa, National Strategy to Accelerate Action for Children
Moky Makura, Africa No Filter
Shameela Soobramoney, National Business Initiative
Hein Wagner, Hein Wagner Academy
Athol Williams, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
Cathy Duff, Trialogue
Kone Gugushe, FirstRand
Edwell Gumbo, Entrepreneurship, Universities South Africa
Senzo Hlophe, Ilifa Labantwana
Nonhlanhla Magagula, Absa
Colleen Magner, Reos Partners
Ipeleng Mohlahla, Early Care Foundation
Bheki Moyo, Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment
Thandeka Nkambule, Sanlam
Dr Elmarie Pereira, Memeza Shout
Zimkitha Peter, Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropies
Chuene Ramphele, DBSA
Nick Rockey, Trialogue
Lunga Schoeman, DBSA
Louis Taylor, Department of Basic Education
Lerato Tladi, Hunadi Air Conditioning and Refrigeration
Tracey Webster, Oppenheimer Memorial Trust
FOR COMPANIES:
Who is it for?
The Trialogue Strategic CSI Masterclass is for senior leaders and decision-makers working in CSI for companies, including CSI managers, trustees and heads of foundations.
What can you expect?
Solve problems with experts, examine case studies and gain the tools to think strategically about CSI in your organisation. The masterclass, adapted from the Trialogue Academy online course, is run by Trialogue Managing Director Nick Rockey. Learn how you can balance high business value with meaningful development impact in your CSI initiatives.
- Understand shared value and the context of CSI in South Africa
- Learn to analyse your projects on Trialogue’s CSI Positioning Matrix
- Engage with practical case studies in strategic CSI
- Evaluate your companies CSI programmes to drive change.
Why should you attend this masterclass?
Trialogue has been engaged in industry research and supporting corporates and non-profits on CSI strategy and thought leadership for more than two decades. The Trialogue Strategic CSI Awards have evaluated and celebrated leading practice in CSI for over five years. Trialogue has been running in-person CSI courses for more than a decade.
The course allows you to apply the concepts you learn to your business and take practical steps to apply them to your projects.
When does it take place?
The Strategic CSI Masterclass takes place as part of the Trialogue Business in Society Conference 2026.
Date: 4 May 2026
Time: Arrival 12:30, masterclass 13:00 – 17:00 SAST
Venue: Wanderers Club, Illovo, Johannesburg
Cost: R5 000 excluding VAT
How do you register?
Fill in your registration details for the Business in Society Conference 2026. You can select to attend both the 2-day conference and the masterclass, or just the masterclass.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to the size of the venue, masterclass tickets are limited.
Course facilitator: Nick Rockey
Nick Rockey is the managing director of Trialogue, having started the business as founding director approximately 20 years ago. He was one of the early pioneers in the field of corporate sustainability, overseeing Trialogue’s first publication in this field in 2006, The Good Corporate Citizen. Nick has over 20 years of consulting and research experience across many market and industry sectors and plays a lead consulting role in the fields of sustainable business and CSI. He has worked with a wide range of corporate clients, providing support for strategy development and implementation, stakeholder engagement, and reporting
Who is it for?
Trialogue’s Practical M&E for CSI Masterclass is designed for CSI and social impact professionals who want to move beyond compliance to using monitoring and evaluation as a strategic tool in their work. The masterclass focuses on practical, real‑world applications of M&E that support learning, strengthen decision‑making, and demonstrate impact.
It will be particularly valuable for CSI managers and practitioners within companies, as well as trustees, executives overseeing CSI portfolios, and heads of corporate foundations seeking to strengthen the effectiveness and strategic contribution of their social investment initiatives.
What can you expect?
The masterclass contextualises core monitoring and evaluation concepts within the corporate social investment (CSI) landscape. It equips those responsible for implementing or commissioning M&E to understand, apply, and meaningfully engage with key principles, including:
- The theory of change
- The indicator framework Practical application of M&E in a CSI context
- The alignment of monitoring, reporting and evaluation
- Reporting and data visualisation, including the use of dashboards
- Using M&E strategically to support learning, decision‑making, and impact
You will gain practical tools, real-world insights and a roadmap to help you implement M&E in your context.
Why should you attend this Masterclass?
Through a combination of technical expertise, and broad experience, Trialogue has developed and honed a pragmatic and strategic approach to M&E for CSI. This course will help you understand the essence of M&E and leave with ideas for how to use it strategically in your business.
When does it take place?
Date: 4 May 2026
Time: Arrival 12:30, masterclass 13:00 – 17:00 SAST
Venue: Wanderers Club, Illovo, Johannesburg
Cost: R5 000 excluding VAT
How do you register?
Fill in your registration details for the Business in Society Conference 2026. You can select to attend both the 2-day conference and the masterclass, or just the masterclass.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to the size of the venue, masterclass tickets are limited.
Course facilitators: Judith Matthis and Nwabisa Gage
Judith Matthis joined Trialogue in 2022 as the social impact advisory division head. She brings over 20 years of experience in socio‑economic development, underpinned by a strong foundation in public health research and monitoring and evaluation. Judith has worked with a wide range of organisations, including financial institutions, audit firms, corporate social investment consultancies, and international development agencies. At Trialogue, she has led and overseen numerous client engagements with a strong emphasis on strategy‑driven monitoring and evaluation. Judith is a recognised contributor to Trialogue’s thought leadership in M&E and has honed practical tools and frameworks that help organisations move beyond compliance, using M&E to drive learning, strategic decision‑making with the aim to demonstrate impact.
Nwabisa Gage joined Trialogue in 2024 as a senior consultant in the social impact advisory division. She brings over 10 years of experience in industry spanning audit, management consulting and socio-economic development. Throughout her career, Nwabisa has been responsible for financial controls, financial modelling with a special interest in the intersection of strong financial performance and the creation of social impact. At Trialogue, Nwabisa has led many M&E implementation projects and evaluations.
FOR NONPROFIT ORGANISATIONS:
Who is it for?
This masterclass is for nonprofit leaders, senior managers, and strategy or programme leads who are:
- Under pressure to “scale” their impact
- Navigating funder expectations around growth, reach, or replication
- Seeking greater clarity on what scale actually means for their organisation
It will be particularly relevant for organisations with a proven programme or model that are considering growth, partnerships, or replication — but are unsure how to do so without losing focus, quality or impact.
What can you expect?
This is a practical, applied masterclass that helps organisations step back from the pressure to scale and make more intentional strategic choices.
Drawing on Spring Impact’s global work with organisations scaling social impact, the session will explore the difference between growth and scale, common pathways to scale, and the critical assumptions that underpin different scale choices. Participants will be guided to reflect on their organisation’s role in the wider system, clarify what they are really trying to scale, and understand the implications of different strategic directions.
The Masterclass will combine short inputs, structured reflection, and practical tools that participants can apply directly to their own context.
Why should you attend this masterclass?
Many organisations feel compelled to scale without having the space to think clearly about how and why they are doing so. This masterclass creates that space.
By attending, you will:
- Develop a clearer understanding of what “scale” means in practice — and how it differs from simple growth
- Explore different scale pathways and the trade-offs they involve
- Clarify the societal problem you are trying to address and the impact you are aiming to achieve
- Identify key assumptions that need to be tested before committing resources to scale
Participants leave better equipped to make strategic decisions about scale, and to engage more confidently with funders, partners, and boards about what is realistic, appropriate, and impactful for their organisation.
When does it take place?
Date: 4 May 2026
Time: Arrival 12:30, masterclass 13:00 – 17:00 SAST
Venue: Wanderers Club, Illovo, Johannesburg
Cost: R3 700 excluding VAT
How do you register?
Fill in your registration details for the Business in Society Conference 2026. You can select to attend both the 2-day conference and the masterclass, or just the masterclass.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to the size of the venue, masterclass tickets are limited.
Course facilitator: Lucy O’Keeffe, Spring Impact
Lucy O’Keeffe is an organisational development and scale strategy consultant and leadership coach with over 20 years’ experience working with social impact organisations in South Africa and internationally. She works with Spring Impact to support organisations to develop clear, realistic strategies for scaling impact, particularly in complex and resource-constrained contexts.
Who is it for?
The Resilience and Resourcefulness: Beyond the Grant Masterclass is for nonprofit leaders, decision-makers and professionals seeking to enhance their organisation’s resilience and diversify their funding streams.
What can you expect?
Grow your understanding of resilience through the delivery of several modules, case studies, group work, peer learning and practical application exercises. During the masterclass you will learn:
- How to become more operationally resilient
- How to develop risk management plans for your nonprofit organisation
- How to identify and pursue opportunities for revenue diversification
- How to use practical tools to increase your organisation’s resilience
Why should you attend this Masterclass?
This masterclass will enable you to understand how to leverage innovative strategies to boost nonprofit resilience. The course will expose you to principles to enhance financial resilience and amplify social impact.
When does it take place?
Date: 4 May 2026
Time: Arrival 12:30, masterclass 13:00 – 17:00 SAST
Venue: Wanderers Club, Illovo, Johannesburg
Cost: R3 700 excluding VAT
How do you register?
Fill in your registration details for the Business in Society Conference 2026. You can select to attend both the 2-day conference and the masterclass, or just the masterclass.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to the size of the venue, masterclass tickets are limited.
Course facilitator: Feryal Domingo
Feryal is the acting executive director of Inyathelo: The South African Institute of Advancement. She is an advisor, trainer and speaker on the Ten Elements of Advancement, nonprofit operations, organisational governance, and resilience, leveraging on her skills and practical experience as a nonprofit leader for over 20 years.
Feryal has qualifications in public relations, corporate governance and citizenship, and a postgraduate qualification in management studies at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town. Her work experience includes 23 years at the multi-national oil major BP Southern Africa, where she was responsible for the corporate social investment strategy, implementation of employee engagement programmes, and monitoring and evaluation of CSI projects in eight sub-Saharan countries. Feryal has served on several boards of nongovernmental organisations in various capacities.
Companies, government representatives, academics and independents
- Conference in-person, two days: R7 800 (ex VAT)
- Masterclass in-person, half day: R5 000 (ex VAT)
- Package (masterclass + conference): R12 000 (ex VAT)
Nonprofits
- Conference in-person, two days: R5 800 (ex VAT)
- Masterclass in-person, half day: R3 700 (ex VAT)
- Package (masterclass + conference): R8 500 (ex VAT)
Virtual
- Full virtual conference with programme and notebook: R1 600 (ex VAT)
Group discounts
- Bookings for 3-5 delegates from the same organisation will receive a 20% discount
- Bookings for 6+ delegates from the same organisation will receive a 30% discount
The Wanderers Club, 21 North Road, Illovo, Johannesburg, South Africa
Tuesday 5 and Wednesday 6 May 2026
The conference will run from 8:30 – 16:30 on Tuesday 5 May, followed by a networking event until 18:00. On Wednesday 6 May it will run from 8:30 – 16:15. The conference will feature expert speakers, plenary sessions, exhibitions and plenty of networking opportunities. Plenary sessions, including keynote addresses and panel discussions, will provide overviews and framing of key development topics, offering delegates varying levels of engagement. The plenary sessions will all be streamed to the virtual audience.
Masterclass Monday will be held the day before the conference – Monday 4 May 2026 – and delegates can choose from three masterclasses, which will run from 13:00 – 17:00.
The Protea Hotel Johannesburg Wanderers is situated less than 200 metres from the Wanderers Club.
Please email conference@trialogue.co.za if you would like to enquire about availability.
The overarching theme of this year’s conference is ‘Voice. Values, Vision’, which will explore various topics centring on the role of business in society, stakeholder and community engagement, and amplifying community voices. The draft programme can be downloaded from this page.
Conference bookings will close at midnight on Thursday 30 April 2026, unless capacity is reached before then. We encourage delegates to book early to secure their spots.
We invite speakers to the conference based on their alignment with our theme and topic. Please send an email to conference@trialogue.co.za, including an overview of your areas of expertise and how they align with the conference theme.
Email conference@trialogue.co.za or call (+27) 11 026 1308.
There is limited exhibition space available at the conference, upstairs from the plenary. Please contact mangalisile@trialogue.co.za to learn more about exhibition opportunities.
We have a variety of sponsorship opportunities including platinum (content and networking), gold (content), masterclass, gift, and nonprofit sponsorship. Please contact lerato@trialogue.co.za to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.
Depending on the number of companies that sponsor nonprofits, there may be a few sponsored opportunities to attend the conference. Please send a request with a short motivation to conference@trialogue.co.za. Sponsorship is usually finalised in April and does not typically include travel and accommodation expenses.