A 20-year programme to help South Africans build their economic futures
We are not building a conference for the next 20 years. We are building a platform that helps people move from an idea to a business, from a business to growth, and from growth to a lasting enterprise.
Who owns Gateway for Business?
Gateway for Business is owned and organised by Executive Conference Events (ECE), a Johannesburg-based conference, exhibition and B2B matchmaking company founded in 2022 and led by Didi Liebenberg. It is planned as a 20-year programme, from 2027 to 2046, with an annual summit in Gauteng at its centre.
Why it exists
Government, banks, development finance institutions, corporates, universities and non-profits all run entrepreneurship and supplier-development programmes. To a business owner they often feel disconnected: a workshop here, a funding application there, a supplier portal asking for documents they have never heard of.
Gateway for Business brings those pieces into one long-term programme, organised around the stage your business is at.
It also doesn’t tell people who can’t find a job to “just start a business”. Running a business is one pathway among several. Someone who finds a skill, a network or a job through the programme has also succeeded.
Source: Statistics South Africa, Quarterly Labour Force Survey, Q2 2026 and South Africa’s Youth and the Labour Market, Q1 2026.
Vision
An economy in which today’s entrepreneur becomes tomorrow’s growing business, supplier, employer, mentor, partner and investor.
Mission
To give entrepreneurs, start-ups, small businesses and growing enterprises the practical knowledge, tools, connections, mentorship, market access and funding routes they need to move to their next stage, and to measure whether they do.
How we work
Practical over inspirational
Workshops, clinics and templates outnumber keynotes. Every session ends with something to do.
Access over attendance
The value is the meeting, the introduction, the contract or the loan, not the seat.
Right for your stage
A founder with an idea and a 40-person firm need different conversations, so we keep them in different tracks.
Plain language
“I hate selling. How do I get customers?” beats corporate jargon. No MBA required.
Measured outcomes
We report what changed for businesses, not how many people came.
Knowledge that adds up
Sessions are recorded and kept in a library, so each year builds on the last.
Inclusive by design
Sponsored seats, township and rural outreach, and mobile-first, low-data content.
Fixed vision, flexible programme
The 20-year destination stays the same. Themes, formats and partners change with the evidence.
The 20-year plan
Four five-year chapters, each with an annual theme. Each theme is confirmed about 18 months ahead using what participants tell us about their businesses.
The Foundations 2027 to 2031
Helping people discover entrepreneurship and build viable businesses.
The Growth Years 2032 to 2036
Helping businesses professionalise, adopt technology and win larger buyers.
The Scale Years 2037 to 2041
Investment, governance, innovation, African trade and enterprise value.
The Legacy Years 2042 to 2046
Succession, next-generation leadership, impact and the future of enterprise.
Proposed launch themes: Opportunity (2027), Customers (2028) and Money (2029).
The South African Business Growth Report
Each year we plan to publish a report built from participants’ Growth Assessments: the biggest challenges small businesses face, funding needs, technology and AI adoption, hiring, and readiness to supply large buyers. Results are always published as aggregated data. No individual business is identified without its consent.
The team behind it
Didi Liebenberg, Founder and Managing Director of Executive Conference Events, leads the programme. Didi has worked in marketing and sales since 2012 and in conferences and exhibitions since 2016.
ECE runs B2B matchmaking, hosted buyer programmes and stakeholder engagement for organisers and clients across more than 30 African countries. Gateway for Business applies that experience to one long-term mission: putting businesses in front of the people who can help them grow.
Be in the room for the first edition
Register your interest and we’ll tell you first when registration, the Growth Assessment and ticket prices open in 2027.