Personal Invitation
Hi there,
You've been personally invited as a complimentary guest.
The third edition
Friday · 02 · 10 · 2026
Bryanston Country Club · Johannesburg
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What this is

Once a year, we do something a little different.

Friday 2 October 2026. Bryanston Country Club. 200 of SA's most engaged founders, corporate procurement leads, and funders in one room. Built around one word: access.

South Africa has no shortage of ambitious SMEs, corporates who want to buy from them, or funders who want to back them. What it lacks is a room where those people actually find each other.

That's the room we're building.

Date
02 Oct 2026
Time
18:00 – 21:00
Venue
Bryanston CC
Room
200 curated
Get a feel for the room

Two minutes
from last year.

Watch what happens when SA's founders, funders, and corporate procurement leads share a room built around one word.

Watch · 2 min
The Unconventional Hustle · 2025
Who's in the room

The audience isn't accidental.

Every attendee is vetted or pre-approved. Curated professional audience. Zero walk-ins. This is who you'll be spending the evening with.

The room
200+
Ticketed & invited attendees, one evening, one room
Founders
SMEs
On anchor tables
UCA-programme growth-stage business founders bringing what they've built.
Corporates
Buyers
With real procurement power
Procurement & ED leads from Standard Bank, Sasol, Nedbank, Woolworths and peer corporates.
Funders
Capital
Active in the SME space
Fund managers, angel investors, and DFI representatives deploying capital right now.
Ecosystem
Depth
Of senior professionals
Ticketed founders, executives, and ecosystem builders moving things forward.
Every connection
90 days
Of tracking every meaningful connection made
Because "did anything actually happen?" is the only question worth answering.
The panel · Access Unlocked

Voices in the room.

A moderated panel with live audience Q&A through the event app. Two confirmed. More coming.

Confirmed
Jonathan Mokuena
Former Springbok Sevens captain · Rugby coach · Head of Rugby, University of Johannesburg
Every level required convincing someone to bet on you. That's the whole game.
Confirmed
Bulelani Balabala
Group CEO IAF Brands · Founder, Township Entrepreneurs Alliance · Author, "Get Things Done"
Less strategy. More execution. That's what actually moves the needle.
Speaker 3
More
names to come.
Reveals across the next three Mondays. Watch our channels.
The evening · Four phases

How the night actually moves.

Structured but not rigid. Each phase has a job. The room breathes between them.

01 · Secondary space
18:00 — 18:30
Arrive & Ignite
Guest arrival, welcome drinks, exhibition stalls activate. The room warms up.
02 · Main floor
18:30 — 20:00
Substance Block
MC opening. Headline keynote. The Access Unlocked panel. Mid-way refuel using both spaces.
03 · Main floor
20:00 — 20:50
Access Granted
The centrepiece. Curated introductions with the people you specifically need to meet.
Hero moment
04 · Both spaces
20:50 — 21:00
Close & Commit
Live impact metrics reveal. Closing remarks. Continued networking until departure.
Get in the room

Grab your seat.

Ticket revenue tops up sponsorship, not the other way around. We've kept the price accessible because we want the right room, not the biggest room.

First 50 only
Early Access Move quick, they go
R200 per ticket

First 50 tickets at R200. Save R50 off standard. Priority pricing for movers.

Get Early Access →
Default
Standard General release
R250 per ticket

Your seat. Three hours, engineered around one outcome: real access with the corporates, funders, and founders you actually need to meet.

Grab a seat →
Bundle · save R50
Duo Bring your co-founder
R450 2 tickets · R225 each

Bring your co-founder. Deals close faster when the person you build with is in the room too.

Bring your +1 →
Bundle + perk
Trio Bring the team
R650 3 tickets · save R100

Bring the team. Three tickets, R217 each.

Bonus Pre-event WhatsApp group access to pre-connect with speakers & attendees.
Bring the team →
Buy now · Secure checkout on Quicket

Grab your ticket.

Complimentary invitation · The seat is on us

Reserve your seat.

You've been personally invited — there's no ticket to buy, no charge, nothing to sort. Just tell us you're in with a 2-minute RSVP. You'll get pre-event WhatsApp group access two weeks out.

RSVP Now →
Date
Fri 2 Oct 2026
Time
18:00 – 21:00
Venue
Bryanston CC
Dress
Business smart
The details

Things you might want to know.

Three hours engineered around one word: access. Opening programme with a keynote and our Access Unlocked panel. Then the room opens up for curated conversations with the corporates, funders, and founders you specifically need to meet. Every meaningful connection is tracked for 90 days after — we care about outcomes, not vibes.
200 curated attendees. Roughly: 20 UCA-programme SME founders on anchor tables, 30+ corporate procurement and ED leads (Standard Bank, Sasol, Nedbank, Woolworths and peer corporates), 15+ funders (fund managers, angels, DFI reps), and 135+ ticketed senior founders, executives and ecosystem builders. Zero walk-ins. Every attendee vetted or invited.
Business smart. Not a black-tie affair, not a hoodie-and-jeans meetup. This is a professional evening at Bryanston Country Club — dress like you mean business, because everyone else in the room will.
Yes. Canapé-style service across two waves — arrival and mid-evening refuel. Bar service is sponsored, so drinks are on the house. Dietary requirements captured at ticket purchase.
Absolutely — that's what the Duo (2 tickets, save R50) and Trio (3 tickets, save R100 + pre-event WhatsApp group access) bundles are for. Deals happen faster when the people you build with are in the room too.
Tickets are transferable to another attendee up to 24 hours before the event. No refunds — standard for curated events where numbers matter. Reach out on eugene@theunconventionalca.org to transfer.
Reach out directly: eugene@theunconventionalca.org. Eugene is the event lead and reads every reply personally.