Final Programme | SAOUG Conference 2026

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Final Programme l SAOUG Conference 2026

Three days of connection. Two days of insight. One connected Oracle ecosystem.

The SAOUG Conference 2026 brings the Oracle community together in Cape Town for connection, conversation and practical insight into what’s next for business and technology in an AI-driven world.

From global Oracle leadership and Oracle ACEs to African customers, partners and practitioners, the programme connects big-picture thinking with real-world experience.

AI Everywhere comes to life across Applications, Cloud, Data, Database, AI, Finance and Enterprise Transformation, with practical sessions spanning Oracle E-Business Suite, Fusion Applications, JD Edwards, EPM, Hyperion, Oracle Database, OCI, APEX, analytics, Kubernetes and intelligent automation.

But the real hook is the people in the room. Hear directly from customers transforming their organisations. Ask questions and explore what is working in the real world. Meet your peers, build new connections and take practical ideas back into your organisation.

As we look to the future, our dedicated Early Careers Track creates space for the next generation to learn, connect and build practical skills alongside experienced professionals.

Don’t just read about what’s changing. Be part of the conversation. Be in the room.

Notes

Venue Breakdown – The Avenue (Welcome Cocktail Evening, Exhibition, Main Plenary & Tracks 1&2) I Workshop17 (Tracks 3,4&5) I The Aquarium (UBUNTU Celebration Dinner & Party)
Exhibition Showcase – Meet and engage with Oracle Executives, Partners & ACEs. Benefit from a showcase of the latest solutions, demos and customer success stories.
Hello Africa News Desk – Catch exclusive insights, product spotlights and behind-the-scenes stories, our way of amplifying Africa’s Cloud and AI voices to the World.
UBUNTU Celebration Dinner & Party – Dress with flair and cultural pride - think modern African elegance!
Times are in SAST – South Africa Standard Time, UTC+2
Keynotes – 45 minutes I Track Sessions – 40 minutes
Tracks are in walking distance – Wear comfortable shoes!

CONFERENCE OPENING, WEDNESDAY, 11 NOVEMBER

07h30 – 08h30 – Registration & Networking - Exhibition Opens
08h30 – 09h00 – SAOUG Conference 2026 Opening by Emcee - Zandile Mbele, Chairperson & Founder, ETS Innovations Group
09h00 – 09h15 – SAOUG Conference 2026 Welcome Address - Michele De Kreek, SAOUG Chair
09h15 – 09h35 – South African Government's Latest Vision and Progress on AI Policy and Strategy - Honourable Mr Solly Malatsi, South Africa’s Minister of Communications & Digital Technologies
09h35 – 10h20 – Oracle AI: At the Speed of Business - Ashley Sanichar, Country Leader, Oracle South Africa
10h20 – 11h05 – The Intelligent Enterprise: Data, AI and the Platform Shift - Sanjay Singh & Bob Thome, VPs of Oracle Product Development & Management, Oracle Corporation

11h30 – 12h10 – Shaping the Future with Oracle Cloud and Multicloud Solutions - Reserved
12h10 – 12h25 – Ecosystem Spotlight: Meet New & Emerging Partners - Featuring: Everpure, Dbvisit, In2IT Tech, Oracle Open Technologies - Chaired by Zandile Mbele, Chairperson & Founder, ETS Innovations Group
12h25 – 13h00 – INSIDE THE MINDS - ASK ME ANYTHING - An interactive session with global thought leaders and Oracle ACEs: open, unscripted and driven by audience questions across applications, technology and human transformation:
Dr Abi Giles-Haigh, Ron Ekins, Karkuvelraja Thangamariappan, Ahmed Jassat, Omkar Dhanilal, Vijayganesh Sivaprakasam, Francisco Munoz Alvarez - Chaired by Connor McDonald

CONFERENCE DAY 1: THURSDAY, 12 NOVEMBER

TRACK SESSIONS (40min)

Tracks & Venues:

Elevate – Business Applications - Track Sponsor: Oracle Corporation - Room: The Avenue
Automate – Cloud Platform & Intelligent Automation - Track Sponsor: In2IT - Room: The Avenue
Innovate – Data & Developer Platforms - Track Sponsor: Perforce Delphix - Room: Workshop 17
Empower – Human-Centric Transformation - Track Sponsor: Up Time Consulting - Room: Workshop 17
Accelerate – The Future of Finance - Track Sponsor: Resolve Red - Room: Workshop 17

13h50 – 14h30

Elevate – Speed Up Your EBS: Performance Tuning Made Simple - Bosco Kioko, Finance Reporting Specialist, Alexander Pavlik, CTO & Andy Haack Managing Director, Enginatics
Automate – OCI and Architecture: How to choose the right database - Connor McDonald, Oracle Database Advocate
Innovate – Unlock Oracle AI Database 26ai: Best Practices for Risk-Free Upgrades - Ron Ekins, Director Field Solution Architecture for EMEA & LATAM, Everpure & Oracle ACE Director
Empower – The Future of HCM in the AI Era - Ryk Cloete, HCM Consultant, Oracle South Africa
Accelerate – CFO Findings - Arun Babu, Managing Partner at Deloitte Consulting Services

14h40 – 15h20

Elevate – Connected Enterprise: Unifying ERP, HCM and EPM for Better Decisions - Frederic Glenat, Senior Advisor, Spoon Consulting
Automate – Oracle Database Diagnostic Agent: Solving Performance Bottlenecks and Database Hangs - Anil Nair, Distinguished Product Manager, Oracle Corporation
Innovate – From Experimentation to Production AI: Trusted, Compliant Data at Scale - Gary Hallam, Senior Enterprise Account Executive, Perforce Delphix
Empower – Leading Change Through AI Disruption - Nichola Berner, Managing Director, Up Time Consulting & Vincent Marsicano, Adopt It AI
Accelerate – AI Meets ERP: AP Automation solution – Strive for Touchless P2P - Seef Muller, Chief Delivery Officer, APPSolve

15h50 – 16h30

Elevate – Agentic AI & Autonomous Workflows in Business Applications - Francisco Munoz Alvarez, Global CTO & Oracle Evangelist, Miracle Consulting Group
Automate – From Heatmaps to Game IQ: Spatial + Graph Analytics for Match Strategy - Dr Abi Giles-Haigh, Oracle ACE Director
Innovate – Oracle Database Deep Dive: Data Integrity 2.0. The biggest ever advancement in data quality! - Connor McDonald, Oracle Database Advocate
Empower – Continuous Adoption: Turning Technology into Business Value - Tony Cook, CEO, Fudgelearn
Accelerate – SARS VAT Modernisation: Is Your Oracle ERP Ready? - Warren Gailey, Finance Team Lead, Resolve Red

16h40 – 17h20

Elevate – Modernizing Oracle Applications: A Smarter Foundation with Oracle Linux and Oracle Virtualization - Hani Barakat, Oracle Linux & Virtualization Sales Director
Automate – Interactive Discussion: Oracle MAA for Any Type of Environment (From On-prem to Apps) - Francisco Munoz Alvarez, Global CTO & Oracle Evangelist, Miracle Consulting Group
Innovate – Parallel Developments, Smart Approvals and Easy Releases in Oracle APEX - Karkuvelraja Thangamariappan, Oracle ACE Director
Empower – Process Optimisation - Antoinette Lambe, Director, LearnTo
Accelerate – Oracle EPM Strategy, Hyperion Modernisation and the Road Ahead - Bruce Viljoen, Country Manager, AMOSCA SA

08h30 – 09h00 – Emcee Welcome & Day 1 Recap - Zandile Mbele, Chairperson & Founder, ETS Innovations Group
09h00 – 09h00 – Leadership, Resilience and Innovation in the AI Era - Francisco Munoz Alvarez, Global CTO & Oracle Evangelist, Miracle Consulting Group
09h30 – 10h15 – Customer Innovation Panel: AI and Cloud Transformation in African Enterprises - Featuring local customer innovation journeys: University of Johannesburg, First National Bank, Old Mutual, The Foschini Group - Chaired by Connor McDonald & Dr Abi Giles-Haigh

CONFERENCE DAY 2: FRIDAY, 13 NOVEMBER

TRACK SESSIONS (40min)

Tracks & Venues

Elevate – Business Applications - Track Sponsor: Oracle Corporation - Room: The Avenue
Automate – Cloud Platform & Intelligent Automation - Track Sponsor: In2IT - Room: The Avenue
Innovate – Data & Developer Platforms - Track Sponsor: Perforce Delphix - Room: Workshop 17
Industry – Customer Transformation Journeys: From Strategy to Execution - Room: Workshop 17
Early Careers – Bridging the Next-Gen Gap - Track Sponsor: Oracle HR - Room: Workshop 17

10h50 – 11h30

Elevate – From AI Strategy to AI at Scale: What South African Enterprises Need to Get Right - Mmashego Sefolo, Senior Project Manager, In2IT
Automate – Oracle Disaster Recovery hosted within South Africa, ensuring compliance with POPIA regulations - Ahmed Jassat, Service Delivery Manager, ETS Innovations & Hasnain Javed, Infrastructure Cloud Solutions – Sovereign Cloud, Oracle Corporation
Innovate – Synthetic AND Masked, Still Correct: Trustworthy Data for AI & Analytics - Gary Hallam, Senior Enterprise Account Executive, Perforce Delphix
Industry – Old Mutual: OCI Dashboard | Monitor Integrations and Alerts to MS Teams - Rowan Philander & Mumtaz Mohamed, Old Mutual SA & Jan Wizer, Oracle CSS
Early Careers – How to Build a Career in the AI Era - Connor McDonald, Oracle Database Advocate & Ron Ekins, Oracle ACE Director

11h40 – 12h20

Elevate – From RFx to Value: How AI is Changing Technology Selection - Amanda De Swardt, Strategic Procurement Leader, The Foschini Group
Automate – Agentic AI for JD Edwards: Enabling the Digital Workforce - Warren Solomons, Director, Resolve Red
Innovate – Securing the AI-Driven Software Supply Chain: From DevSecOps to Enterprise Resilience - Barry De Waal, CEO, 9th BIT Consulting
Industry – FNB’s Journey from EBS to Fusion Over a Decade - Paseka Simela, IT Platform Technology Lead, First National Bank
Early Careers – From Intern to Impact: Building a Career with Oracle - Boitumelo Lerefolo, Oracle HR & Oracle 2026 Interns

12h30 – 13h10

Elevate – SplashAI: Bringing Generative AI to Enterprise Analytics - Sanjay Naithani, General Manager MEA, SplashBI
Automate – Engineering the Future with OCI, AI and Autonomous Cloud - Ian Baugaard, Cloud Platform Solution Engineer, Oracle South Africa
Innovate – Always On by Design: Oracle Database Resilience and the Journey from On-Prem to Cloud - Vijayganesh Sivaprakasam, Oracle ACE Pro, Head of Customer Services at Dbvisit Software
Industry – ERP Evolution: Driving Transformation at Scale - Mlamuli Katide, ERP Business Systems Professional
Early Careers – From Intern to Data Scientist: The Magic of APEX - Omkar Dhanilal, Technology Advocate, Spinnaker Support

14h00 – 14h40

Elevate – The Intelligent Performance Revolution - Reserved for Andy King, Senior Director, Oracle EPM
Automate – Open Source at Scale: Running Python-Driven Data Pipelines on Oracle Cloud - Dr Abi Giles-Haigh, Oracle ACE Director
Innovate – Minikube Hands On: Bring Your Own Laptop - Kavi Beesoon, Consulting Member of Technical Staff, Oracle Corporation
Industry – EBS Data Loading and Reporting Made Easy – A UJ Story - Leonardo Kleinhans, System Specialist, UJ & Bosco Kioko, Finance Reporting Specialist & Andy Haack, Managing Director, Enginatics
Early Careers – Step In, Stand Out: Your Journey into the Working World - KK Diaz, Business & Brand Strategist, Dealmaker, Digital Transformation Expert & Author

14h50 – 15h30

Elevate – Ethical AI Governance in SA: Bridging Ubuntu, King IV and Global Frameworks - Mxolisi Madi, Cybersecurity & Cloud Security Leader, iCloudz Africa
Automate – Powering Modern Data Driven Applications with MySQL - László Imre Ludas, Alliances Director, Open Technologies & Ron Heg, Senior Client Success Manager EMEA, Oracle Open Solutions
Innovate – Deliver Developer Agility with Oracle AI Database 26ai RAC on Kubernetes - Anil Nair, Distinguished Product Manager Oracle Corporation & Ron Ekins, Oracle ACE Director
Industry – Reserved
Early Careers – Live Hands-On Student Workshop: Oracle APEX 26.1 New Features - Karkuvelraja Thangamariappan, Oracle ACE Director