Happy, purposeful businesses are harder to kill: Conn Bertish joins the Nedbank IMC 2026 line-up

Under the 2026 theme Shift Happens™, Bertish’s session, Happy, Purposeful Businesses Are Harder to Kill, looks at a shift every business leader can recognise: how people recover, create, adapt and perform when pressure keeps rising.

His argument is simple: happy, purposeful businesses are not soft. They are harder to break because their people are more connected to what they are building and better equipped to keep creating under pressure.

Bertish helps organisations build cultures that are more resilient, more creative and better able to perform under pressure. His advisory work has supported major African businesses across retail, insurance and high-growth entrepreneurial environments.

For Bertish, purpose only matters when it changes how people think, work, recover and perform. His perspective is not theoretical. Having used creativity, play and purpose as part of his own recovery from cancer, Bertish brings a rare mix of lived experience, creative intelligence and commercial relevance to the stage.

At the Nedbank IMC, his session will show how leaders can use purpose more practically - as a source of resilience, energy and performance when business is under pressure. It is a timely message for marketers and business leaders who need cultures that can keep moving when conditions are tough.

“Conn is that rare combination of creative powerhouse and genuinely inspiring human being - his work, and his own recovery story, make his message impossible to dismiss,” said Dale Hefer, CEO of the Nedbank IMC.

The Nedbank IMC 2026 will again feature a curated, not crowdsourced, speaker line-up, blending global insight with African context. Students from across South Africa will again attend virtually at no cost through the YOUTH1000 programme, in partnership with MASA.

For media enquiries, interview requests with Conn Bertish or organisers, and high-resolution assets: Ibrahim Lukombe – moc.ecnerefnoccmi@miharbi
Africa’s biggest marketing conference, the Nedbank IMC advances marketing’s place in the boardroom and uplifts young talent across the continent. Proudly endorsed by MASA and PRISA.

To find out more, visit www.imcconference.com