Craig Wing

Craig Wing is a visiting faculty in Executive Education, at Mahindra University. He is also a visiting faculty at Duke Corporate Education, and several other Business Schools. His research that underpins his PhD examines how can companies be more “Future Fit” and what to do to create a company that delivers results today and creates the business of tomorrow.

For two decades, Craig has advised clients to understand, create and design their ideal futures through Imagineering and thinking from the future. His areas of expertise include emergent technology (AI, blockchain, Quantum, CRISPr), business models (platform, experience), company culture and New World of Work. Across Africa, he has spoken at length on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the preparedness of the continent.

Craig, as a consultant to the United Nations, advises the Nigerian government on their future country plans; he moderated the 10th BRICs summit on 4th Industrial Revolution with President Xi, Putin and Ramaphosa & PM Modi in attendance. He has hosted sessions at the African Innovation Symposium with the United Nations. He was head of Innovation for B4SA as South Africa sought to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. He is a keynote speaker at conferences including the SA Innovation Awards, Finance Indaba, Manufacturing Indaba, Africa Agri conference & ITWeb Digital Economy. His clients include UNAIDS, Tata, Shell, MTN, Airbus, Danone, Nestle, Anglo American, Microsoft, Fidelity, Accenture, Barclays, Investec, Discovery, Standard Bank, BMW, Huawei, and Mubadala fund.

He has a BSc (Eng), MSc (Usability) and MBA from Babson College (USA) as a recipient of the prestigious Frederic C Hamilton scholarship for significant entrepreneurial achievement. During his MBA he was the first “non-American” class president. His current research as part of his PhD will formulate new models for “futures thinking” for leaders to formulate their ideal future company strategy. As head of small business marketing for Google, he launched South African Business Woza online where SME’s created 50,000 websites in its inaugural year – one every ten minutes. He grew revenue by 82% YoY and was selected the African “Googliest Googler!” He was also the first African to work for GoogleX.

Craig’s accolades include: AFLI Desmond Tutu Fellow, AshokaU Changemaker, WEF Global Shaper, Mail and Guardian Top 200 under 35, Destiny Man & African Independent Top 40 under 40, disruptive Innovation speaker at TEDx and profiled at the Clinton Global Initiative. He is the youngest graduation speaker at University of Johannesburg. He is also an angel investor in disruptive, technology driven start-ups.

Craig holds 2 Provisional patents in vision systems and computer components; He started 4 Companies, including a non-profit in Silicon Valley; has presented over 500 keynotes globally in over 45 countries; advised/mentored 1000+ entrepreneurs; and has advised Google X, Alphabet’s “Innovation Lab”