The 2026 HR Indaba has filled the Sandton Convention Centre with the smiles and the unmissable energy of thousands of HR professionals, all coming together to connect, share ideas and talk to all things people.
Amid all the excitement, we hit the overflowing exhibition floor at the 2026 HR Indaba to hear from attendees what brought them to the event, the insights they hope to gain and the ideas they plan to take back to their organisations.
Boniwe Dunster, head of people and culture at KFC Africa, says returning to the HR Indaba is about more than attending sessions but also serves as an opportunity to reconnect with peers, explore new developments and look ahead to what the profession needs next.
“I attended the HR Indaba in 2025, and I’m back again because it is always a great opportunity to connect with the HR and leadership communities. The interactions we have each year are different, and the conversations continue to evolve. Systems and innovation have also progressed from 2025 to 2026, so it is valuable to reconnect with people, understand what’s new and explore what we should be focusing on in 2027,” she says
“I’m looking forward to taking the learnings from today’s sessions back to my team and exploring how we can improve, remain relevant and build new connections that will take us to the next level. Every year, we meet new people and make new friends. Often, these are the people who remind us why we are in the human resources space, and I’m looking forward to that more than anything else today,” says Boniwe.
A HR reunion
That sense of connection is central to why Bongani Phakathi, an experienced business and HR executive, continues to return. For him, the HR Indaba offers something HR practitioners cannot always find in their everyday working lives - dedicated time with people who understand the realities of the profession.
“It’s always good to be back at the HR Indaba. The HR Indaba is really the one place where the HR community connects. We are human resource practitioners, and we don’t really have a place to connect with our peers, but also to remind ourselves about what it means to be human. You can’t sit in isolation and pretend to work with people. So, that’s the key thing about the HR Indaba,” says Bongani.
“A lot happens in a year, and it’s important for us to debrief each other and support one another through it. So, for me, it’s a fabulous event. I do work with corporates, and individuals, but this is really the one time when I spend the day with just the HR community. So that’s really why I’m back, and I’ll be back again next year,” he adds.
No people left behind
While experienced practitioners value the opportunity to reconnect and reflect, the event also offers those earlier in their careers a chance to learn from the experiences of others.
For Sphokazi Makgobane, an HR professional at Alteram Solutions, the focus is on taking away practical strategies that can make a difference at work.
“I want to learn practical steps and strategies that I can use in the company. I think maybe policies, particularly what kind of policies could be implemented more effectively using a certain strategy,” she says.
