Manie Eagar, CEO
I am passionate about creating sustainable futures in which everyone can participate equitably and fairly, and with respect for our environment.
Manie is the founder and CEO of DigitalFutures, an independent strategic business development and investment consultancy with a focus on the latest innovations in fintech, digital currency and blockchain (distributed ledger) technologies and alternative financing.
He is a strategic business development and global investment, mergers and acquisitions executive with over 30 years of driving new wealth creation, business growth and strategic innovation. He brings international experience and deep skills in the startup, investment management and venture capital space. He has been involved in multiple successful start-ups, government policy developments and national educational initiatives in South Africa and internationally.
He is a director of EcoNova Leaders, a regenerative technology solution, and management and leadership training and development services provider. It has served as a strategic and trusted partner to multiple governments, development agencies, NGOs and community-based initiatives for many decades in Canada and internationally.
- EconNova Leaders: Human-centric, regenerative technologies at scale leveraging renewable energy and leadership capacity development.
- Non-profits (founding and management): leading initiatives in Primary (OLSET) and Adult Basic Education and Training (Eskom / ABSA / SABC / RIC – Ontario / UBC – Blockchain) literacy and productivity skills development applying the latest distance education and broadcast technologies at scale.
- DigitalFutures: productivity software and blockchain and digital currencies user centric innovation and leadership development; and digital asset value exchange.
MILESTONES
Manie co-authored the first crowdsourced FinTechBook writing on ‘FinTech + Digital Currency – Convergence or Collision?‘ The FinTechBook is a front-line industry insider’s look at the financial technology explosion – An Amazon bestseller.
He was the Chairman of the Blockchain Association of Canada, the leading industry body representing digital finance, fintech and distributed ledger technology (blockchain) in Canada.
He is and advisor to the Silicon Valley based SABLE Accelerator, a trusted knowledge network of global South Africans providing mentoring and consulting services to South African companies, entrepreneurs, and institutions seeking to fund or commercialize innovation, as well as enter, grow, and partner in worldwide markets.
He addressed the Canadian Senate Trade and Banking Commission in 2015 and a number of his proposals for a sound regulatory environment to promote digital currency and blockchain technology innovation were substantially incorporated in the Committee’s final report recommendations: Digital Currency – You Can’t Flip This Coin!
Manie has provided thought leadership to the THNK School of Creative Leadership’s Executive Program on “The Future of Capitalism” in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2015 to explore how digital currencies like bitcoin, can increase access to low-carbon housing and to drive shared economy initiatives and financial inclusion.
The past few years he has focused on business development and investments in the new world of digital value inter-exchange, mobile media delivery platforms and digital finance 2.0, inspired by the latest cryptocurrency protocols. He has supported a number of startups, growth acceleration, mergers and acquisitions, VC tie-ups and alignments with regulatory compliance. He helped develop the openaxyz collaboration software that was deployed at leading financial institutions such as Barclays Africa and was nominated for the RIC Innovation Idol in Ontario in 2012.
He was a founder and CEO of Open Learning Systems Trust (OLSET), South Africa’s largest distance learning NGO funded by USAID, CIDA, EU and other major international donors for the benefit of the broad society and grass roots organizations during South Africa’s ‘apartheid era’. OLSET’s initial funding was provided by USAID and other major donors and opened by the then US Secretary of State, Ms Hilary Clinton in 1996. He participated in a number of studies worldwide in developed and developing countries to evaluate the utilization of new learning technologies and methodologies.
Initially training as a lawyer, he was drawn to the publishing world and became editor of Volkshandel, South Africa’s largest business magazine, a contributing Editor to the Financial Mail and Business Manager of Vrye Weekblad, a leading anti-apartheid publication before South Africa’s turn to democracy.