The people who make things happen in emerging technologies & digital transformation in South Africa & the continent and, the ones who believe and build the future.
Executive Mayor, City of Tshwane Municipality
Randall Williams is currently the Executive Mayor of the City of Tshwane, the Capital of South Africa.
Councillor Randall Williams is a qualified attorney who was elected to the Tshwane Council in 2016.
In 2016 he was chosen to serve as the Member of the Mayoral Committee for Economic Development and Spatial Planning and the leader of Executive Business under the Mayoralty of Solly Msimanga. Before joining the City of Tshwane, Randall served as the Chief Director of International Trade and Economic Development in the Department of Trade and Industry. He has an LLM in International Investment and Trade law from the University Stellenbosch.
Executive Mayor, City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality
Dr Mpho Phalatse spent her first years of life with her maternal grandmother in Hebron, northwest of Tshwane, before moving in with her parents in Mabopane.
The ethos of diligence and resilience was instilled in Dr Phalatse at an early age, having been born to Komane and Moserwa Phalatse, who were both educators in the then homeland of Bophuthatswana.
Dr Phalatse matriculated from Loreto Convent School in 1994 and subsequently secured admission at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) to study Chemical Engineering. She enrolled here in 1995. However, after much self-reflection and a desire to focus on a more people-oriented career, she flipped things around in her second year at Wits to journey back to Tshwane to study for a doctoral degree in medicine at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, previously known as MEDUNSA.
Chief of Cloud Data Platforms, BCX South Africa
A high-energy, results-oriented executive with an entrepreneurial attitude and over three decades of
experience in the ICT sector, having served at a few large organisations. He has a talent for
contextualising large services-based deals in simple business language and matching complex
solutions to business processes and objectives. His personal philosophy is routed in driving human
behaviour elements to empower people to achieve more than what they imagined possible for
themselves. Julian has made BCX his home for the past 15 years, where he steers the Cloud
Platform Solutions business unit as its Chief since 2021. Following Telkom Group’s acquisition of BCX,
Julian took on numerous roles including Managing Executive: International and Chief Revenue
Officer for mid-market sales. As chief of Converged Communications, he was responsible for
implementing a turnaround strategy for the Telecommunications Business Unit from 2018 till 2021.
Before joining BCX, Julian worked for Bidvest, Novell & Accpac. It was at Bidvest where he launched
the first MPLS Data Network as well as the first commercial Voice Over IP offer in South Africa.
Renowned as a strategic and critical thinker, taking strategy from mere planned activities to
implementation. As General Manager: Strategy and Design and as General Manager: Strategic
Business Development in Business Connexion Julian led the introduction of a carrier neutral Data
Centre and the launch of Business Connexion’s first-generation Cloud infrastructure solutions.
Chief Digital Officer, PwC Africa
Grew up in Pretoria, South Africa. PhD Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University in the USA, then academia, research and innovation management.
Joined PwC as partner October 2014.
Like travel, connecting with people; adventurous.
Chief of Converged Communications, BCX South Africa
Abdool Saib has enjoyed a career in the Converged Communications industry for 30 years. He has
extensive experience in fixed, mobile, and wireless environments both locally and within Africa.
Abdool also held various position across the Telkom Group that started with Data Network Engineering and Operations, and Information Systems Management and Solution Engineering. He later moved into more senior roles such as, Business Development and Sales, and Business Operations management as the COO at FastNet.
Abdool also assisted with the successful integration of the FastNet business into BCX in 2018. Most recently, Abdool led the ConCom: Access Networks and Internet business as Managing Executive, where he continued to build new generation solutions, business partnerships and mentored leaders for future sustainability. His extensive experience is supported by a Master of
Science Degree in the Management of Technology and Innovation from the Da Vinci Institute.
I enjoy time spent with my family, travel, and sports. I have completed hikes to Kilimanjaro, Everest
base camp, the Inca Trail and recently completed my first triathlon.
Deputy Director General: ICT Information Society and Capacity Development, Department of Communications & Digital Technologies
Telecom Technologist and Strategist with extensive experience on Telecom and ICT. Mr. Mlindi is a deputy Director General at the Ministry of Communications and Digital Technologies managing the Information Society and Capacity Development within the ICT environment.
Chief Information Officer, Eskom Holdings SOC Limited
Faith Burn believes that excellence comes when a great team meets good governance. She was appointed CIO of Eskom in May 2020. Faith already had five years experience as a CIO having held the title at Tsebo Solution Group and Novartis. Faith also worked as a chief audit executive at ACSA and as an associate director at Deloitte. She has an M.Sc. in mathematics from the University of Johannesburg and an MBL from UNISA.
Group Chief Information Officer, Sasol South Africa
Lungile Mginqi is an experienced executive with
business and Digital leadership expertise acquired over
two decades of experience spanning business,
technology consulting, financial services leadership role,
entrepreneurship, and current large enterprise IT |
Digital technology roles.
Lungile holds a MSc in Engineering from the University
of Cape Town and a certificate in Business Innovation
from Stanford University. Lungile has enjoyed
numerous career achievements including quick
progression to Partner at a Global Management
Consulting firm, CEO at the Financial Services company
where he doubled the size of the company and averted
a devastating labour unrest, COO at his own startup
company and now Group CIO at Sasol in charge of both
IT and Digital Strategy.
Head of eGovernment, Gauteng Provincial Government
Mr. Baloyi is currently heading the department of eGovernment at the Gauteng Provincial Government. The Gauteng Department of e-Government is tasked with modernising the public service to deliver efficient services to the residents of Gauteng.
Chief Information Officer, Discovery Limited South Africa
Leading Discovery’s digital transformation strategy, leveraging my experience in technology, management consulting and product development.
Group Executive, SARS & Dean, Johannesburg Business School
Prof. Randall Carolissen, August started his career at the age of 20 as an industrial engineer at Firestone in Port Elizabeth and rapidly rose through the ranks. Pursuing his ambition to further his academic studies in physics, he returned to UWC in 1984 as a laboratory assistant, completing a BSc (Hons). In 1987 he was appointed as a researcher at the CSIR, and in this period, he completed an MSc (cum laude) in 1989. He was then appointed as a lecturer at UWC and a PhD in 1995 in nano-physics. While working towards his PhD, he assumed a research fellowship at the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania and worked in a team that performed groundbreaking research on Schottky barrier interfaces. He co-authored three publications that remain widely cited internationally. He assumed a post-doctoral research post at the University of Ghent and has published in internationally peer-reviewed journals in nano-physics. In 2005 he completed an MBA (cum laude) at the University of Stellenbosch, specialising in International Finance, receiving the Old Mutual Gold medal. This milestone was followed by an M.Com in International Tax at the University of the Northwest in 2009. Apart from his junior degree, all postgraduate qualifications were pursued part-time, establishing his career.
Regional Manager, Zoho South Africa
Andrew Bourne is Zoho's regional manager for the Africa region and is based in Cape Town, South Africa. He has more than 15 years of experience in sales and marketing and has spent the last five years focusing on the implementation and testing of various business technologies. He is very passionate about Zoho and has exceptional insight into the business and marketing world.
Vice President - Transformation & Digital, Sasol Mining
Mr Kous is currently the Vice President for Transformation & Digital with Sasol Mining. The role entails the facilitation and implementation of transformation agenda for Sasol Mining. This is a long term strategy transforming the organisation in becoming a integrated operation with a strong digital platform for future proofing the business.
Head of Data & Analytics, Standard Bank Group South Africa
Susan is the Head of Data & Analytics at Standard Bank South Africa. She leads the Data Management and Data Engineering capabilities that enable Data Analytics initiatives across Standard Bank South Africa. She is also leading the data monetization programme focused on creating commercial value for the business. In addition to her role as Data & Analytics Head, she is also the Deputy Information Officer for Standard Bank South Africa looking after all aspects of Data Privacy & Protection, where one of her key stakeholders is the South African Information Regulator.
Before joining Standard Bank, Susan spent most of her career in management consulting, working in strategy development and execution for public, private and social sector organisations in banking, energy, mining, education, healthcare and small business development. She has worked across a number of jurisdictions, including South Africa, Nigeria, Guinea (Conakry) and France. She spent 3 years of her management consulting career as an entrepreneur where she was the founder and managing director of her own boutique consulting company. In 2013 she took a 6-month sabbatical and spent the time as part of the central team that designed the teaching and learning model for Nova Pioneer, a network of private schools offering affordable, quality education. Her corporate career includes working for Allan Gray as an IT Business Analyst and working at Discovery Vitality leading the design and implementation of their physical activity strategy.
Susan holds a B.Com (Hons) degree in Information Systems from the University of Cape Town as well as an MBA from the WITS Business School.
Head of Center of Excellence, Eskom Holdings
Malcolm Van Harte has 24 years of experience in the electric utility Transmission and Distribution industry. He holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cape Town and works in distribution as the Head of Network Operations Centre of Excellence and Acting Senior Manager for SMART GRID (including Cyber Security, Data Analytics and Distribution Telecommunication Operations). He's also worked in risk and resilience, network planning, regional and national control centers, and network optimization.
He has chaired or participated in a number of strategy projects, working groups, and study committees aimed at improving the reliability and quality of electricity infrastructure, including the National Blackout, Provincial Transmission Risk Workshops, Network Planning, Network Performance, and Quality of Supply. He has led and participated in a number of strategic initiatives aimed at strengthening Eskom's resilience capabilities, including disaster management, business continuity, organizational resilience, and enterprise risk management. He is now working with the implementation of a new Distribution operating model with additional capabilities such as Distribution System Operator and Energy Trader.
He has authored Eskom guidelines and standards, as well as a number of national and international papers, and has achieved a number of milestones, including 31 articles (author and co-author), 3 articles, guest speaker for 6 conferences, lectured 7 short courses, 9 position papers on future Distribution business, and contributed to 6 national or international institutions, as well as receiving 7 awards for his contributions in these fields.
Director - School of Data Science and Computational Thinking, Stellenbosch University
Professor Kanshukan (Kanshu) Rajaratnam joined Stellenbosch University as the inaugural director of the School for Data Science and Computational Thinking in January 2020. Prior to 2020, he was an associate professor of finance at University of Cape Town, where he also held multiple leadership roles – faculty strategic projects manager, deputy dean and acting dean of the Faculty of Commerce. His research is in the application of data science and operations research in finance and banking. He is currently rated an internationally acclaimed researcher by the National Research Foundation (NRF). He has work experience in industry – Accenture and Nedbank in South Africa and Capital one in the United States America.
Prof Rajaratnam leads a School with a vision to be a world-class institution in data science and computational thinking in and for Africa. It has since its launch in July 2019, achieved global recognition and impact. One of its researchers led the sequencing of the Omicron variant of the novel Coronavirus, which resulted in that researcher gaining recognition by Nature Publications as one of the ten most exciting scientists globally for 2021. In addition, the School has in its ranks two researchers deemed by the National Research Foundation (NRF) as internationally acclaimed researchers. His goal is to facilitate greater number of industry and academic collaborations for the School.
Group Head - Information and Network Technology Operations, City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality
Driving the Government Transformation, Strategy and Delivery Agenda to make Smart Government, Economic , Service and Citizen Transformation a reality. Achieved the Integration of the Eastern Cape Provincial Government ICT functions into SITA.
Awarded the first Chartered CIO Certification in the country. ICT Advisor for the Department of Employment and Labor. Interim Chairperson : ICT Steering Committee Department of Justice
Head of Mobile Banking, Absa Group South Africa
Experienced leadership executive with a track record of crafting and executing strategic change predominantly within a FinTech environment. A digital leader that is results orientated, focused on mobile apps and mobile banking products and services.
Chief Information Officer, Sasria SOC Ltd
Sam Nkosi, an industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience, recently joined Sasria SOC Ltd as Executive Manager: Business Operations and Technology following a period of 3 years at the Auditor General South Africa (AGSA). He joined AGSA as a Chief Information Officer (CIO) after a successful tenure at Barclays Africa Group (Absa) where he headed Africa Technology Operations. Prior roles include Head of Service Delivery & Account Management at Fujitsu. Senior Manager: Service Delivery at the South African Revenue Services (SARS), a Project Director at Wincor Nixdorf in the United Kingdom and a Senior Manager: Infrastructure Operations for State Information Technology Agency (SITA). He commenced his career at Investec as a Hardware Support Agent. He was later promoted to a Shift Operator, IT Operations Supervisor and eventually became a Group Operations Manager.
Founder, Your Media, Executive Producer & Presenter, Africa Business Radio
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