On the lighter side of things , we ask the industry experts what makes them tick . . . .

Building and exiting my first business by the age of 30 . I never attended university and wouldn ’ t have been anyone ’ s idea of a successful businessperson in my younger years .

My parents both worked for their respective employers for many years . My mother was a legal secretary and my father an electrician . I was going to follow in his footsteps until my mother convinced me to study computer programming , in my early twenties .

That set me on the path to an ICT career and an entrepreneurial future . Listening to authority was never my strong point , so I thought if I was going to do something for a boss , I might as well have a go at doing it for myself . You doubt yourself until you do it , so pulling that off – proving I could create a successful enterprise from scratch – was memorable .

What first made you think of a career in technology ?

It wasn ’ t part of a grand plan . I completed my compulsory national service in South Africa in 1992 , took advantage of the opportunity to do a free course in programming at the end of it , and picked up a job working on the AS400 platform . Thirty years and three businesses later , I ’ m still in the game , rolling with it and looking forward to tackling whatever challenge comes next .

What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position ?

I ’ m no fan of authoritarian environments so I intentionally try not to create one . Two years in the military taught me that screaming at someone because their boots are dirty isn ’ t a great way to build team spirit and rapport .

In my businesses , I ’ ve always been a firm believer in getting staff to buy in to the mission and purpose of the organization . If you achieve that , great things happen and you don ’ t need to micro-manage people – they ’ re capable adults , they know what they need to do and they get on with it .

Give your employees the space , support and autonomy they require to do their work , and you and they will find it a rewarding experience .

What do you think is the current hot technology talking point ?

Digital Transformation is the obvious one . We ’ ve come through the pandemic and organizations have realized the agility of their operations and their ability to adapt to fast changing environments is critical .

We ’ re also seeing decision makers come to a collective realization that business is now moving way too fast for people to be doing repetitive ‘ grunt ’ work .

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