Optimizing - Leading Africa's Digital Future

Monica Singer qualified as a Chartered Accountant. After working for the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants and the World Bank, she became CEO of STRATE, a company set up to digitise the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JCSE). She drove this challenging project with great success. In 2015 she left STRATE to become an evangelist for Blockchain, a technology she sees as having the potential to eliminate many forms of financial corruption.

Tim Jenkin is a South African political and social activist and a unique individual. He is the author of the book “Escape from Pretoria” which tells the amazing true story of his escape in the 1970’s from Pretoria's maximum security prison. It was recently released as a movie starring Daniel Radcliffe as Tim. He developed cutting-edge data communication technology in the 1980’s for the ANC’s underground. He is currently involved in Community Exchange which is paving the way for a world without money.

Twenty years ago Pieter de Villiers and his co-founders came up with a tech innovation that was a world first. It literally went on to change the world of digital technology. They launched the company Clickatell which now has offices around the world, including Silicon Valley, although most of its developers still sit in Cape Town.

Apart from being a successful South African tech entrepreneur, Pieter has worked really hard to encourage and develop local innovation and entrepreneurship. He is also working on an initiative to grow digital skills in South Africa.

Mark Harris is one of the most respected leaders in the South African digital sector. He entered the sector in 1981 as an engineer at IBM. He remained with IBM for over 30 years rising through the ranks to become Head of IBM SA and then Vice President of business development for the Middle East and Africa region. In 2013 he left IBM to become CEO of Kagiso Media. In 2019 he joined Altron Nexus as its CEO.

Over the years Mark has nurtured and mentored many young South Africans, some of whom have gone on to fill top leadership positions. One of these is Mteto Nyati who featured in one of our previous podcast episodes.

Mteto Nyati, CEO of Altron, is in conversation with Prof Barry Dwolatzky and Kerryn Gammie. Mteto, who previously headed Microsoft SA and MTN SA, shares his thoughts on how to lead and how to inspire those who you lead, in the context of South Africa’s digital economy. He also talks about some of the important lessons he has learnt in his own life journey. In 2019 Mteto became a best-selling author with the release of his book “Betting on a Darkie”. Don’t miss this entertaining and inspiring episode of the Optimizing podcast.

Kent Beck is an American software engineer, writer and thought leader. He has been, and remains, one of the most influential figures in the field of software development over the past 20 years. He is best known as the creator of the eXtreme Programming (XP) software development methodology and proponent of Test Driven Development (TDD). In 2001 he was one of 17 signatories of the Agile Manifesto that started a movement which revolutionised the world of software development around the world. He first visited South Africa in 2005 as a guest of the JCSE. This initiated a long association between Kent and the software engineering community of South Africa and Africa.

In this episode Kent is in discussion with Prof Barry and his co-host Kerryn Gammie. If life is a relay race, what is the baton he will hand over to Kerryn and her generation of Africa’s future digital leaders.

Professor Tshilidzi Marwala is a South African engineer, AI expert and academic leader. In this conversation with Prof Barry Dwolatzky and Kerryn Gammie he talks about his early days and who passed him the baton in life's metaphoric relay race. He discusses some of the very fascinating work he has done, and then talks about what he would pass on to Kerryn and her generation as their life's journey starts. Show Notes and Additional Resources

Season 2 of the "Optimizing - Leading Africa's Digital Future" has the subtitle "Passing and Receiving the Baton". History is a relay race in which we receive a legacy of knowledge and experience from those who have come before. We then enrich and grow this legacy until we ultimately pass it on to the next generation. Our analogy is that this legacy is like a baton in a relay race.

Each episode in Season 2 will feature a special guest who has lead Africa's digital legacy.. What is their "baton" and what will THEY pass on to the next generation? Show Notes and Additional Resources

The term "Fourth Industrial Revolution", or 4IR lacks a clear definition. Prof Barry describes 4 "Design Principles" that lie at the heart of Germany's Industrie 4.0 movement. He relates these to evolutionary and revolutionary digital transformation. Show Notes and Additional Resources

IT Skills are in short supply around the world. For decades the faster growing digital economies of the Northern Hemisphere have sucked IT skills out of the developing world. South Africa, with its very well established and sophisticated digital economy, has struggled to grow enough of its own skills to meet the every increasing demand for IT professionals. In this episode Prof Barry and Kerryn discuss Kerryn's own skills journey. They also talk about various initiatives led by Prof Barry and others to rebuild the local IT Skills Pyramid. Show Notes and Additional Resources