Sidwell Ngqandu, former GM and acting CIO of the South African State Information Technology Agency (Sita), has been appointed sales director at Columbus Technologies, a subsidiary of the Swiss-based Brainware group.
He replaces Theo Fourie, who is moving into an operations role, and will also be managing the company's relationships with its international partners.
Columbus Technologies is a global enterprise tier one OEM developer in SA. It provides comprehensive solutions in the areas of centralised life cycle management of IT infrastructure, from operating system rollouts, to automated software management and updates, and ongoing security patches.
Ngqandu is a certified Information Systems Auditor who has an MBA from the North West University, and has completed an executive development programme at Gibs and a senior management programme at the University of Pretoria.
"Sidwell has a wealth of experience in ICT governance and management, and has advised a large number of senior CIOs on governance, asset management, information security and ICT infrastructure management, which makes him ideal for the position of sales director at the company," notes Mpume Dywili, CEO of Columbus Technologies.
"He also has longstanding links with the Government IT Officers (GITO) Council," adds Dywili.
"We needed a senior team member who can not only represent the company at government level, but also add value to our customers as an advisor on a range of ICT policy and governance issues. In addition, Sidwell also has a wealth of experience in project management, which is a great advantage," he continues.
Ngqandu explains he made the decision to join Columbus Technologies as it is a South African company with excellent local development capability in OEM and professional services and is backed by strong ties with the international Brainware group.
Prior to joining Columbus Technologies, he had developed a working relationship with the directors and was impressed with the direction in which they have taken the business.
"My goal is to help build Columbus Technologies into the ICT company of choice for government CIOs," Ngqandu concludes.
Share