The finalists have been announced for this year’s Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) President’s Awards.
The South African IT industry accolades recognise a respected and outstanding ICT professional who has made a significant technical or academic contribution to the industry, who has been successful in building a respected IT organisation or business, and/or who has made a major contribution to the IT profession over the years.
The awards have grown in scope over 30 years to include the IT Personality of the Year, Visionary CIO, Technology Excellence Award, Social Responsibility Award and Dynamism in ICT Youth Award.
The awards are presented by the IITPSA, in association with ITWeb and the Gordon Institute of Business Science. The Distinguished Service in ICT Award is presented in association with EngineerIT. The institute will also present the new Member Ambassador Award.
IITPSA president Pearl Pasi says: “We’re pleased to note wehave yet another outstanding cohort of nominees, which made the selection offinalists a challenge for our judges. This year’s theme is: ‘Celebrating leaders in ethical digital transformation', and we believe all our finalists fit the bill.”
The theme for 2024 highlights the importance of keeping ethics at the heart of digital transformation, says the industry body.
The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony at the Bryanston Country Club, on 26 November.
In 2023, Mamela Luthuli, founder and CEO of cyber security firm Take Note IT, won the IT Personality of the Year Award.
The 2024 finalists:
IT Personality Award
This accolade recognises a respected and outstanding ICT professional who has made a significant technical or academic contribution to the industry, who has been successful in building a respected IT organisation or business, and/or who has made a major contribution to the IT profession over the years.
Joseph Lumbahe, senior AI technology specialist at Microsoft: Part of the new global AI specialised team in SA, focusing on AI application development, he also served as global manager and lead AI engineer at Aizatron Group. Lumbahe is regional ambassador for the South African AI Association.
Zandile Mkwanazi, founder and CEO of GirlCode: GirlCode has empowered over 80 000 girls and women through technology education. Mkwanazi also founded GirlCode Talent, a tech recruitment start-up.
Cinga Nyangintsimbi, founder and MD of Batsamayi Software Development: Batsamayi was established as a third-year project group during Nyangintsimbi’s time as a student at the Nelson Mandela University, where he later became a student assistant and consequently started lecturing final year IT students. Batsamayi grew out of the ambition of six young software engineers in 2015, to a 50-strong team serving international clients.
Malini Bandi, founder and CEO of CestaSoft Solutions: As an accomplished entrepreneur and technology leader, Bandi spent 15 years in the fintech, healthcare, insurance, telecoms, retail and media industries, before establishing CestaSoft Solutions. She also founded Cesta Academy, which promotes graduates in the field of professional software specialisation.
Rashika Ramlal, country manager (public sector) and executive director at Amazon Web Services SA: With over two decades of senior leadership expertise across large and multinational organisations, Ramlal has been listed among Africa’s Most Inspirational Leaders and one of SA’s top five leaders in ICT.
Visionary CIO of the Year
This award recognises a personality on the other side of the IT vendor and service provider sector – an executive in the corporate IT environment who has demonstrated visionary leadership in applying technology to grow and transform business.
Nomonde White-Ndlovu, CIO of Bidvest Bank: As a seasoned technology executive, White-Ndlovu has served on the Absa Group Technology Executive team; headed governance, risk and compliance for Absa Group’s IT Office; and has been joint-CIO of the organisation's infrastructure services. She is also a speaker and moderator, and chairperson of Wired4Women.
Kholeka Tsotsotso, CIO of Development Bank of Southern Africa: An accomplished ICT professional with over 25 years of experience in technology strategy, business development and operations, Tsotsotso’s expertise includes cyber security, business continuity, business and ICT operational and strategic management, and leveraging technological risks into strategic opportunities. She is co-founder of the Circle of Lift Foundation and serves on the advisory board for Women In Tech SA.
Gudani Mukatuni, CIO of Glacier: Prior to taking on the CIO role at Africa’s largest unit investment administration platform, Mukatuni held senior leadership and executive roles at FirstRand − WesBank, AIG Africa and Nedbank. Her career spans financial services, telecoms and consulting firms.
Sandra Rheeder, CIO of Mukuru: Rheeder joined Mukuru in 2017 after 16 years in IT consulting for financial services companies. Leading a team of 150 people, she has overseen the launch of new tech capability across the Mukuru footprint, including agent and branch tech for customer sign-up, cash collections and payments in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Malawi, Kenya and Uganda.
George Palmer, CIO of Coaxle Lightstone and Coaxle: Palmer has an extensive track record of leadership in solution development, product management, IT and technology management, as well as sales management, and manages teams of technical experts in database management, infrastructure, networks, security, and user and systems support.
Lungile Mginqi, group CIO of Sasol: With over three decades of experience spanning business, consulting and large enterprise IT leadership, Mginqi is now focused on transforming Sasol into a digital IT organisation. He has served as partner at a global management consulting firm, been CEO of a financial services company and COO of his own start-up.
Technology Excellence Award
This award is presented to a person or team for exceptional or innovative use of technology at an organisation and/or who has exhibited technological excellence that has delivered measurable benefit for SA’s economy.
Cornelius Greyling, Fibertime executive and technology leader: As an entrepreneur and technology leader, Greyling co-founded Avocado Chocolate in 2015 alongside Martin Stolk. The company developed mobile apps, games, websites, web services and reward platforms. In 2021, he launched VulaCoin, a micro-payments and business support services platform for pay-as-you-go fibre connectivity in South African townships. In 2022, he sold the platform to Fibertime and now holds an executive-level position at the company.
Riaan Mastenbroek, director and product owner of BlackBEE Software: An entrepreneur and Microsoft Certified Professional with over 20 years of experience in software development and product management, Mastenbroek has developed innovative software products. He is a qualified blockchain solution architect and serves as a technical advisor for two blockchain start-ups and is a member of the World Economic Forum's Blockchain Advisory Committee.
Yugrow: The behaviour tech platform for women enables growth through personalised micro actions and growth challenges, high-impact coaching and a support network. Established by founders Kele Boakgomo and Yolanda Nobanda, Yugrow supports women to break barriers and drive growth, ultimately contributing to closing the economic gender gap.
Social Responsibility/Community Award
This accolade is presented to a person, team or project that delivers the benefits of IT on a not-for-profit basis to a community, or brings the community into the IT space.
Zoie Health: The digital health platform for women and family health and wellness offers virtual consultations, a community chat forum, resources and a shop/pharmacy where members can purchase their health and wellness products and medication. It also has a B2B WhatsApp-based employee benefits product for frontline employees, called EasyDoc.
JOBJACK: A technology-driven mobile-friendly platform that makes the application process easy and low-cost for job-seekers. It also makes it easier for employers to find and hire entry-level talent, by automating and improving the recruitment process for employers through a technology-driven applicant tracking system, matching algorithms and psychometric assessments.
STEMulator: The fully interactive XplorITory gets youngsters excited about the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) world and careers. The STEMulator was developed by Richard Gundersen, a systems and project engineer in the mining industry. He is a member of umbrella body proSET within the greater NSTF, where the STEMulator was born.
Professor Stella Bvuma, director of the University of Johannesburg's School of Consumer Intelligence and Information Systems: Bvuma is passionate about ‘ICT4development’, technology adoption and digital transformation, particularly in areas like SMME development, smart cities, cyber security and the digital economy. She is an advocate for women’s inclusion in IT and digital equality.
Krish Govender, KZN provincial coordinator for Tangible Africa: As a retired school principal, Govender continues making an active contribution to the education sector. In the past two years, he travelled throughout KwaZulu-Natal to introduce unplugged coding (Rangers) to schools. To date, 1 500 teachers from 350 schools have been trained in Unplugged Coding, and KZN schools have been successful in the Unplugged Coding Championships.
Dynamism in ICT Youth Award
This award is for people under the age of 25, and recognises a person who has demonstrated exceptional potential or achievement in ICT over the past two to five years.
Kim Small: A final year student pursuing a Bachelor of Commerce in Information Systems and Management at the University of the Western Cape. She received the Dean’s Merit Awards in 2021 and 2023, and was recognised as the best first-year student. Small is a member of the Golden Key Honour Society. She has participated in the Huawei Seeds for the Future, Gen Z Coca-Cola Creative Hackathon and iNkanyezi IT Audit & Cyber Security Academy.
Inge Odendaal: Currently pursuing her Honours in Computer Science at the University of Pretoria, Odendaal has consistently placed first in the School of IT. She is an assistant lecturer at the University of Pretoria, and tutors maths and computer science. Odendaal co-founded Tyto Insights, a company initially focused on the domain name industry, which developed management information systems to support business decisions, and solutions such as graphical analysis for an agricultural lab and a brand protection service.
Matshepo Soto, CEO of MoveMates: Soto is a 24-year-old award-winning software engineer and CEO of MoveMates, which offers instant quotes and on-demand moving services. With a background in software engineering from WeThinkCode, she has won first place in five hackathons and the Rising Star in Coding Award. She was named among Geekulcha's top 15 geeks. Soto also founded the Thuma Mina Tech Foundation, which teaches autistic children about technology.
Ashleigh Mabaire: A junior software engineer with a BSc in IT, majoring in computer science and Informatics, from the University of Johannesburg, where she ranked in the top 10 for the majority of her majors. She is a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society, and serves as deputy chair of the IITPSA Women in IT Chapter and treasurer of the Gauteng Chapter.
Member Ambassador Award
This award was introduced this year to recognise exceptional commitment and effort by an IITPSA member to serve as an ambassador of the institute.
Saba Rahimi, chair of the IITPSA Gauteng Chapter: Rahimi is a professional member of the IITPSA and serves on several committees, including the Computer Olympiads Scientific Committee. A regular participant in IITPSA events, he delivers guest lectures and promotes membership. Currently CIO of TForge, he has also provided consultancy services and served as a junior lecturer at the University of Cape Town while completing his Master of Commerce degree.
Constandious Takura Munakandafa, member of the IITPSA Social and Ethics Committee: He previously served as secretary, treasurer and vice-chairperson of the Gauteng IITPSA Chapter and regularly writes IT articles published in the IITPSA newsletter. He is an agile systems analyst at Glacier by Sanlam.
Ashleigh Mabaire, deputy chair of the IITPSA Women in IT Chapter and treasurer of the Gauteng Chapter: A junior software engineer with a BSc in IT, majoring in computer science and informatics from the University of Johannesburg, where she ranked in the top 10 for the majority of her majors. She is also a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society.
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