The Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) has announced the finalists for the 2023 IITPSA President’s Awards.
According to the IITPSA, this year, the annual event marks its 66th anniversary and is themed: “IT visionaries: Celebrating the ICT industry’s embrace of the future”.
The award recognises leaders in the ICT sector, and has grown in scope over the last 30 years, to include the IT Personality of the Year, Technology Excellence, Social Responsibility, and Dynamism in ICT Youth and Distinguished Service in ICT awards.
IITPSA president Senele Goba, says while the awards have always recognised exceptional achievement in the ICT sector, this year they go further – recognising visionaries who help to shape the future of their organisations and communities.
The 2023 finalists are:
IT Personality Award: 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 a number of years.
- Dr Stella Bvuma, director of the University of Johannesburg’s School of Consumer Intelligence and Information Systems.
- Mamela Luthuli, founder and CEO of Take Note IT.
- Rich Sibusiso Hlatshwayo, CEO of Me2You.
- Lucas Mohaswa, founder and CEO of Reslocate.
- Dr Fazlyn Petersen, senior lecturer, Department of Information Systems at the University of the Western Cape.
Technology Excellence Award: Presented to a person or team who has made exceptional or innovative use of technology for an organisation, and/or who has exhibited technological excellence that has delivered measurable benefit for business/the SA economy.
- Supply chain digital platform Kudoti enables manufacturers to effectively measure and improve their sustainability with a platform allowing them to easily track their supply chain sustainability impact.
- Peter Robb, group chief architect of MultiChoice Group.
- Joseph Lumbahe, manager and lead AI engineer, co-founder and CTO of the Aizatron Group and Bus54.
- Professor Mark Nasila, chief data and analytics officer at First National Bank’s risk office.
Social Responsibility / Community Award: Presented to a person, team or project that delivers the benefits of IT on a not-for-profit basis in the community or brings the community into the IT space.
- Nomisa Keninda, e-learning specialist and founder of the Mpumalanga ICT Club.
- ICT youth empowerment organisation Geekulcha works with the public, private, academic and community sectors to drive talent development, design thinking and innovation in SA.
- Byron Batteson, software developer at Amazon Web Services, part-time consultant and software developer at Tangible Africa.
- Amukelani Michael Mhlongo, co-founder and COO of Silicon Gold.
- Nicoli Koorbanally, CEO of mLab.
Dynamism in ICT Youth Award: Recognises a person who has demonstrated exceptional potential or achievement in ICT over the past two to five years; or a person who has demonstrated dynamism in ICT and exhibited the characteristics of a positive and inspirational role model for young people in, or seeking to enter, the ICT profession.
- Amukelani Michael Mhlongo, COO of Me2You.
- Ruan Schoeman, student at Home School Midrand.
- Ashleigh Mabiare, graduate software engineer.
- Ashlesha Pillay, SAP consultant intern at Epiuse Africa’s technical services team.
- Benjamin Kleyn, first year Bachelors of Science student.
The IITPSA says it regrets it is unable to present the Visionary CIO award this year, due to circumstances beyond its control, but the organisation looks forward to the return of the award in 2024.
To vote for the finalists, go to the IITPSA website and click on those you believe to be most deserving of an award.
The winners will be named at the President’s Awards breakfast at The Wanderers Club in Illovo, on 28 November, where SA’s most exceptional IT leaders and innovators will be recognised. To secure a seat at this event, visit this site.
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