Powerhouse women drive ELO Africa’s growth

In 2021, the producer of enterprise content management (ECM) software, ELO Digital Office, opened its branch office in Johannesburg, South Africa. ELO Digital Office Africa has since reported high growth and is continuously expanding its presence across the entire continent. The team of 10 female employees and five men is forging new relationships and particularly committed to promoting women in the IT industry.

Business Development Manager: Sales at ELO Africa, Mmabatho Mamabolo, says the team takes ELO’s motto, ‘at the heart of your business’, seriously. “We focus on relationship building. We work to be at the heart of our channel partner ecosystem, understanding their businesses inside and out and working to be of assistance to them. ELO as a company is like a family, and our channel partners are part of it.”

Customer Support Executive: Sales at ELO Africa, Amanda Maphumulo, remarks ELO Africa is successfully growing by not only offering support around ELO products and services, but also by connecting partners with each other. “We link partners together, driving partnerships between them. For example, if one partner is strong in project management and other partners don’t have that expertise, we introduce them and they work together. In this way, we’re helping the ‘family’ and building trust and loyalty among partners.”

Building women in IT

ELO Africa is committed to women’s empowerment in the IT sector.

Neither Maphumulo nor Mamabolo had a background in IT when they joined the company, but they are undergoing in-depth technical training to be able to offer support and troubleshooting on ELO products.

Maphumulo, with a background in automotive and financial sector customer services, is now in her second year with ELO. She started as a client liaison administrator, tasked with supporting end-users. She underwent extensive technical training. “We had training on how to install the solution, troubleshooting and when to escalate to technicians. ELO equipped me to understand the core products and their functions. At first, confronting the scripts and codes was confusing,” she recalls. Having mastered the technology, she continues to grow with ongoing technical training and webinars, and now uses these skills to support ELO partners.

Mamabolo, who spent over 10 years in sales for the telecoms and travel sectors, joined ELO Africa recently and is still undergoing the technical training. She is undaunted by the challenge: “It can be quite intense, but understanding the product helps you solve your partners’ problems and so build a better relationship with them,” she explains.

Getting into IT

While the IT sector is still male-dominated and struggling to encourage more girls and young women to enter the field, Mamabolo and Maphumulo believe times are changing. They feel there is little or no gender-based discrimination in the South African IT sector, and that Gen Z women will soon embrace the opportunities in IT.

Mamabolo predicts: “I think in six to 10 years’ time, we will have a lot more girls in IT. My advice to girls is to research the opportunities in IT while they are still in school – don’t just look at professions like law and medicine.”

Maphumulo adds: “There are some misconceptions about working in IT: people don’t understand there are so many different fields within IT. My advice to girls is – don’t limit yourself based on stereotypes. Explore the idea of moving into other fields and get out of your comfort zone, there are a lot of lessons to be learned.”