The countdown is on for the announcement of the winners of the 2025 Wired4Women Awards, made possible by Telkom.
The countdown is on for the announcement of the winners of the 2025 Wired4Women Awards, made possible by Telkom.
The Wired4Women Awards is an initiative of the Wired4Women Tech Forum and ITWeb Brainstorm, celebrating the outstanding women working in the South African tech industry and aiming to foster inclusion, honour female role models and open doors for future generations of tech leaders.
Telkom has been the lead sponsor since the inception of this unique awards programme, which recognises achievement across 13 categories – from top-level executives to rising stars.
In particular, Telkom champions leadership and innovation as the sponsor of the CIO of the Year and Top Tech Innovator categories.
The call for nominations received an overwhelming response, with hundreds of submissions. Telkom CMO Gugu Mthembu is part of the judging panel, which also includes Wired4Women board members, ITWeb editors, industry experts and academics.
CIO of the Year
The finalists, competing for the prestigious Wired4Women CIO of the Year Award sponsored by Telkom, are (in alphabetical order, according to their first name):
- Jenny Mohanlall, Senior Director: Information Technology, DHL
Mohanlall has more than 23 years of experience in IT, around 20 of which have been spent in IT leadership. She is passionate about digital transformation, enhancing IT operations and aligning technology investments with business strategies to ensure proper return on investment, enhance operational efficiencies and improve customer experience through technology.
Personally, she is passionate about women in leadership and wrote her master’s thesis about how women can break the glass ceiling. She also does a lot of work uplifting young people, adding value and giving back to society. “You need buy-in from the top. It's more challenging for women to get a seat at the table… So, it’s important as a woman in leadership to make sure that when you get that seat, you use it to make sure that people understand that IT and technology are the foundations of any modern organisation.”
- Kerusha Kanjee, CIO, Investec Wealth and Investment International
Kanjee, also known as KK, says she does what she loves and loves what she does. She has always known that she wanted to pursue a career in technology and was lucky enough to be exposed to the industry early on in her life. Seventeen years later, she is leading a team in South Africa within the wealth and investment division at Investec and also leads a small team in Switzerland.
When she isn’t working, she is reading and researching. “It's where I get my inspiration and motivation from… I am a mom, which means that I am always trying to find balance in my life, in terms of being a CEO at home and a CIO at Investec.” She also leads a women-in-tech initiative, focusing on attracting young women to the field and promoting fitness and well-being. “I'm proud to say that five years ago, my team had 12 women; now, it's 31 out of 83.” - Mathabo Nakene Mginqi, VP – ICT and CIO, UNISA
As the VP and CIO, Mginqi is responsible for all the technology investments at UNISA. “The ICT and digitalisation strategy at UNISA is an enabler for our UNISA 2030 efforts, where we believe that we are shaping futures in the service of humanity, and we are advancing academic, innovative and scientific futures. I'm enabling this through a digitalisation strategy focused on technology, the management of assets and their life cycle to advance student success, enable research, increase research output and enable the curriculum.”
The key focus is on enhancing customer experience – specifically for students and academics. “By improving their experience, we aim to attract more students and meet enrolment targets.”
Mathabo says it’s important to be able to experiment with technology. “When we experiment, we're trying to find the innovative ideas to drive experience for students and for academics and to identify opportunities for commercial benefit that we can scale.”
- Tumelo Zwane, CIO, Special Investigating Unit
Zwane has over 25 years of experience in IT. She gained hands-on training while earning an IT diploma at Technikon Witwatersrand and has worked in roles ranging from desktop and network support to programming and managing IT teams. Zwane has also worked with major brands like Telkom, Sita, Sars, EOH and T-Systems.
“It’s important for people to see that within the public sector, within a government entity, there are pockets of excellence where technology is being used to actually improve services to citizens… I started at the very bottom and have taken on various roles in both the private and public sectors. I’m proof that with determination and focus, anyone can make a positive impact in their environment. This has been my key driver – making a positive impact. In line with this, it’s important to always enhance your skills, do your research, get exposure and don’t let yourself become stagnant.” - Unathi Mtya, Group Chief Information and Digital Officer, African Bank
Mtya is passionate about narrowing the digital divide and providing equal access to financial services for individuals and SMEs across the continent.
Her 25-year-long career began at FNB after majoring in computer science. She has since held GM, CTO and CIO roles at Seta, SA Parliament, Grindrod and African Bank, earning multiple national and international awards.
She believes her career has been a blessing, and she is currently in a role that suits her purpose. “The technology we work with today is both a challenge and an opportunity, and I always strive to keep our team ahead of the curve. However, in doing so, there is an impact on the workforce, as people embrace technology but there is often an element of worry. This is a yin-yang challenge that has always existed, but I welcome it, as there is nothing better than converting people from yesterday to today.”
Top Tech Innovator
The finalists, competing for the coveted Wired4Women Top Tech Innovator Award, sponsored by Telkom, are (in alphabetical order, according to their first name):
- Carol Atkinson, managing partner of Exponential Integration for Top Tech Innovation, Momentum
Atkinson has been with the Momentum group for 25 years, starting as Head of FundsAtWork and advancing to her current role. In 2015, she recognised the need for the group to respond to the rise of new start-ups, such as fintechs, and a small team was formed to explore global start-ups and their capabilities. Atkinson is passionate about SMEs and believes that, along with start-ups and entrepreneurs, they can make a fundamental impact on the economy. She leverages technologies like AI to analyse data and determine where to underwrite these organisations.
Reinsurers are seeking symbiotic relationships with SMEs developing innovative technologies, she says. “We’re exploring start-ups as new data sources, such as smartphone-based scanning of blood pressure, heart rate, stress and respiration. Such innovations are vital for life cover assessments.”
- Natalie Miller, co-founder, XRGlobal
Miller has lived in South Africa for two decades, working with organisations like Greenpeace, Oxfam and Save the Children. After her role with Operation Smile International in the US and China, she founded Operation Smile South Africa in 2009. In 2019, she co-founded XRglobal, a 'SkillsTech' company. Their flagship platform, Meta Academie, uses offline and online virtual reality (VR) to upskill youth and workers across various sectors.
With over 130 000 people trained across 14 countries, XRglobal’s VR-based training has been up to nine times more effective than traditional methods, especially in sectors like agriculture, where it also significantly improves knowledge retention and reduces training time.
“We can do training on and offline.... Where the internet is good, we can teleport in the field. We’re trying to not do things the old way.”
- Sandika Daya, senior manager, IT governance, risk and compliance, MultiChoice
For Daya, innovation is about driving meaningful change through new approaches, solving complex problems, and challenging the status quo, not just inventing new technology. She has dedicated her career to advancing security, risk and governance in an industry that is rapidly evolving.
She modernises cyber security and risk strategies to align with business needs while protecting critical assets, involving all stakeholders and building dashboards across the company.
Her approach to transforming governance and risk with innovation goes beyond enforcing compliance. “I rethink and reshape how organisations manage risk. I am actively challenging outdated ways of thinking in cyber security, tech governance and leadership. I push for ethical leadership in IT and use platforms like LinkedIn and industry events to help others rethink how technology and risk management can work together.”
- Zethu Lubisi, acting manager: ICT service delivery, Wits University
Lubisi is the acting ICT service delivery manager for planning and governance at the University of the Witwatersrand. She is also pursuing a PhD in Information Systems, focusing on the perceptions of women in ICT working in a hybrid model within the South African telecommunications sector.
In her current role, she aligns ICT business strategies with institutional goals, collaborates with stakeholders to create capability roadmaps, implements strategic policies and oversees quality assurance.
“The challenge is overcoming the limitations of legacy systems to improve content access and self-help for students and staff. This issue became more apparent during COVID-19. I initiated the process, assisted with testing and facilitated collaboration among process owners, script developers and other stakeholders. I also communicated the changes and raised awareness. This was a multi-departmental initiative.”
Announcemeny of winners
The winners of the 2025 Wired4Women Awards will be revealed at the Wired4Women Banquet on 3 April in Hyde Park, Johannesburg.
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