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Meet the CIO | Schalk Visser on Cell C’s big tech pivot
Schalk Visser has worked in telecommunications for more than 20 years, first at Telkom, then at Vodacom and now at Cell C, where he has served as chief information and technology officer since 2020. Visser, an engineer, joined Cell C 13 years ago – during the tenure of former CEO…
TCS | Kiaan Pillay on fintech start-up Stitch and its R1-billion funding round
Cape Town-based fintech start-up Stitch last month caught the attention of many people when it announced it was raising R1-billion (US$55-million) in a significant series-B funding round. Co-founder and CEO Kiaan Pillay is our guest in this episode of the TechCentral Show, where he tells TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod about…
TCS+ | Switchcom and Huawei eKit: networking made easy for SMEs
Networking equipment wholesaler Switchcom Distribution has partnered with Huawei Technologies to bring new offerings to the South African market and elsewhere in Africa. In the first episode of this series, Switchcom national sales manager Lynton Brits and Huawei account manager Tanki Lebatla told TCS+ about the rationale behind the partnership…
TCS | How Covid sparked a corporate tug-of-war over Adapt IT
Shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Tiffany Dunsdon – at the time CEO of JSE-listed Adapt IT – found herself having to fend off an unwanted takeover bid from Huge Group. Dunsdon did not feel the deal made much sense for Adapt IT – a fast-growing enterprise software services provider…
TCS | From fibre to clean tech: Khudu Pitje on New GX Capital’s next chapter
New GX Capital, one of the principal investors in Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa parent CIVH, recently announced it was launching a R2.4-billion clean-tech investment fund in partnership with RMB Ventures. To unpack the details of the new fund and why it’s being established, New GX Capital founder and CEO…
Meet the CIO | Yosheen Padayachee's unconventional journey into tech leadership
Yosheen Padayachee, group IT director at Tsebo Solutions Group, is our guest in this episode of TechCentral’s Meet the CIO. -- Yosheen Padayachee was named as one of the top 100 most influential women in technology in 2024 and has been recognised among the Cyber 50 leaders in cybersecurity in…
TCS+ | Inside MTN's big brand overhaul
The Better Connection. Everywhere You Go. Or simply just Y’ello. Brand identity matters, and MTN South Africa – one of South Africa’s most valued brands – is keenly aware of that fact. Indeed, when a big consumer brand changes its brand positioning, it’s always a big deal – not only…
TCS | How South Africa's Milkor became a global player in drone innovation
A company with its headquarters in Pretoria has designed and built an advanced drone that can attain speeds of 250km/h, reach altitudes of up to 30 000ft and travel more than 4 000km before having to return to its base. The company, Milkor, is a South African defence equipment and…
TCS | Discovery Bank CEO Hylton Kallner on tech, AI and the future of banking
Discovery Bank CEO Hylton Kallner believes technology is fundamental to the company’s success. Kallner, an actuary who joined Discovery in its early days as a medical insurance company and who has held various senior leadership roles over the years, tells TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod about the group’s decision to launch…
Across South Africa in an EV: how one man did it before charging stations
Shaun Maidment crossed South Africa in an electric car, a BMW i3, before there was a network of charging infrastructure along the national routes – and he has a heck of a story to tell about his adventure. Charging infrastructure along South Africa’s national routes is now so commonplace that…
Meet the CIO | Kerissa Varma on what it takes to be a top CISO
Being a chief information security officer (CISO) in 2025 is a daunting role, but one that TechCentral’s guest in this episode of the Meet the CIO relishes. Kerissa Varma, who was recently appointed as chief cybersecurity advisor in Africa for Microsoft, previously served as group CISO at Vodacom and before…
TCS+ | Snode CEO Nithen Naidoo on the cybersecurity opportunity
Nithen Naidoo, founder and CEO of Snode Technologies, shares valuable insights on Snode and the cybersecurity space with TechCentral’s TCS+. -- Snode evolved from a consultancy to a product-focused company almost by accident. The product was developed on the ground, which led to the philosophy of customer-led design, emphasising solutions…
TCS | Why the CompCom wants Google to pay up
The Competition Commission is girding itself for a fight with Big Tech companies like Google and Meta Platforms after publishing its provisional findings in its investigation into the impact that Big Tech has had on the South African news media sector. To unpack the provisional report, which was published on…
TCS | New player in township fibre market offers 100Mbit/s for R9/day
South Africa has a new player chasing the township fibre broadband market: Wire-Wire Networks has deployed fibre to 15 800 homes in Thembisa (previously Tembisa), a sprawling township in central Gauteng. CEO JP Schmidtke joined the TechCentral Show earlier this week to share exclusive details about the company’s growth plans…
TCS | Zimi Charge CEO Michael Maas on electrifying SA’s logistics fleets
South African logistics firm Bakers SA recently deployed the first electric trucks to its fleet of more than a thousand vehicles. Working with Stellenbosch-based EV charging and software company Zimi Charge, Bakers’ deployment points a potential future in South Africa in which planet-warming trucks are replaced with electric alternatives. Michael…
TCS | Deep impact: Dean Furman on the implications of China's DeepSeek
China’s DeepSeek rocked US technology stocks last month after the company appeared to have developed an artificial intelligence model akin to OpenAI’s most advanced ChatGPT models at a tiny fraction of the cost. Stocks like Nvidia, Google and Microsoft cratered on the news as it raised serious questions about whether…
TCS | We test drive South Africa’s cheapest electric car
Enviro Automotive has launched South Africa’s most affordable electric car yet, the Dayun S5 Mini SUV – and TechCentral has taken the vehicle for a test drive. In this episode of the TechCentral Show, we are joined by Environ Automotive executives Gideon Wolvaardt and Francois Malan to unpack the new…
TCS | 'Activist CEO' Adam Craker on iqbusiness, the GNU and fixing Joburg
Adam Craker has strong views on what’s needed to turn around South Africa’s fortunes and fix its biggest city, Johannesburg, which has fallen into a state of disrepair. The CEO of iqbusiness, a digital integrator in the Reunert stable formed recently though the merger of IQbusiness and +OneX, is our…
TCS+ | Shifting Microsoft Azure SQL into overdrive
Microsoft Azure SQL is a fully managed and scalable cloud database service – and its myriad benefits mean your company should be considering it if it isn’t already using it. To unpack this in more detail, Preegan Chetty, Microsoft Azure product manager at First Distribution, and Silicon Overdrive Microsoft business…
TCS+ | Just how secure is your cloud database?
In the second episode of this series about migrating to Microsoft Azure SQL, the focus turns to what’s involved in moving from SQL Server to Azure SQL, and First Distribution’s Preegan Chetty returns to unpack the key priority of securing databases in the cloud. If you missed episode 1 in…