IITPSA president Pearl Pasi says: “We’re pleased to note that we have yet another outstanding cohort of nominees, which made the selection of finalists 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 awards recognise leaders in the ICT sector and have grown in scope over 30 years to include awards presented by the IITPSA, in association with ITWeb and the Gordon Institute of Business Science, for:

• IT Personality of the Year – awarded to a highly respected and outstanding ICT professional who has made a significant technical or academic contribution to the industry, and has been successful in building a highly respected IT organisation or business, and/or has made a major contribution to the IT profession over a number of years
• Visionary CIO of the Year – recognising 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)
• Technology Excellence – presented to a person who or team that 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 or the South African economy
• Social Responsibility/Community – acknowledges a person, team or project delivering the benefits of IT on a not-for-profit basis into communities or bringing communities into the IT space
• Dynamism in ICT Youth – for people under the age of 25 who have demonstrated exceptional potential or achievement in ICT over the past two to five years

In addition, the Distinguished Service in ICT Award is presented in association with EngineerIT as well as the IITPSA’s new Member Ambassador Award (introduced this year to recognise exceptional commitment and effort by an IITPSA member serving as an ambassador of the IITPSA).

The 2024 finalists are:

• IT Personality of the Year
  • Joseph Lumbahe, senior AI technology specialist at Microsoft. Now part of the new global AI specialised team in South Africa, focusing on AI application development, he served as global manager and lead AI engineer at Aizatron Group. His leadership roles include regional ambassador for the South African AI Association and non-executive board director at AEEYC. His accolades include the Most Influential AI Technology Business Leader (Africa) Award, African Genius 2024 nominee and finalist for the IITPSA 2023 Technology Excellence Award.
• Zandile Mkwanazi, founder and CEO of GirlCode. Having empowered over 80 000 girls and women through technology education, bridging the gender gap in South Africa, she also founded the GirlCode Talent tech recruitment startup. Recognised for her impact, Mkwanazi has been honoured with several prestigious awards and is a sought-after keynote speaker. With a proven track record of success, she is a powerful advocate for diversity and inclusion.
   
• Cinga Nyangintsimbi, founder and MD of Batsamayi Software Development. Batsamayi was established as a third-year group project during Nyangintsimbi's student days at Nelson Mandela University in 2013. He later became a student assistant and lecturer of final-year IT students. Batsamayi grew out of a dream by six young software engineers[EL1]  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 fintech, healthcare, insurance, telecoms, retail and media before establishing CestaSoft Solutions – now a leader in the digital transformation space. She also founded Cesta Academy, which promotes graduates in professional software specialisation. Her accolades include an award from the Consulate General of India in Johannesburg, the Olympus Award for dedication to empowerment and the Women in Tech Award.
   
• Rashika Ramlal, country manager (public sector) and executive director at Amazon Web Services South Africa. 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 South Africa’s top five leaders in ICT. She has won the ITWeb/Wired4Women Business Leader of the Year Award and the TopCo Media’s AfricaTech Visionary Women Leader of the Year accolade. She holds MBA and BSc IT degrees (both cum laude), among other qualifications.
   

• Nomonde White-Ndlovu, CIO at 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’s IT office and has been joint chief information officer for the organisation's infrastructure services. She is also a speaker and moderator and chairperson of Wired4Women. She[EL2]  holds MBA and BA law degrees.
   
• Kholeka Tsotsotso, CIO at 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 cybersecurity, business continuity, business and ICT operational and strategic management, and leveraging technological risks into strategic opportunities. She has successfully delivered integrated sales models focused on digital transformation and customer-centricity, and developed robust governance, risk and compliance processes. She is also co-founder of the Circle of Lift Foundation and serves on the advisory board of Women in Tech SA.
   
• Gudani Mukatuni, CIO at Glacier. Prior to the role of CIO at Africa’s largest unit investment administration platform, Mukatuni held senior leadership and executive roles at WesBank (part of FirstRand), AIG Africa and Nedbank. Her career spans financial services, telecommunications (MTN) and consulting firms, starting at EY[EL3] . She holds MBA and BSc computer science degrees as well as certificates in applied project management and strategic systems planning.
   
• Sandra (Sandy) Rheeder, CIO at 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. She holds a BSc (Hons) information systems degree.
   
• George Palmer, CIO at Coaxle Lightstone and Coaxle[EL4] . Palmer has an extensive track record of leadership in IT, solution development, product management, IT and technology management as well as sales management. He manages teams of technical experts in database management, infrastructure (on-premises and cloud), networks, security (cyber and systems) and user and systems support. He holds a BCom in computer science, higher diploma in education and an executive education certificate in digital transformation.
   
• Lungile Mginqi, Group CIO at Sasol. With over three decades of experience spanning business, consulting and large enterprise IT leadership, Mginqi is now focused on transforming Sasol from traditional IT to digital with his vision 2035. He has served as partner at a global management consulting firm, CEO of a financial services company and COO of his own startup. He holds a MSc in engineering and a certificate in business innovation.
   

• Cornelius Greyling, Fibertime executive and technology leader. As a dynamic entrepreneur and technology leader, Greyling co-founded Avocado Chocolate in 2015 with 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 Fibertime where he oversees product development.
   
• Riaan Mastenbroek, director and product owner of BlackBEE Software. An accomplished entrepreneur and Microsoft certified professional with over 20 years of experience in software development and product management, Mastenbroek has developed innovative products including W8Bin, W8Suite, W8Cert, W8Bridge, W8Chem, W8Sense and W8Fuel. He is also a qualified blockchain solution architect and serves as a technical adviser for two blockchain ICO startups and is an active member of the World Economic Forum's Blockchain Advisory Committee.
   
• Yugrow is a behaviour tech platform for women that enables growth through personalised micro actions and growth challenges, high-impact coaching and a support network. Started by founder Kele Boakgomo and Yolanda Nobanda, Yugrow helps women break barriers and drive significant growth, ultimately contributing to closing the economic gender gap.
   

• Zoie Health is a digital women and family health and wellness platform offering virtual consultations, a community chat forum, resources and a shop/pharmacy where members can purchase their health and wellness products and medication. Zoie Health also has a B2B WhatsApp-based employee benefits product for frontline employees called EasyDoc.
   
• JOBJACK is a technology-driven, mobile-friendly platform that makes the application process easy and low-cost for job seekers. JOBJACK also makes it easier for employers to find and hire entry-level talent by automating and improving the recruiting process through a technology-driven applicant tracking system, matching algorithms and psychometric assessments.
   
• STEMulator is a 21^st century, four-dimensional, fully interactive XplorITory to get youngsters excited about the STEM world and careers. The STEMulator was developed by Richard Gundersen, an electrically educated, mechanically trained systems and project engineer in mining. He is also a member of proSET membership sector of the NSTF where the STEMulator was born.
   
• Prof Stella Bvuma, director of the University of Johannesburg's School of Consumer Intelligence and Information Systems. Prof Bvuma is passionate about ICT4development, technology adoption and digital transformation, particularly in areas like SMME development, smart cities, cybersecurity and the digital economy. She is an advocate for women’s inclusion in IT and digital equality. She has served on the boards of South African Tourism and the State Information Technology Agency as deputy chairperson. She has also been an adviser on digital strategy and 4iR to the City of Johannesburg mayoral office and is the 4iR commissioner for the premier of KwaZulu-Natal. Prof Bvuma holds a PhD in IT management.
   
• Krish Govender, KwaZulu-Natal provincial coordinator for Tangible Africa. As a retired school principal, Govender continues actively contributing to the education sector. In the past two years, he has travelled throughout KwaZulu-Natal to introduce Unplugged Coding (Rangers) to schools. He currently coordinates 27 regions in the province. To date, 1 500 teachers from 350 schools have been trained by Unplugged Coding and KwaZulu-Natal schools have been highly successful in the Unplugged Coding Championships. Last year, Sunford Primary won the World Championship.
   

• Kim Small. A final year student pursuing a BCom in information systems and management, Small has received several accolades including dean’s merit awards in 2021 and 2023 and was recognised as the best first-year student in the extended programme. She is also a member of the Golden Key Honour Society and has actively participated in initiatives such as the Huawei Seeds for the Future programme, the Gen Z Coca-Cola Creative Hackathon and the iNkanyezi IT Audit & Cyber Security Academy.
   
• Inge Odendaal. Currently pursuing her honours in computer science, Odendaal is consistently placed first in the School of IT, which includes computer science, informatics and information science. She is also an assistant lecturer at the University of Pretoria and tutors maths and computer science modules. She 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 who, through MoveMates, offers instant quotes and on-demand moving services. With a background in software engineering from WeThinkCode, she has won first place in five prestigious hackathons. She is listed among ITWeb's 100 Influential Women in Tech and won the Rising Star in Coding Award. She was also named among Geekulcha's top 15 geeks and founded the Thuma Mina Tech Foundation, an NPO that teaches autistic children about technology.
   
• Ashleigh Mabaire. A junior software engineer with a BSc in IT, majoring in computer science and informatics, Mabaire ranks among the top 10 in the majority of her majors at the University of Johannesburg. She is also a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society. She serves as deputy chair of the IITPSA Women in IT chapter and as treasurer of the Gauteng chapter.
   

• Saba Rahimi, Chair of the IITPSA Gauteng chapter. Rahimi is a professional member of the IITPSA and actively serves on several committees, including the Computer Olympiads Scientific Committee. A regular participant in IITPSA events, he delivers guest lectures and actively promotes membership. Currently the CIO of TForge, he has also provided consultancy services and served as a junior lecturer at the University of Cape Town while completing his MCom degree.
   
• Constandious Takura Munakandafa, member of the IITPSA Social and Ethics Committee. Munakandafa previously served as secretary, treasurer and vice chairperson of the IITPSA’s Gauteng chapter and regularly writes IT articles published in the IITPSA newsletter. He is an Agile systems analyst at Glacier by Sanlam and holds a BSc (Hons) in information systems degree.
   
• Ashleigh Mabaire. A junior software engineer with a BSc in IT, majoring in computer science and informatics, Mabaire ranks among the top 10 in the majority of her majors at the University of Johannesburg. She is also a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society. She serves as deputy chair of the IITPSA Women in IT chapter and as treasurer of the Gauteng chapter.

The winners will be announced at the Bryanston Country Club on November 26.

For more information and to support the finalists, go to https://www.iitpsa.org.za/annual-presidents-awards-finalists/