Find out what makes Simbo Ntshinka, Managing Director at Itec Tiyende, tick in this ‘Get to Know’ feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What would you describe as your most memorable achievement?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Managing\nthe successful joint venture of Itec and Tiyende Telecommunications, positioning\nthe business in the telecommunications space and the broader ICT sector in\nSouth Africa. I had some good wins in some major projects in managed print\nservices and enterprise telephony. These were very large projects for the\ncompany and have set the bar in the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\nare three key achievements at Itec Tiyende:<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\nfirst made you think of a career in technology?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With a\nbackground in mechanical engineering and managerial finance, I started out as General\nManager at Itec Tiyende in 2006. I was then tasked with establishing a sales\nteam that would focus on the public sector and then large corporates. However,\nI debuted my career at the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) as\nan engineering trainee and technical trainer in fluid (water) mechanics and\nlater moved on to the Professional Technical Group as a management consultant\nand went on to pursue a career in document management and printing\ntechnologies. Information Technology has always captivated me. I saw joining\nthe industry as a natural progression to what I always wanted to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\nstyle of management philosophy do you employ with your current position?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My\nleadership style is most heavily influenced by leading with vision. The\nmotivator to this being passion. I tend to keep a very firm eye on to the\nfuture, ensuring that our teams always work towards a substantial, long-term\ngoal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\ndo you think is the current hot technology talking point?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Over\nthe next year we will continue to see clients requiring technology partners\nthat simplify solutions for them and a partner that is easy to engage with \u2013\nespecially in volatile times where needs are constantly changing \u2013 yet\nadditional investment is not an option. This means optimising solutions within\ncurrent structures to provide effective business outcomes \u2013 with less effort.\nThe industry is evolving so rapidly that companies are worried about the\ncorrect product or service to choose, they need guidance and a trusted partner\nto advise them on this \u2013 this will be a main business driver in the technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How\ndo you deal with stress and unwind outside the office?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I enjoy\nplaying golf and am an avid reader of biographies, history and business\nliterature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If\nyou could go back and change one career decision what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I do\nnot have any career regrets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\ndo you currently identify as the major areas of investment in your industry?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nindustry\u2019s efforts to drive empowerment, transformation and skills development\nhave lost momentum in recent years, and while multinationals have\nwell-established go-to-market channels in South Africa, there is more that can\nbe done to empower and create a dynamic local partner network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\nare the region-specific challenges when implementing new technologies in Africa?\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Technology\nadvances are mostly in big cities. Our concern is that there is too much concentration\nto urban areas, thus disadvantage the already disadvantaged rural folk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rollout\nand deployment of high-speed fibre for instance is still very limited to urban\ncentres. We see legacy 2-3G still very much prevalent in rural arears; and yet\n5G deployment is around the corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Technology\nand its advance must be equitable if we are to reduce the inequality gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\nchanges to your job role have you seen in the last year and how do you see\nthese developing in the next 12 months?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In South\nAfrica, executive entrepreneurs are faced with many challenges. You need to be\na well-rounded executive, not just a technical capable manager. We are faced\nwith ever challenging labour issues, statutory and regulatory issues. These\nmatters are very difficult for entrepreneurs to comprehend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\nadvice would you offer somebody aspiring to obtain C-level position in your\nindustry? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You\nconstantly need to adapt to changes around you and have the ability to lead and\ninfluence situations, so you remain relevant. Be practical, be driven, be\ncourageous, be accountable. I do not subscribe to self-entitlement. Believing\nin one-self is what drives me. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Find out what makes Simbo Ntshinka, Managing Director at Itec Tiyende, tick in this ‘Get to Know’ feature. What would you describe as your most memorable achievement? Managing the successful joint venture of Itec and Tiyende Telecommunications, positioning the business in the telecommunications space and the broader ICT sector in South Africa. I had some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":31862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1949,6,399],"tags":[6679,1063,871,12540,12541,5425,7540,12538,12544,12539,12543,7539,453,12537,12542],"class_list":["post-31861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-get-to-know","category-insights","category-more-news","tag-2g","tag-3g","tag-5g","tag-department-of-justice","tag-doj","tag-itec","tag-itec-tiyende","tag-national-health-laboratory-service","tag-necsa","tag-nhls","tag-nuclear-energy-corporation","tag-simbo-ntshinka","tag-south-africa","tag-tiyende-telecommunications","tag-top-empowerment-awards"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31861"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31863,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31861\/revisions\/31863"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}