O
ctavia Kumalo is a vibrant
woman who believes in the
transformation of young people
and believes there is no better
way to do it than through ICT (Information
and Communication Technology.
Octavia was born and raised in Tshwane
and she holds a Bcom honours degree
in Informatics from the University
of Pretoria. She went through the
normal hustle of juggling studies and
her waitressing job while studying.
She landed a job at Momentum after
finishing off her studies; she worked
her way up to become a relationships
manager. She went on to work for Real
IRM as an enterprise architect and then
worked as consultant in the ICT industry.
This prepared her for the position she holds
now; Managing Director of the Foundation
for Internet Development.
Her journey to becoming the MD started
when she was asked to help with enterprise
development at South Africa’s domain
name services provider, ZA Central Registry
previously known as Uniforum. They had
decided on embarking on a project to
give back to communities and make real
considerable change, in a previously white
dominated industry.
Foundation for Internet Development aims
to unite the efforts of businesses in ICT, in
order to make a real difference in our country
and essentially streamlining development
in this sector. It was formed by Wireless
Access Providers Association (WPA),
Internet Service Providers Association
(ISPA), Internet Society South Africa( ISOCZA) and ZA Central Registry. They have
made considerable changes in ordinary
people’s lives and continue to do so.
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To date, they have opened 10 fully
functional
centers
for ICT skills
development in different communities.
They have done so in partnership with
companies such as Liquitelecomms,
CoZa
Cares,
Bitco
and
others.
They have also brought broadband
connectivity to at least 40 schools.
They are also very passionate about
helping young people start their own
internet businesses in their communities.
She wears different hats all related to the
ICT industry. She is an entrepreneur and
serves as the vice chairperson of Internet
Society - Gauteng Chapter. She has done
remarkable work in bringing young people
together, and continues to challenge the
status quo of ICT in Gauteng.
Octavia's passion for ICT has seen her
travel to different countries, often invited
as a key note speaker. It's this globetrotting
which has shaped her perspective of South
Africa's position in the global measurement
of ICT penetration; access, innovation and
market adaption in comparison to the rest
of the world.
“A key challenge which we come across
daily in making FID successful is a lack of
funding. The industry is still quite slow in
recognizing and mending this accessibility
gap”, she says. However she notes that
some improvement is being made.
Currently FID is working with Soweto
Wireless Group in an effort to get wi-fi
into Soweto. FID is the only non-profit
organization that solely focuses on
enterprise development through ICT. One
person at a time, one community at a
time FID is working towards considerable
change and we have no doubt with
Octavia as its leader that it will go further
and achieve awardable success.
IMBO/ ISSUE 32/ '14