EDITOR’S
NOTE
H
ello and welcome to the latest edition
of Intelligent CIO Africa, which is
once again packed with the latest
news and views from across the continent.
Global financial services company,
Mastercard, is at the forefront of the
payments industry and has implemented
many new technologies. But that’s not to
say it hasn’t come without its challenges.
Gaurang Shah – who features on the front
cover – is the Senior Vice President for
Digital Payments and Labs for Middle East
and Africa at Mastercard and tells us the
company has used a three-pronged approach
in order to be innovative. He also provides
examples of recent solutions that Mastercard
has implemented in Africa, which includes
designing a Quick Response (QR) payment
solution, called Masterpass, in South Africa.
Digital technology is no doubt evolving
quickly and disrupting traditional business
models, leading to cyber risks becoming
more challenging. With this in mind, John
McLoughlin, a cybersecurity expert and
the CEO at J2 Software, explains in our
cybersecurity feature how business leaders
are now clearly recognising the critical
nature of cyberthreats and starting to
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identify and embrace best practices to
mitigate risks.
Our second feature is about 5G and the
potential impact it will have in Africa. We
hear from as Deon Geyser, Head of the
Southern Africa subregion at Nokia, who says
that Africa is equally capable of embracing
the huge potential of mobile technology as
the rest of the world, despite the limitations
of its existing infrastructure, while Hassen
Hamza, Presales and Business Development
Manager MEA, Nexign, looks at 5G and IoT
monetisation opportunities for South African
CSPs. He believes that vendors will need to
provide systems that support African telcos
in convergent scenarios and different types
of networks on their journey towards the 5G
and IoT monetisation era.
Our Country Focus this month is on Nigeria.
As the most populated country in Africa, it
is vitally important that Nigeria keeps up-to-
speed with developing technologies. In our
feature, you can therefore find out how the
government is planning on driving the digital
economy in the west African country.
in ‘Industry Watch, while Roy Alves, New
Business Sales Director, Mimecast tells us
what makes him tick in ‘Get to Know’.
And to round off the magazine in ‘Final
Word’, James Buckley, from Infosys Finacle,
looks at how African banks have been able
to innovate successfully where many others
have failed.
I hope you enjoy reading the magazine, and
remember, if you would like to contribute
towards further editions, you can do so by
emailing me at [email protected]
Paul Rogers
Editor
Elsewhere, you can find out what is
happening in the manufacturing sector
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