Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 39 | Page 7

EDITOR’S NOTE W elcome to the latest edition of Intelligent CIO Africa. As you will no doubt be aware the world has been turned upside-down since our last issue. At that time we were certainly all aware of the outbreak of Coronavirus in China. We’ve seen it spread across the globe but few of us would have expected to have seen the explosion of cases that we have. The virus has had a massive impact on everybody’s life with many countries opting for a lockdown meaning our well-established life and work routines have been thoroughly disrupted. Of course, the work of IT companies has reflected the concerns of the world around it. And that’s why we have handed over large chunks of the magazine to its coverage. Our news section is dominated by the subject and I would encourage you to read daily news updates on our website at www.intelligentcio.com/africa/. Gracing the cover of this edition’s magazine is Kennedy Uzoka, Group Managing Director, UBA Group. When the United Bank of Africa needed a state-of-the-art banking platform to support its transformation plans it turned www.intelligentcio.com to Infosys Finacle. The platform would need to enable the bank to consolidate its strategic positioning as well as capitalise on the extensive opportunities in the African market. Key benefits include creating a strong technology architecture to provide a top- class customer experience while accelerating innovation across all business models. “At UBA, we have always looked to drive greater financial inclusion across Africa. It has become vital for banks to have a strong technology architecture in place to provide a customer experience at par with digital disruptors across channels while accelerating innovations across new business models,” Uzoka told us. “With Infosys Finacle, we now have a strong digital suite that enables the bank to drive growth while providing an exceptional banking experience to our growing retail, SME, institutional and corporate customers.” operations are headquartered in Cape Town, tells us about how African women are making a huge contribution to technology. She tells us: “Successful women in technology and the sciences must be celebrated and brought to the fore so that they are visible.” You can read more of her opinions on page 19. As usual, we have all your favourite features and a news round-up from across the region. And please don’t forget if you would like to get in touch, email me at paul@ lynchpinmedia.co.uk. I’d like to wish you a good month ahead and please enjoy the read! You can find out more by turning to page 50. Elsewhere in the magazine, Barbara McCarthy, Global CTO at international mobile top-up platform Ding, whose African Paul Rogers Editor INTELLIGENTCIO 7