With only four minutes to impress South Africa’s top IT executives, CIO South Africa’s trusted partners took to the stage at The Venue in Melrose Arch to present their latest innovations during the 2025 Pitch Parade.
On a crisp winter evening in Johannesburg, CIO South Africa’s partners and IT leaders gathered at The Venue in Melrose Arch for the 2025 Pitch Parade. CIO South Africa’s partners were given a strict four-minute window to deliver their pitches or risk being buzzed off stage. Setting the tone for the night, comedian Nicholas Goliath opened with an electric set that spared no one. The sharp banter landed well, becoming a standout moment of the evening.
The first pitch came from Ziaad Suleman, recently appointed CEO of Cassava Technologies. He outlined the company’s end-to-end technology stack powered by expansive fibre networks and data centres across key African markets.
“Connectivity is the backdrop for enabling greater digital innovation and transformation. Cassava Technologies is committed to enabling Africa to build its own solutions, for too long we have been at the receiving end of second-rate technology but all of that is changing,” Ziaad added.
Ziaad announced that in 2025, Cassava Technologies will bring 3,000 GPUs into South Africa and partner with Nvidia to build an AI library, addressing the region’s limited access to computational power.
Lesedi Modibane, head of digital BU at MakwaIT, followed with a pitch focused on hybrid service offerings designed to solve complex challenges related to digital transformation, governance, risk and budget constraints.
“The key to MakwaIT is client centricity. As a trusted partner with over a decade of experience, MakwaIT offers a range of digital services, including application management, AI and ML, data and analytics and consulting and advisory services,” said Lesedi.
The tech dating game
Chelcie Reynolds, senior solutions consultant at Entelect, adopted a creative approach, comparing technology to a dating game with three contestants. “Legacy systems are reliable, stable but can be a little traditional. Next up, we have cloud, he’s dynamic, flexible and he’s “always” online but he’s had his fair share of ups and downs with too many rushed roll outs with no governance or strategy or optimisation. Our third contestant is the mysterious AI who is cutting-edge and powerful but while everyone wants him, very few actually know how to use him,” she said.
Chelcie positioned Entelect as the partner to tailor these technologies to specific use cases.
The first duo of the night, Stephen Coull and Blake Davidson from MagicOrange shared the origin of their platform, inspired by a CIO’s budgeting frustration. “Our founders attended a conference where a CIO explained the frustration of qualifying his budget to the CEO every year, likening it to a magic orange that could be squeezed endlessly while keeping its shape,” Blake said.
The duo explained how MagicOrange transforms IT budgeting with advanced analytics and real-time reporting to simplify cost allocation and resource utilisation.
Bringing a refreshing sense of calm to the stage, Investec CIO Ebrahim Samodien provided insight into the development of the bank’s multicurrency pockets innovation.
“A few years ago I found myself frustrated by the highly-regulated banking system, which can sometimes stifle innovation but then Investec asked me to build a multicurrency feature and after much trial and error, it happened,” Ebrahim said proudly. This revolutionary solution allows clients to manage and transact in multiple currencies via a single account and one card.
In the second round, Hyland’s Southern Africa account manager Derren Naidoo used the metaphor of a needle in a haystack to explain data discovery challenges. “That’s where data democratisation comes in, it’s about giving everyone a magnet to find the correct dataset and ensure that finding that elusive insight isn’t just for the certified needle finders (data scientists),” said Naidoo.
He described how Hyland’s Content Cloud Innovation unifies enterprise data and applies AI for deeper insights and automation.
The second tag team pitch of the evening, Frank Heitmuller and Andrew Griffith, managing directors at Communication Genetics and Information Genetics, delivered a joint pitch on data and cybersecurity. “At Information Genetics, we ensure that your data is a strategic digital transformation enabler and not a blocker,” said Andrew.
Frank added: “It’s not all rosy out there, managing your data is key but security is equally important.” He also took the opportunity to announce a new partnership with Veracode to strengthen AI-driven secure software development.
The invisible connections that make it all work
Felicia Letsie, senior sales manager at Equinix South Africa, challenged the audience to consider what powers platforms like Netflix and Zoom. “It’s the invisible network of connections that work all day every day,” she said. Letsie explained that Equinix’s over 200 globally connected data centres provide 99.9 percent uptime.
Audiences engaged with Equinix’s data centre offering, with one attendee asking why IT leaders should choose Equinix over mainstream providers. Felicia Letsie responded by highlighting Equinix’s competitive advantage in connection speed.
Meanwhile, principal services executive at Workday Suren Naidoo was the brave innovator who came onto the stage with just his cue cards and a passionate message. “Project deployments are often a slow and time-consuming process that often leads to losses which isn’t just an inconvenience, but a massive drag on your business,” he added. Suren explained how Workday has positioned itself as a partner that can accelerate project deployment across the HR and finance departments.
For the final round of pitches, guests were energised following a delicious dinner and networking experience. Huawei’s VP of ecosystem and partner development in Southern Africa, Diego Hanxiao kicked off the round in jest of his English speaking capabilities.
He went on to share the company’s commitment to building robust digital infrastructure and shared a unique use case of AI, 5G and cloud computing in mining operations. “Huawei has connected a smart truck to an intelligent cloud to enable self-driving mining trucks that can navigate their own course, creating a map of the mining field in minutes,” Diego added.
The solution raised questions from the audience about its impact on labour, particularly given South Africa’s unemployment challenges. Diego clarified that although the truck is self-driving, it requires monitoring and control by humans, shifting the physically demanding task of long hours of driving to machines, while allowing humans to focus on less strenuous work.
The human vs AI debate
Global director at HCLTech Andrew Fisher shared that a question from Lego’s CIO about how integrators are using AI in transformation projects to accelerate timelines and reduce costs prompted HCLTech to enhance their service offerings.
He explained that deploying AI requires a strong transformation methodology and that HCLTech has partnered strategically with OpenAI to support AI deployment for their clients.
Taking on the human vs AI debate JustSolve CEO and founder, Botha van der Vyver started JustSolve with the simple goal of finding the best way to build quality software products while writing the least amount of code.
“Our automation products give people freedom. When software handles the mundane, people do the exceptional,” Botha said. JustSolve aims to be a partner that drives people-centered automation.
The final pitch of the night did not disappoint, as Clydie Cronje, chief executive of digital & OKS at iOCO, comedically showcased how their outsourced knowledge solutions like layered voice analytics are transforming the way organisations engage with employees. “Our layered voice analytics can check more than 200 points of your voice and map it into eight emotions,” Clydie explained.
By analysing voice patterns to detect emotional states, this tech is unlocking powerful use cases across sectors, particularly in HR, where it’s already helping companies boost employee engagement and wellness.
The evening concluded with a final networking session, with many new relationships built and business cards exchanged, creating the perfect stage for building new partnerships in the near future!
