Aveena Mothilall joins Twinings as director of data and analytics

Across the continent, Africa’s digital economy is writing one of the most remarkable growth stories of the modern era. From Nairobi to Lagos, dynamic mobile-first ecosystems, rapid smartphone adoption, and thriving tech hubs are bypassing traditional Western legacy cycles entirely. Yet, this hyper-growth brings a complex mandate: as digital adoption accelerates, so do cyber threats, complex cross-border compliance demands, and the urgent need to balance ironclad security with seamless customer experiences.

Three tech leaders reflect on what global decision-makers need most: human empathy, decisive action and fair technology access.

Portia Matsena has been appointed chief digital officer at the State Information Technology Agency (Sita), bringing more than two decades of technology and executive leadership experience to an institution central to South Africa’s public-sector digital transformation.

During his presentation at the 2026 IT Indaba, Nkgethu Tebogo Mampana, head of data management at Absa, unpacked the processes around building a trusted enterprise AI in a privacy-first world.

With technology teams being asked to move faster, deliver more, and respond to an endless stream of competing demands, the risk of burnout is higher than ever. In a panel discussion at the 2026 IT Indaba, Josh Souchon, IT executive at Opp-Gen, Phila Ndarana, CTO at the Auditor General of South Africa, and Popi Kunene, operations director at Mgoza Group, tackled this dilemma.

As businesses become increasingly dependent on digital infrastructure, investing in new technologies is only part of the challenge. Without the right skills, partnerships and visibility across their systems, organisations risk spending heavily on tools that fail to deliver the intended results.