As group chief innovation officer, Cliff will drive Accelera Digital Group's (ADG’s) global innovation agenda, fostering emerging technologies, AI adoption, and next-generation digital solutions that enhance business performance and customer experience in South Africa.
Accelera Digital Group (ADG), a leading digital transformation company, delivering cutting-edge cloud, AI, big data, and software solutions to businesses worldwide, has appointed Clifford (Cliff) de Wit as its new managing director of South Africa and group chief innovation officer.
With more than two decades of experience in technology, innovation, and leadership, Cliff will lead ADG’s expansion in South Africa while driving innovation strategy across the group.
Cliff is a qualified electrical engineer from Wits University (1996) and his passion for technology has defined his career. He played a key role in launching one of the world’s first internet banking solutions with Nedbank (1998) before joining Microsoft (2000-2018), where he held multiple leadership roles.
At Microsoft South Africa, he spearheaded the SA BizSpark programme, mentoring over 3,000 tech startups, and managed key university partnerships and the DevOps business. He also organised and keynoted major technology conferences, including TechEd, DevDays, and Build Tour.
Following his tenure at Microsoft, Cliff co-founded a startup as CTO, gaining hands-on experience in business-building. In 2021, he joined Altron Netstar as CTO, leading global expansion and transformation through cloud computing, AI, and big data. Beyond his corporate roles.
Cliff is also a respected voice in the tech community and huge supporter of the CIO South Africa community, and contributes to Radio 702’s The Money Show, speaks at DevConf, and holds board positions at Wits Tshimologong and JCSE.
In his spare time, Cliff partakes in an interesting hobby, riding tandem bikes. He has even competed in a couple of well-known tandem bike races. Cliff also has a huge fascination with astronomy and enjoys astrophotography.
“Astrophotography is an amazing intersection of technology and physics. It involves taking astronomy images using specialised cameras, but it does take a fair amount of work. You need to align the telescope with the earth’s rotation, which can sometimes take hours to capture that raw data,” he explains. “Once that data is captured, it goes into a software ecosystem, where it is processed and turned into a final image.”
