When Fikile Sibiya finished matric, her heart was set on becoming a journalist. Today, the e4 Strategic chief information officer uses that same curiosity to navigate the age of artificial intelligence, build resilient technology foundations and empower the next generation of African problem-solvers.
With a heart for Africa, Fikile believes there are immense opportunities where youth can solve real societal problems through the range of technology that is available today.
Fikile finished matric in 2000 and she was set on becoming a journalist, but her dad soon put an end to that idea when he said he wasn’t paying for his daughter to pursue a degree in journalism, where she might one day end up in the middle of a war.
She went back to the university notice board to see what other options were available for her to study and her eye caught Information Technology. She had no idea what it was about, but her dad was happy with the choice and so her journey in IT began.
“In my first class, we had to switch on our computers and I had to look at my neighbour to see how to do it,” she says, laughing. And with the benefit of hindsight, she admits that she’d never change anything.
“It’s not one of those careers where nothing ever changes and you just end up doing what you’ve always been doing. Similar to journalism, you have to be adaptable, you need to stay curious, which suits me perfectly,” she says.
Before joining e4 Strategic, a leading South African technology company specialising in digital transformation and SaaS, Fikile worked at various companies, including Microsoft and Rand Merchant Bank.
Over the past six years at e4 Strategic, Fikile has focused on building secure, resilient technology foundations that serve the business today while positioning it for future growth. Her portfolio spans cybersecurity, compliance, architecture, and the enablement of data and AI capabilities that will help shape the organisation’s next phase of innovation.
Never stop learning
“No day is ever the same. Technology is evolving at an extraordinary pace; what used to shift over months now changes in weeks. In the age of AI, there is always a new capability emerging and that constant movement keeps us learning, adapting and thinking ahead,” she says.
“As a CIO, you must be clear about the principles you will not compromise on, while also creating the space to responsibly introduce emerging technologies. The challenge is to build on strong foundations of security, stability and reliability, without losing sight of innovation and the opportunities it can unlock,” she says.
Fikile says that striking a balance between strategy, execution, operations, people, risk and innovation takes a lot of curiosity and creativity but says it keeps her on her toes – and even admittedly, up at night. “But I absolutely love it and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world!” she emphasises.
Fikile is a strong advocate for continuous learning, both formally and informally: “After work, once I’ve put my children to bed, I spend a significant amount of time reading, researching global developments and staying close to what is shaping the world. I’m also almost always enrolled in a course of some kind, because staying relevant means constantly expanding your perspective,” she says.
“Staying connected to communities of experts is just as important and CIO South Africa is one of those valuable networks. Hearing what others are doing, understanding the possibilities emerging around us and learning from different perspectives is essential, because that kind of insight does not come from staying in your own corner. I am very deliberate about attending conferences and building networks and we are fortunate in South Africa to have access to many of these opportunities, often at no cost,” she says.
AI and Africa
In recent media conversations, Fikile has been speaking about the role of agentic AI, where AI moves from being a tool to becoming a co-worker, which she says can take friction out of work. “It helps you focus on more creative work, relationships and judgements. You can focus on real tasks as it takes away the mundane work,” she says.
In the same breath, she says it’s important for leaders to create a space where employees feel safe to confidently and responsibly engage with these technologies. “Transparency is important. Be transparent about where AI is used and what data it can or cannot access and why human judgement must remain at the core. Humans must be kept in the loop,” she says.
Fikile is incredibly passionate about Africa and believes that young people have the opportunity where they can truly make a difference in this space through technology.
“We need people who can understand and identify what the real societal and business problems are and how these can be solved through the plethora of technologies that we have available.
“I attended a session at a conference about two years ago and there were students from an institution of learning in the Eastern Cape who were given tasks to solve problems in their own communities and the ideas they came up with were impressive,” she says.
“There was a learner from rural KwaZulu-Natal, whose community experienced a lot of mudslides. She used geospatial and other technologies to predict when these mudslides would happen and warn her community to move to safety. This is an incredible example of real societal, environmental, economic and other challenges that confront our beautiful continent.”
The empowering leader
Fikile doesn’t believe in micro-managing her team and humility and empathy are a big part of her leadership style. She believes in building authentic relationships and connections with her team and is intentional about making space for informal conversations, whether over coffee, lunch or everyday moments that help build trust and openness.
“I love empowering. I love connecting. I love identifying potential in people and seeing them grow,” she says. “I believe great partnerships in teams are built on alignment. It is about developing a shared understanding of where we are going, respectfully challenging one another’s thinking, building trust and then walking the journey together to bring that vision to life.”
“Every meaningful achievement comes from bringing our different strengths, perspectives and skills together around a common purpose,” she says. She is also deliberate about creating a safe space for open, robust conversations where ideas can be challenged constructively and better outcomes can emerge.
Her advice to young people considering a career in IT is to start early and stay curious. “Don’t wait until varsity. Begin researching, experimenting and exploring the many freely available technology tools and coding resources. The earlier you start, the more confident you become in shaping what is possible,” she says.
