Mohamed Sami, group CIO at Vodacom, is in the gym by 6.30am, three times a week. He is also, in his words, “a carnivore and an Egyptian, but a newcomer to South Africa”.
Mohamed Sami is an early bird who is in the gym by 6.30am at least three times a week. After a light breakfast, he heads straight to work.
This small ritual sets the tone for a day that could otherwise be swallowed whole by meetings.
After two years in Johannesburg, the way Mohamed describes himself as a carnivore and an Egyptian in South Africa, captures a leader still working out where Cairo ends and his new home begins.
It is an unlikely entry point into the profile of someone who runs information technology across one of Africa's largest telco and fintech businesses. But it says something about how Mohamed, group CIO at Vodacom, approaches the job: discipline first, identity close behind.
Cairo to the C-suite
Mohamed’s path starts in Cairo, where he studied electronics and communication engineering at Ain Shams University. He later added an MBA in international business and globalisation from the Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands.
“I started working in 1999 in network operations, which taught me discipline, resilience and the importance of service availability,” he says.
That grounding shapes everything that follows. Mohamed moves through network strategy, business intelligence, IT architecture and major programme delivery with ease. His extensive career, spanning over 27 years, includes many technology leadership roles.“The common thread has been taking technology, industrialising it at scale, and turning it into meaningful business and customer value,” he explains.
Over time, the focus shifted. “My career has expanded from understanding and building technology to understanding how it can develop talent and make a positive impact on people’s lives,” he says.
In his current role as the Vodacom Group CIO, a role he stepped into in 2024, he is responsible for the delivery of the overall IT strategy, services and products across the group. His role also includes transformational and strategic initiatives driving market-leading digital products with a focus on maximising customer experience, improved technology performance and simplicity.
The long climb
Managing teams across eight countries where Vodacom Group operates – literally from Cape to Cairo – taught Mohamed to lead through context rather than control. “As a leader, you are no longer the one providing the answers; you are responsible for delivering through others,” he says.
Working across cultures, geographies and maturity levels tests him in ways technical expertise never did. “Scaling a global technology organisation and learning to lead across different cultures, geographies and maturity levels was an eye-opener,” he reflects.
Two career-defining bets
Mohamed names two risks that shape his career. The first is early on, when he stepped away from being a technical expert to take responsibility for outcomes at a much larger scale.
“Moving into technology leadership meant I had to lead across cultures, manage commercial outcomes and create alignment without always having direct authority,” he says.
The second is his push for internal engineering and selective insourcing, at a time when outsourcing is the industry default. “This buy-versus-build strategy was controversial, but betting on building internal capabilities gave us faster time to market, strategic control and lower long-term dependency on suppliers,” he says.
Not every bet pays off cleanly, and Mohamed is candid about the lesson. “I learned that a technically correct strategy can still fail without ownership, adoption and sponsorship,” he says.
Despite the inevitable setbacks, Mohamed found his motivation by connecting directly with end users. “Seeing technology’s impact firsthand at call centres, shops and operating companies across Africa is incredibly rewarding,” he adds.
What he'd tell his younger self
When Mohamed first joined Vodacom, he arrived with a clear, centralised blueprint for his technology teams.
“When I started, I came with an agenda of creating maximum standardisation across markets to drive efficiency and enhance customer experience,” he admits.
However, the complex realities of operating across borders quickly challenged this one-size-fits-all approach.
“The regulatory variations between countries – even those geographically close to each other – cannot be underestimated,” he says. “While Standardisation and leveraging scale remains very important to our multi-market organisation, you must take these local regulatory differences into consideration whenever you design and architect any solution.”
The man, not the mandate
His family is scattered across the continent. Mohamed's parents still live in Cairo, and he visits whenever he can. In Johannesburg, he is a husband and father of two sons – his eldest, 21, is studying medicine, while his youngest is 14.
His wife's career background helps more than most spouses could. “It helps immensely that my wife is a network professional, so she understands the challenges of the job,” he says.
The role, he admits, could easily consume every hour he has, and he is deliberate about not letting that happen. “You must plan deliberately for learning, business and family,” he says.
Delegation is the release valve that buys him that time back. “Once you empower them, your life becomes much easier.”
Each day, he protects one hour for something other than firefighting. “I make sure to spend at least one hour a day reflecting on meeting outcomes, orchestration and planning, rather than just firefighting,” he says.
It is not meditation; he is quick to clarify. “I do not have that luxury. It is simply a dedicated time to step away from back-to-back meetings,” he says.“If you let yourself go with the flow, the day-to-day firefighting will eat 100 percent of your time.”
Newly South African
Mohamed’s transition to life in Mzansi is best measured by his weekend habits. South African rugby has a way of pulling in anyone who stands close enough to it. Mohamed is proof. The Springbok jersey in his cupboard is new, and so is the appetite behind it.
“To be honest, I have learned a lot! I knew about rugby before, but the passion and hype here is incredible,” he says. “I am a Springbok fan now and a big supporter of South African sports.”
Naturally, his palate has followed his passion. “I have been spoiled by the quality of the steak here,” he adds – high praise from a self-declared carnivore.
Cape Town is familiar territory for Mohamed’s family, but the actual Garden Route remains undiscovered. This 300-kilometre stretch of coastline offers a slow journey through dense forests, sandy beaches and lagoons.
“I have been in South Africa for two years now, and I have planned a Garden Route road trip with my family this December,” Mohamed says.
