The Cape IT Initiative's board has appointed Jenny McKinnell as its executive director.
This is the only permanent employee appointment made since December, after all its staff members were let go in the face of a serious cash shortage.
Andrea Bohmert, Cape IT Initiative chairperson, says the appointment was made because the financial situation has been resolved, and the process of reinstating its strategy and rebuilding the organisation can begin.
“We have had the buy-in from all the stakeholders, especially the City of Cape Town and the provincial government of the Western Cape, and we now need someone who can drive this process forward and this is why Jenny's appointment can be made,” she says.
Bohmert and McKinnell both praised Bandwidth Barn GM Chris Vermeulen, who took the reins as interim Cape IT Initiative executive director after the sudden resignation of Viola Manuel last year.
“Chris did a fantastic job in very difficult circumstances and it is largely because of his efforts that the Cape IT Initiative is financially sound,” Bohmert notes.
She explains that McKinnell's background in research, Internet start-ups and corporate activity made her the ideal candidate to deal with all stakeholders from government to the smallest IT companies.
McKinnell (42) is an Internet industry veteran, having started Webcheck, the country's first company to survey the habits of South African Web users in the mid-1990s, which was eventually merged with Research Surveys. Prior to that, she worked in the advertising industry.
She also worked as a consultant, most notably for ISP MWeb during the time when it faced a serious threat from Absa when the banking group offered free Internet connectivity as a means to expand its client base.
In 2002, McKinnell was shortlisted as a candidate for her current position, but it was awarded to her one-time colleague Masedi Molosiwa, who left the Cape IT Initiative in 2006.
McKinnell, who has been in office for less than four days, says that - while the Cape IT Initiative has to dust itself off - it still has an important role to play in the province's IT sector, both as a cross-sector enabler and as a high growth sector in its own right.
“A census was conducted of the Cape's IT sector in 2007 and an extensive strategy was drawn up then as well. This lays the groundwork for what we have to do going forward. This includes getting more members and, I believe, every company in the Western Cape should be a member,” she says.
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