Dr Hasmukh Gajjar has been appointed as an executive director to the board of Faritec. Before joining Faritec, Dr Hasmukh Gajjar was the CEO of IT firm Consilience Technologies, former chairman of the Black IT Forum and past president of the Black Business Council.
He serves on numerous IT and telecom bodies. A University of Cape Town graduate, Gajjar practiced as a medical doctor for 12 years. In 1987, in partnership with Rasheed Hargey, he launched software distributor HNR Computers. Gajjar subsequently served as country manager for WordPerfect. In 1996 Gajjar helped start Ndizani Technologies in Cape Town. He left to become non-executive chairman of Vodacom Group, a position he held to March 2000.
Gajjar joins Dr Chris Jardine and Jayendra Naidoo who have been appointed as non-executive chairman and non-executive director of Faritec respectively.
Jardine is the group executive for operations at Jay & Jayendra (Pty) Limited, an investment and management company with interests in various companies in the technology and financial sectors. Before this, he was an executive director at Transnet, with responsibility for the company`s technology and property businesses. This role included direct responsibility for Transtel and B2Bafrica, as well as oversight roles for Transnet`s investments in arivia.kom, M-Cell and the V&A Waterfront.
Jardine serves as a non-executive director of numerous companies. He holds BSc and MSc degrees in computer science and a PhD in information technology, all from George Mason University in Virginia, in the US.
Jayendra Naidoo is the joint-CEO of J&J Investments (Pty) Limited, the company he started with former cabinet minister Jay Naidoo. He was the special representative of President Thabo Mbeki, serving as chief negotiator for government on defence acquisition and counter trade negotiation. Between 1995 and 1999 he was executive director of the National Economic Development and Labour council (Nedlac). He negotiated for Cosatu, and was responsible for setting up the National Economic Forum, Nedlac"s predecessor. In 1991 he led the ANC-ASCP-Cosatu team that negotiated the National Peace Accord.
The three directors, being representatives from the empowerment consortium that has recently acquired a 30% interest in the main operating company of Faritec, will be actively involved in the strategy setting and the management of the company. All of the appointments are effective immediately.
Faritec concluded the empowerment transaction with a consortium led by J and J Group (J&J), a strategic investment and management company and includes union investment company, Lesaka Holdings. The consortium acquired 30% equity in Faritec and as part of the transaction, Faritec also acquired the operational assets of Consilience, an IT systems integration company and joint venture between J&J and Tata Africa Holdings (SA) (Pty) Ltd.
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