South African IT figure Guy Whitcroft has parted ways with IT4Africa and is pondering his next move in the country while taking a break.
Whitcroft returned to SA about nine months ago after a seven-year stint in various positions in Dubai and the UK. Upon his return, he joined IT4Africa to turn the troubled company's operations around in the English-speaking countries in Africa.
After his interim contract ended at the end of last month, he parted ways with IT4Africa, and is now pondering what to do next as he has entered "semi-retirement". "I'm sort of sunning myself in Cape Town."
Whitcroft could not indicate what will happen with the beleaguered entity. He notes he left behind a competent team, and has handed his recommendations for the future of the company to parent entity Computer Information Systems (CIS), which will take a decision on the local firm's future.
IT4Africa is a subsidiary of the multinational CIS Group and distributes products in Africa, which is its focus area. It was established in 2001, and has been through undisclosed internal strife that impacted the company's ability to function.
Upon his appointment, Whitcroft's aims were to boost IT4Africa's staff from 30 to 50 and expand the local head office, as well as the branches in Namibia and Botswana.
CIS, which is based in Lebanon, operates in around 30 countries and turns over about $400 million a year. Its business is a mixture of volume and value-added distribution and services.
Whitcroft is known locally for his 15-year career with distribution group MB Technologies and nine-year role as CEO of Tarsus.
He currently has no definite next move, noting he will be on the lookout for projects that interest him, which could be as an executive, non-executive or interim posting to a company.
Whitcroft says he may also move out of the tech sector as non-ICT companies are increasingly looking for "tech-savvy" people to get on board to aid them in the digital age.
With nearly four decades of experience in the IT sector, Whitcroft has covered technical, marketing, sales and operations management with multinational vendors, distributors, resellers and end-users in markets spanning Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
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