Delivering solutions that make a difference

Dr Vukile Mehana, CEO

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The days when ICT companies “just dropped boxes” are far behind us and the age of delivering solutions is at its peak. However, even this age has undergone some evolution of its own; it has now evolved to a stage where solutions that are delivered to clients have to make a tangible difference.

Companies that understood this ethos have managed to stand for the past 20 turbulent years in the ICT sector, while those that did not quite grasp it have fallen by the wayside.

A company that understood this early on in its establishment is systems integrator Sizwe Africa IT Group, which has managed to organically grow its operation from a two-man operation in the year 1999 to now – 20 years later – employing more than 650 personnel.

It is also a level one B-BBEE contributor and also practices preferential procurement that gives previously marginalised companies as well as communities the abilities to benefit from its various projects.

The Sizwe Africa IT Group has made a big part of its go-to-market strategy partnering with SMMEs in order to foster skills transfer and development while offering industry-leading comprehensive end-to-end IT solutions in the managed services, unified network solutions, fibre and facilities management across South Africa.

Dr Vukile Mehana, Sizwe Africa IT Group CEO, said: “We have always considered our relationship with SMMEs as a partnership and have, over the years, delivered on substantial contracts while supporting and promoting smaller, independently owned business and, in so doing, ensuring growth of the local economy.”

To bolster this, it also prides itself on its ISO certifications that give the company a significant edge over its competitors and also translates to notable benefits for its clients.

“A major part of our strategy is to identify societal needs or challenges and provide technology solutions that help communities, organisations and even educational institutions to overcome them. We don’t develop solutions just for the sake of solutions, our main intent is to develop them in a way that they make a marked difference in the area in which they are implemented,” said Mehana.

To this end, the ICT company has, over the years, been on a mission to position itself as the partner of choice by building a robust and mature partner ecosystem for hardware and software capabilities and securing associations with leading ICT brands.

In line with this, the Sizwe Africa IT Group recently partnered with the Eastern Cape Department of Education and MTN in a project that empowered learners across the entire province, including those in rural areas, with tools to participate in e-learning.

The partnership is also aimed at expanding the pool of trained teachers and expand the number of learners that will benefit from virtual classes, through mobile devices fitted with zero-rated sim cards, while also at the same time enable them to access all other education related portals during this time when the COVID-19 pandemic is still disrupting normal life for almost all people.

“South Africa has approximately 25 000 schools and millions of its learners have had their schooling interrupted by the closures brought on by the pandemic’s outbreak. With this new reality, we used this opportunity to adapt our Green Smart Centre solution, which is an off-the-grid containerised solution launched in 2018, to provide a solution in the quickest possible time, even for those in outlying areas,” added Mehana.

The Sizwe Africa IT Group strongly believes that technology-enabled education is fundamental to bridging the digital divide, creating opportunities for future employment, contributing to building a thriving economy in an area that has significant impact on the future success of South Africa. In addition, its investment in inclusive education is also significantly linked to the development of crucial ICT skills.

In addition to this, the group is committed to partnering with like-minded organisations in the public and private sector that share the same passion and philosophy about accelerating ICT and the future of South Africa and the rest of the continent. Its partnership with the People Upliftment Programme (POPUP), which aims to reduce unemployment and poverty, and ultimately create resilient and self-sufficient communities and increase digital literacy through the provision of ICT specific and work-readiness programmes focused on skills development and entrepreneurship.

“As we see our partner and client-base grow, we view this as a manifestation of the respect we have earned as a long-term, efficient, responsible and premier end-to-end ICT solutions enabler in the many industry verticals in which we have expertise, such as government entities, telecommunications and mining,” Mehana concluded.