
CAPE TOWN – The Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) has named Geekulcha chief operations officer Tiyani Nghonyama as the IT Personality of the Year and Alexander Forbes Group chief information officer (CIO) Sandra La Bella as the Visionary CIO for 2019.
In the past the award has been conferred to some of the leading technology leaders in corporate South Africa.
The 2019 winner ,Tiyani Nghonyama, is a qualified Computer Systems Engineer who serves on the Advisory Committee Boards of the Tshwane University of Technology and the Vaal University of Technology for Computer Science. Since 2014, he has worked with the University of South Africa in Open Source initiatives. He also championed hackathons, where young people get together to work on technology challenges.
In 2015, he created the Geekulcha Student Society programme at Sol Plaatje University, and this programme has now spread to 17 campus in 5 provinces in the country. He also spearheaded the creation of the Future GeekStars programme to expose and equip youngsters with the right skills for the ICT industry, as well as the Geekulcha Vacation Work programme, which benefits 1 440 learners in five provinces.
At the annual IITPSA President’s Awards in Johannesburg, Aerobotics, a technology startup in Cape Town was awarded the Technology Excellence Award Ligbron E-Learning Systems, won the Social Responsibility/Community Award.