Thabo Mashegoane, has been elected as chairman of the Africa ICT Alliance (AfICTA).
Formerly the vice-chairman of AfICTA, he succeeds Hossam Elgamal from Egypt to become the third chairman.
AfICTA, a private sector-led alliance of ICT Associations, multinational corporations, companies, organisations and individuals in the ICT sector in Africa, aims to fulfil the promise of the digital age for everyone in Africa by encouraging dialogue and fostering ICT enabled development.
During an electronic election at the AfICTA Annual General Meeting on 25 November, Mashegoane was elected chair, while IITPSA past-president and non-executive director Ulandi Exner was also elected AfICTA vice-chair for Southern Africa.
The election named the following board members and officers: Paul Rowney, deputy chair; Opeyemi Onifade, treasurer; Dr Waudo Siganga, vice-chair for East Africa; Assem Wahby, vice-chair for North Africa; Adetola Sogbesan, vice-chair for West Africa; and Eric Sindeu, vice-chair for Central Africa.
Thanking his predecessors for their service and leadership in the Alliance to date, Mashegoane notes that AfICTA was an organisation with a vast network, impact on critical policies, and reputation that took years and hard work to build.
“Mine is to take the baton and continue where the honourable Engr. Hossam Elgamal has taken this organisation to. Of importance is the platform to enable African countries to collaborate and share best practices and lessons learnt with an objective of not leaving anyone behind in development. This is a vision we will continue to uphold. We stand in a critical position to influence attainment of Sustainable Development Goals 2030 through ICT.”
Speaking after the election, Mashegoane said digital inclusion and ICT-enabled development was also a key mission for the IITPSA in South Africa.
“The IITPSA shares the vision and ethos of AfICTA. IITPSA has also stated that we need to step up efforts to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which, among other things, seeks to bridge the digital divide and harness technology to address major global challenges such as poverty, climate change and conflict, we need to work harder. At IITPSA, we believe this means we have to collaborate across industries, across countries, to deploy the benefits of ICTs for the good of all,” he says.