The newly promoted Managing Director (MD) of Cisco for the Sub-Saharan
Africa, Mrs Cathy Smith has said that Africa has the potentials to lead in the
fourth industrial revolution, reports ITRealms.
Speaking after her appointment was proclaimed; ITRealms gathered she said that as
long as Africa is ready to lead in this era, Cisco will facilitate the
technology innovations across the continent.
“Africa has so much potential to be a leader in the
Fourth Industrial Revolution. We are already proving our worth with the technology
innovations that are coming out across the region,” she said.
Smith also outlined some three elements that are needed
to consider as a region, including that the development of digital skills is
paramount; All industries are being digitally disrupted which presents an
opportunity for a growing digital economy and Public-private partnerships are
powerful levers for change.
In this era of digitisation, she noted that “no one
leader knows it all so learn to collaborate with your colleagues and with your
industry peers.”
Mrs. Smith who has over 25 years of experience in the Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) industry noted things have changed drastically
since she first joined as a programmer.
“In my early days, we used to work with heavy hardware that we would need
to manually have to carry to a customer, which is why so many females shied
away from the sector for so long,” she said.
Pointing out that “Nowadays, everything is automated and software driven,
so we don’t have to carry heavy loads anymore,” thus engineering has included Internet
of Things (IoT), security, collaboration, and networking among others.
ITRealms recalls that Cathy Smith joined Cisco in April 2015 as the head of
Cisco’s business operations across South Africa, charged with the development
and execution of Cisco’s go-to-market sales and digital transformation
strategies for the region, prior to her latest promotion.
Chuks Egbune/GEE
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