SA tech chiefs bet on culture as a commercial asset

South Africa’s technology executives are treating cultural wisdom as an operational asset, arguing that leadership philosophy, talent investment and constraint-driven innovation determine whether digital organisations remain commercially resilient. Marking Heritage Day, three prominent technology leaders, RMB CIO engineering Emily Mbele, iOCO chief technology officer David Gray and Rand Mutual Assurance group CIO Keneilwe Gwabeni, made the case that traditional proverbs and local operating realities offer a practical blueprint for building durable digital businesses, rather than a retrospective glance at history.

The economic logic of that argument rests on how firms respond to the country’s distinctive operating environment. Infrastructure gaps and skills shortages are often framed as limitations on growth, yet all three executives described them as catalysts that have forced genuine technical innovation and reshaped how their organisations allocate investment.

At Rand Mutual Assurance, connectivity hurdles in rural areas prompted Keneilwe’s team to develop an offline mobile application. The tool allows field teams to capture critical information without network access and synchronise data once connectivity is restored. “By overcoming network constraints, it improved field productivity, reduced service delays and helped ensure that customers in underserved and rural communities were not excluded from digital services,” Keneilwe says. The payoff, in other words, was measured in productivity, service delivery and market inclusion.

Meanwhile, the national skills scarcity has prompted a similar reassessment of talent economics. At iOCO, David’s team embeds continuous learning directly into daily operations. “Skills scarcity forces you to consistently be innovative, not only in terms of solving problems with less, but also in how we invest in skills development while bringing young and talented people into our business,” he explains. At RMB, Emily’s team leverages FirstJob initiatives and job shadowing to build sustainable capability from within. “Rather than treating the skills gap only as a limitation, the team has used it as a catalyst to rethink how we build capability, transfer knowledge and create opportunities,” she notes.

Underpinning these operational choices is a shared view that leadership itself is a form of stewardship with long-term returns. For Emily, leadership begins with the Setswana proverb “Kgosi ke kgosi ka setshaba”, a king is a king by the grace of the people. “This proverb captures the essence of servant leadership, accountability and stewardship,” she explained. “It reminds us that leadership is not defined by title, hierarchy or position alone, but by the trust granted by the community one serves.” She emphasises that technology leaders have a duty to create conditions where others can thrive, ensuring power is exercised in service of collective progress and generational continuity.

David grounds his approach in Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s reflection on Ubuntu: “A person is a person through other persons; you cannot be human in isolation; you are human only in relationships.” He extends the principle directly into engineering and operational culture. “Success is dependent on bringing together different skills and people, building relationships to work together to achieve an outcome,” he notes. “You cannot do it by yourself, and if you try, you will fail.”

Keneilwe draws on another proverb: “A child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.” She warns that when team members feel consistently excluded or ignored, disengagement follows, a cost that any organisation carrying scarce technical skills cannot easily absorb. “Leadership is about creating a village where people are challenged, supported and given the opportunity to grow,” she says, noting that set standards must be paired with opening doors for those who show commitment.

When the executives consider their long-term digital heritage, all three converge on the view that a lasting technology legacy is defined by culture and people rather than specific software platforms or project deliveries, a distinction with clear implications for how firms value capability over assets that depreciate.

David describes digital heritage as an everyday culture of curiosity and self-driven growth. “It is about ensuring that when I step out, the amazing people I work with will be bold, remain curious, never stop learning and pay it forward,” he says. Emily reinforced that platforms eventually sunset, but organisational capability remains. “Digital heritage is less about the specific systems or platforms we leave behind and more about the capability, mindset and operating model that enable an organisation to keep evolving,” she states.

For Keneilwe, the ultimate measure is demystifying technology for the next generation and directing digital tools toward those who need them most. “When I think about the legacy I want to leave behind, it is not the systems I built, the projects I delivered or the titles I held. It is the people I inspired to believe that they could,” she reflects. “Technology must be used for good. If I can help remove even one barrier between a person and an opportunity, then technology has done something meaningful.”

Whether that people-first framing holds up as capital discipline tightens across the sector remains the open question for the investors watching these firms.