Technology. Innovation
Based: Johannesburg
Dr Sibongiseni Thotsejane is using tech to create African solutions for not only for Africa, but for the world.
In addition to being the CIO of multi-award winning FlavaLite Innovations, Dr, Thotsejane is the co-founder, Digital Innovator and Big Data Analytics Expert. She completed her PhD in Information Systems (IS) at University of Cape Town in collaboration with Ryerson University in Canada.
She has over 20 years’ experience in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Telecommunications sectors. By the direction of His Excellency, President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, she is a Commissioner in the South African Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0 / 4IR).
She is also a 2020 Allan Gray Orbis Foundation Mentor. She is among the winners of ‘South Africa’s 50 Most-Inspirational Women in Technology and Innovation for 2017 in co-operation with Kingdom of Netherlands and #CoCreateSA.nl.
She is the 2019 Mail & Guardian’s Women Changing South Africa in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Innovation (STEMI) winner. Also the 2019 South African Women in Science Awards (SAWiSA) Distinguished Young Woman Researcher: Research and Innovation awardee.
She is the 2018 National Woman in Business Champion, as chosen by the South African Small Business Champions Awards. She was a Technical Programmer for Increase Network Solutions in Holland, Zwolle. FlavaLite Innovations successfully joined the Plug n Play start-ups ecosystem in Silicon Valley after interviews with their Executives in San Francisco.
Dr. Thotsejane completed her PhD in information systems at the University of Cape Town, in collaboration with Ryerson University in Canada. She is completing her doctorate in business administration, majoring in applied fourth industrial revolution (4IR), at the University of Bath in the UK.
She has over 20 years’ experience in the ICT and telecommunications sectors and is a commissioner in the South African Presidential Commission on the 4IR. She is also an adjunct senior lecturer at UCT, and she supervises DBA and PhD candidates in computing systems and information systems.
Her company, FlavaLite Innovations, works in the aerospace, maritime and defence sectors introducing them to IT strategy, big data analytics, application development, cyber security, Internet of Things, 4IR and AI. Here her work is driven by love and compassion. “We always start from the heart and bring in the human element. Being involved in such a hard tech space, the human element is in the heart of what we bring. We are huggers, which is very rare for techies,” she says.
Thotsejane also mentors more than 20 entrepreneurs, postgraduate candidates and musicians.
