Andile Ngcaba
Encyclopedia
Andile Abner Ngcaba is a South African businessman who has devoted most of his life and career to the field of technology, in particular communications.
Born on 12 June 1956, in Duncan Village, East London (Eastern Cape Province), Andile currently lives in Johannesburg.
He is Chairman, founder and majority shareholder of investment group Convergence Partners and is also the Executive Chairman of Dimension Data
Middle East and Africa, a subsidiary of the Dimension Data plc Group, which was recently acquired by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT)1. . Through Convergence Partners, Andile is also involved in significant new communications infrastructure projects across Africa including Seacom (the first undersea fibre optic cable system serving Africa's East Coast) which was ready for service on 23 July 2009, the first private sector satellite in Africa (Intelsat New Dawn) which was launched on 22 April 2011 and a recently announced new joint venture to bring high capacity, long-haul terrestrial fibre to South Africa (FibreCo).
Andile was previously an ANC
activist in the fight against Apartheid, and thereafter the Director General of Communications in the first democratically elected government of South Africa in 1994. He left Government in 2003 to pursue a career in the private sector.
dates back to his childhood, when he would accompany his father to work. His father spent 38 years working for the Post Office, 20 years of which he was a Postmaster. There Andile met technicians and engineers and was exposed to what at the time was advanced communications technology at the Post Office, which at the time also ran South Africa’s telecom networks (prior to being spun off into Telkom
in the early 1990s). When he completed high school, Andile enrolled at a technical college in Umtata before being hired as a bench technician by Philips in Johannesburg. There he worked with medical and telecom equipment and other scientific instrumentation.
underground, was taking part in and helping plan insurgency operations. Andile transited through Mozambique
before joining ANC
camps in Angola, where he underwent formal military training. He was trained in military communications technology before going to the then Soviet Union
, where he received further specialized training. There he studied in fields of military radio
, radar
, reconnaissance and surveillance technologies.
Andile spent most of the 1980s moving between Europe, the Soviet Union
and parts of Africa
, with the bulk of his time being spent in Angola
.
In 1990, after more than a decade of struggle, Andile was among the first exiles to return to South Africa. He helped the ANC establish its Johannesburg headquarters and was soon appointed as the organisation’s head of IT.
Andile was responsible for the establishment of the Centre for Development of Information and Telecommunications Policy (CDITP). The CDITP was instrumental in:
(i) training and skills development of historically disadvantaged South Africans in the ICT sector, providing training both at local and international institutions and producing a large number of the current senior ICT executives in South Africa;
(ii) hosting and facilitating international and African telecommunications seminars and conferences that shaped the telecommunications landscape on the African Continent; and
(iii) the establishment of the National Telecommunications Forum in South Africa, a body that brought together all ICT stakeholders outside of Government in the period leading up to the 1994 elections.
Soon after the arrival of South Africa’s new democracy, Andile took up the position of Director General of the Department of Communications for eight and half years until December 2003, during which time he worked under ministers Pallo Jordan, Jay Naidoo and the late Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri. While he was Director General of the Department of Communications he participated in international organisations such as the Office of Outer Space Affairs in Vienna and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
At the Department of Communications, Andile was responsible for policy formulation that restructured the ICT sector and presided over various groundbreaking initiatives designed to reorganise and overhaul the telecommunications sector, broadcasting industry, postal services and e-commerce in accordance with the imperatives of the new South African society. During this time more than 10 pieces of legislation were produced, including the Convergence Bill, which was subsequently promulgated as the Electronics Communications Act of 2006.
While he was Director General, Andile founded of the Institute for Software and Satellite Applications (ISSA) and the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (NEMISA). He participated in the Digital Opportunity Task Force (DOTFORCE), a G8 ICT global initiative. There he helped to shape various policy initiatives that have served as a platform for development of ICT in Africa, with specific emphasis on regulatory and policy initiatives for the establishment of independent regulatory institutions, promotion of good governance, liberalisation of the market, privatisation, introduction of competition and building of infrastructure.
In September 2004, Andile led a Broad-Based BEE Consortium that acquired a 25% stake in Dimension Data Middle East and Africa, later becoming Executive Chairman. After Thintana (the former Strategic Equity Partner to Telkom, comprising SBC Communications and Telekom Malaysia) divested half of its 15% stake in Telkom and announced its intention to sell its remaining interest, Andile assisted in putting together the Elephant Consortium to acquire the shares. In May 2005, the Elephant Consortium, comprising private investors, industry players, sponsors, seed capital providers and more than 30% broad-based beneficiaries (groups representing interests of women, disabled and youth), acquired 6.7% of Telkom in a commercially funded structure, which ran to term in May 2010. Andile invested in a further 2 companies before the formation of Convergence Partners in early 2006 as his exclusive investment vehicle.
Convergence Partners has to date invested in 16 companies in the technology, media and telecommunications sector across the African continent and is an active, value-adding shareholder with a long-term investment horizon. Through Convergence Partners, Andile continues to pursue his vision of a connected Africa. In this regard, Andile played pivotal roles in several landmark transactions to bring critical connectivity to the continent, notably Seacom, the first East African undersea cable, and the New Dawn Satellite joint venture, which was launched in April 2011.
Andile currently serves on a number of boards of investee companies and is a Trustee of the Convergence Partners Foundation Trust, a not-for-profit vehicle to improve education of previously disadvantaged persons using technology and to develop ICT skills that are in short supply in the continent.
Andile was the Honorary Advisor representing Africa for The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF), advising on strategy and engagement throughout Africa. Since 2002 he has played a pivotal role in the establishment of IT and education initiatives in South Africa by the IBLF and in engagement in other African countries.
He has been a leading proponent of the implementation of various measures designed to curb the digital divide and his efforts have won him praise including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.
In 1993 he was awarded the Best Computer Person of the Year by the Computer Society of SA.
He was also conferred the Black Information Technology Achievers award and the ICT Leadership Award.
Andile is married to Dr. Svieta Ngcaba, a medical doctor by profession, and has four children Linda Ngcaba, Khusela Ngcaba, Anda Ngcaba and Afezikile Ngcaba
Born on 12 June 1956, in Duncan Village, East London (Eastern Cape Province), Andile currently lives in Johannesburg.
He is Chairman, founder and majority shareholder of investment group Convergence Partners and is also the Executive Chairman of Dimension Data
Dimension Data
Dimension Data Holdings is a South African company specializing in information technology services, with operations in Europe, Asia, Australia, the Americas and the Middle East & Africa.In 2010, the company was fully acquired by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone....
Middle East and Africa, a subsidiary of the Dimension Data plc Group, which was recently acquired by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT)1. . Through Convergence Partners, Andile is also involved in significant new communications infrastructure projects across Africa including Seacom (the first undersea fibre optic cable system serving Africa's East Coast) which was ready for service on 23 July 2009, the first private sector satellite in Africa (Intelsat New Dawn) which was launched on 22 April 2011 and a recently announced new joint venture to bring high capacity, long-haul terrestrial fibre to South Africa (FibreCo).
Andile was previously an ANC
ANC
ANC commonly refers to the African National Congress, a revolutionary movement which became the ruling political party in South Africa in the 1994 election.ANC may also refer to:-Organizations:...
activist in the fight against Apartheid, and thereafter the Director General of Communications in the first democratically elected government of South Africa in 1994. He left Government in 2003 to pursue a career in the private sector.
Early life and education
Andile’s interest in technologyTechnology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
dates back to his childhood, when he would accompany his father to work. His father spent 38 years working for the Post Office, 20 years of which he was a Postmaster. There Andile met technicians and engineers and was exposed to what at the time was advanced communications technology at the Post Office, which at the time also ran South Africa’s telecom networks (prior to being spun off into Telkom
Telkom
Telkom Group Ltd. is a wireline and wireless telecommunications provider in South Africa, and operating in more than 38 countries throughout the African continent...
in the early 1990s). When he completed high school, Andile enrolled at a technical college in Umtata before being hired as a bench technician by Philips in Johannesburg. There he worked with medical and telecom equipment and other scientific instrumentation.
Apartheid years
During the political turmoil in late 1970s in South Africa, Andile became involved in the ANCANC
ANC commonly refers to the African National Congress, a revolutionary movement which became the ruling political party in South Africa in the 1994 election.ANC may also refer to:-Organizations:...
underground, was taking part in and helping plan insurgency operations. Andile transited through Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
before joining ANC
ANC
ANC commonly refers to the African National Congress, a revolutionary movement which became the ruling political party in South Africa in the 1994 election.ANC may also refer to:-Organizations:...
camps in Angola, where he underwent formal military training. He was trained in military communications technology before going to the then Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, where he received further specialized training. There he studied in fields of military radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
, reconnaissance and surveillance technologies.
Andile spent most of the 1980s moving between Europe, the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and parts of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, with the bulk of his time being spent in Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
.
In 1990, after more than a decade of struggle, Andile was among the first exiles to return to South Africa. He helped the ANC establish its Johannesburg headquarters and was soon appointed as the organisation’s head of IT.
Andile was responsible for the establishment of the Centre for Development of Information and Telecommunications Policy (CDITP). The CDITP was instrumental in:
(i) training and skills development of historically disadvantaged South Africans in the ICT sector, providing training both at local and international institutions and producing a large number of the current senior ICT executives in South Africa;
(ii) hosting and facilitating international and African telecommunications seminars and conferences that shaped the telecommunications landscape on the African Continent; and
(iii) the establishment of the National Telecommunications Forum in South Africa, a body that brought together all ICT stakeholders outside of Government in the period leading up to the 1994 elections.
Government
On his return to South Africa after exile, Andile continued his contribution to the ICT sector by participating in various initiatives that positively shaped the ICT sector both in South Africa and in the region. These included working with and serving on structures of the ITU, the global policy development and standards-making body.Soon after the arrival of South Africa’s new democracy, Andile took up the position of Director General of the Department of Communications for eight and half years until December 2003, during which time he worked under ministers Pallo Jordan, Jay Naidoo and the late Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri. While he was Director General of the Department of Communications he participated in international organisations such as the Office of Outer Space Affairs in Vienna and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
At the Department of Communications, Andile was responsible for policy formulation that restructured the ICT sector and presided over various groundbreaking initiatives designed to reorganise and overhaul the telecommunications sector, broadcasting industry, postal services and e-commerce in accordance with the imperatives of the new South African society. During this time more than 10 pieces of legislation were produced, including the Convergence Bill, which was subsequently promulgated as the Electronics Communications Act of 2006.
While he was Director General, Andile founded of the Institute for Software and Satellite Applications (ISSA) and the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (NEMISA). He participated in the Digital Opportunity Task Force (DOTFORCE), a G8 ICT global initiative. There he helped to shape various policy initiatives that have served as a platform for development of ICT in Africa, with specific emphasis on regulatory and policy initiatives for the establishment of independent regulatory institutions, promotion of good governance, liberalisation of the market, privatisation, introduction of competition and building of infrastructure.
Private Sector
Andile resigned from his role as Director General in 2003 in order to pursue a career in the private sector.In September 2004, Andile led a Broad-Based BEE Consortium that acquired a 25% stake in Dimension Data Middle East and Africa, later becoming Executive Chairman. After Thintana (the former Strategic Equity Partner to Telkom, comprising SBC Communications and Telekom Malaysia) divested half of its 15% stake in Telkom and announced its intention to sell its remaining interest, Andile assisted in putting together the Elephant Consortium to acquire the shares. In May 2005, the Elephant Consortium, comprising private investors, industry players, sponsors, seed capital providers and more than 30% broad-based beneficiaries (groups representing interests of women, disabled and youth), acquired 6.7% of Telkom in a commercially funded structure, which ran to term in May 2010. Andile invested in a further 2 companies before the formation of Convergence Partners in early 2006 as his exclusive investment vehicle.
Convergence Partners has to date invested in 16 companies in the technology, media and telecommunications sector across the African continent and is an active, value-adding shareholder with a long-term investment horizon. Through Convergence Partners, Andile continues to pursue his vision of a connected Africa. In this regard, Andile played pivotal roles in several landmark transactions to bring critical connectivity to the continent, notably Seacom, the first East African undersea cable, and the New Dawn Satellite joint venture, which was launched in April 2011.
Andile currently serves on a number of boards of investee companies and is a Trustee of the Convergence Partners Foundation Trust, a not-for-profit vehicle to improve education of previously disadvantaged persons using technology and to develop ICT skills that are in short supply in the continent.
Other Positions
Andile has served on the Council of the University of South Africa (UNISA) and was an advisor to the Digital Inclusion Programme at Harvard University Law School. He also was a member of the Telecom Board of the ITU, served on the Board of InfoDev, a partnership of international developmental agencies, which was in turn co-ordinated and served by an expert Secretariat housed at the World Bank.Andile was the Honorary Advisor representing Africa for The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF), advising on strategy and engagement throughout Africa. Since 2002 he has played a pivotal role in the establishment of IT and education initiatives in South Africa by the IBLF and in engagement in other African countries.
Honorary doctorates and awards
Andile has written and published many papers, received various international awards, participated globally on ICT decision-making forums and has influenced the formation of various African forums and organisations responsible for shaping the ICT sector.He has been a leading proponent of the implementation of various measures designed to curb the digital divide and his efforts have won him praise including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.
In 1993 he was awarded the Best Computer Person of the Year by the Computer Society of SA.
He was also conferred the Black Information Technology Achievers award and the ICT Leadership Award.
Personal life
Andile grew up in a family consisting of four brothers and a sister, most of whom have also ended up in the ICT industry, in Duncan Village, East London. His family is originally from Pondoland in the Eastern Cape.Andile is married to Dr. Svieta Ngcaba, a medical doctor by profession, and has four children Linda Ngcaba, Khusela Ngcaba, Anda Ngcaba and Afezikile Ngcaba