WeThinkCode CEO Nyari Samushonga bags coveted accolade at IT industry awards
WeThinkCode CEO Nyari Samushonga was voted as the winner of the coveted IT Personality of the Year Award during the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) 2022 President’s Awards. Held on Tuesday, the other top award of Visionary CIO was presented to Intikhab Shaik, head of technology and solutions delivery at the South
WeThinkCode CEO Nyari Samushonga bags coveted accolade at IT industry awards
WeThinkCode CEO Nyari Samushonga was voted as the winner of the coveted IT Personality of the Year Award during the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) 2022 President’s Awards.
Held on Tuesday, the other top award of Visionary CIO was presented to Intikhab Shaik, head of technology and solutions delivery at the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
The winners were announced at the IITPSA’s first in-person President’s Awards since 2019 owing to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Presented by the IITPSA, in association with ITWeb and the Gordon Institute of Business Science, the IT Personality of the Year Award recognises an individual who has made a positive impact on SA’s ICT industry over the past year and has been successful in building a respected IT organisation or business.
This morning at the #IITPSApresidentawards22 #WeThinkCode CEO Nyari Samushonga received the award for IT Personality! Thank you to the @IITPSA team for the honour and recognition. pic.twitter.com/Q5ynjoUxWy
— WeThinkCode_ (@wethinkcode) November 29, 2022
For the IT Personality of the Year accolade, Samushonga was battled against Microsoft SA CEO Lillian Barnard; Queen Ndlovu who is the Managing Director of South African Flying Labs and founder of QP Drone Tech; and ESET South Africa CEO Carey van Vlaanderen.
“I’m decidedly stunned and shaking in my stilettos, but thank you. What an honour,” she reacted per ITWeb.
“[IITPSA president and board chairperson] Admire [Gwanzura] mentioned in his remarks that we’re sitting in eGoli. Many years ago, the gold was beneath the earth, but what we have in IT is an opportunity where the gold is the youth and their potential, to ignite the tech sector globally.
“I know that this is a personality award, but I receive it on behalf of WeThinkCode because it’s the work that we’re doing to bring the youth into the sector. I’m so excited at the honour and recognition.”
WeThinkCode is a company that was launched back in 2015, it focuses on software development it seeks to eliminate the digital skills shortage by developing 100 000 coders in Africa over the next 10 years.
Looking at previous winners, these include University of Johannesburg vice-chancellor and principal professor Tshilidzi Marwala; Livestock Wealth’s Ntuthuko Shezi; Geekulcha COO Tiyani Nghonyama; Zutari CEO Teddy Daka; and former Adapt IT CEO Sbu Shabalala, to name a few.
