After seven years divided between senior executive positions in Dubai and the UK, a former kingpin of the local channel has returned to South Africa to take on, arguably, one of the biggest challenges of his illustrious career.
Guy Whitcroft, widely credited with taking Tarsus Technologies (and its holding company MB Technologies) to the multi-billion rand status it now currently enjoys, has been hired by Computer Information Systems (CIS) to head up
and turnaround the fortunes of its once flourishing subsidiary IT4Africa. Whitcroft will be responsible for the distributor’s business in southern and East Africa.
Headquartered in Lebanon, CIS has annual revenues of between $350-million and $400-million, and has various subsidiary companies in 30 countries throughout Africa and the Middle East.
Seven years ago, Whitcroft resigned from MB Tech to take up the position as group COO at Aptec Holdings in Dubai, which was recently acquired by Ingram Micro in a multi-million dollar deal. Leaving Dubai for London, Whitcroft’s
most recent executive position was as interim MD of Business Connexion UK.
Whitcroft says he is looking forward to returning to South African shores and is relishing the challenge posed by IT4Africa. One of the pioneer distributors into sub-Saharan Africa, the company has recently experienced a severe
downturn in its regional business.
“IT4Africa has lost some momentum due to certain internal strife, but there is a team now in place that is busy tidying that situation up,” Whitcroft says. “I’ve come in to turn the business around and restore it to the prominent
position in the market that it once held.”
Whitcroft says that he has the full backing and support of CIS GM Antoine Kareh in the task that lies ahead.
“I will be looking to put some strong people in place [at the company] and they will be hand-picked by me,” he says. “Antoine [Kareh] has given me a clear brief to sort out and turn this company around and I have his full support in
doing what needs to be done.
“IT4Africa’s focus will clearly remain on Africa rather than primarily on South Africa, as is the case with other distributors,” Whitcroft adds. “Our goal is once again to be one of the leading distributors in the region and I’m convinced
that we can achieve this.”
