Zoaib Hoosen is geared up to lead Microsoft SA into a changing world of new technology directions.
Hoosen was yesterday announced as the new MD of Microsoft SA, on the news that Mteto Nyati will be moving into a new role in Middle East & Africa Emerging Markets.
“This is an interesting time in the organisation, with the company poised to grow in a new direction,” Hoosen says.
“If you look at the South African market, we have moved from a PC on every desk and in every home to a cloud for every person, on every device.
“When I take the vision of the company and what it means for South Africa, we are going to have solve some very complex problems. To deliver on the vision we need to solve the challenges of skills, access and affordable devices.
“These are the challenges I see coming into the job. These are exciting times.”
Before joining Microsoft, Hoosen spent nearly 21 years at IBM, where he started as an IT graduate in 1989 and rose through the ranks to hold several leadership positions. In his final assignment at IBM, he headed up the company’s Middle East and Africa Public Sector Business.
He joined Microsoft SA in 2010 as the Enterprise and Partner Group (EPG) Director, before being promoted by Nyati to the strategic role of COO in 2013. Hoosen currently holds BSc and MBA degrees from the University of Durban-Westville and Open University in the UK respectively.
Hoosen cites two key trends emerging globally: the digitsation of devices in varying form factors, and the ability to process volumes of data to gain better insights.
“Firstly, everything is becoming digitised and we are seeing an abundance of devices in different form factors emerging – these devices are all connected. In the next five to ten years, the world is not going to be defined by the form factors we know and love today, but by those that will come to be.
“Secondly, and perhaps the most important trend of all, is the ability to reason over all that digitised information with vast amounts of capability, such as machine learning in real-time, and to really take all that insight you get by reasoning over that data, and improve what you can do as humans,” he adds.
Microsoft SA has partnered to solve problems relating to youth empowerment, enterprise development, safety and security, building a more capable state, and rural development and access – and these initiatives will still form the foundation for Microsoft’s core business in South Africa.
“Cloud computing is bringing the need for new skills and ideas, which has resulted in a local skills gap as well as opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship. Just last week, we announced the first students to graduate from the past year’s Student2Business programme,” Hoosen says.
“Affordable and accessible bandwidth still remains a challenge for most South Africans. A couple of weeks ago, we announced the implementation phase of our TV White Spaces pilot in Limpopo, which is about driving a model for low-cost bandwidth for all.
“This final pillar centres on affordable devices and relevant services that we are working hard to bring to South Africa. I hope to be talking to you within the next couple of months about landing the first $100 phones and sub $200 tablets in South Africa, and this needs to be supported with relevant services. This has already started to take shape with the announcement last week that we’re increasing free storage on OneDrive from 7GB to 15GB,” he adds.
Nyati will be working with the leadership teams across MEA to develop and implement growth strategies for the emerging markets within the Middle East and Africa region.
