South African Jacques Barkhuizen has been designated Airtel Africa's new group CIO, beginning this month.

Barkhuizen, who has worked in IT for 28 years, will now be in charge of Airtel's IT solutions in 14 African countries.

Barkhuizen was awarded the Institute of Information Technology Professionals SA Visionary CIO of the Year Award in 2018.

Barkhuizen's 28-year career includes stints in technology leadership positions at Vodacom, Absa, Deloitte Africa, Investec Bank, and Woolworths.