Last month the vice president for accounting at Huawei Technologies announced that Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region were the second highest contributor to company's overall revenue.

The EMEA region contributed 35% to Huawei's overall revenue in the 2014 financial year, said Fan Chan.

And according to the global communications firm its network and consumer business continue to be strong contributors to its operations. Huawei's consumer business group contributed 22% to overall 2014 revenue.

While the Huawei devices brand has established a strong following in markets like China, in the African market the brand is slowly gaining popularity.

A survey conducted by GeoPoll and World Wide Worx earlier this year pitted Apple, Huawei and Sony as mobile phone brands that will challenge longstanding brands like Nokia and BlackBerry in Africa.

The study, which surveyed mobile phone users in five African markets, namely South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Uganda, found that in the near future the popularity of brands like Huawei would increase.

According to the survey growth of the Huawei phone brand in the African markets is expected to go from 3% to 9%.

For the South African market Huawei has appointed Munilall to not only bring new direction to the company's consumer business group, but also achieve brand visibility and grow the market share.

Munilall is the general manager for the Huawei consumer business group taking care of operations in South Africa.

An accountant by profession Munilall's work experience spans from banking, mining and the ICT industry, which now includes her current appointment at Huawei.

Having started working for companies like Unilever, Standard Bank, and the Barclays Group - her first role in the ICT industry was at telecommunications firm, Nokia. Something she says was by accident as it was not an industry she was even considering.

Fast forward eight years Munilall now counts technology companies like Nokia, Samsung and Lenovo as places where she received a taste of the industry and was able to hone in her skills.

"The step changes that happen in the ICT industry don't happen in other industries - banking is banking there is a new product that comes out every five years, but from an ICT perspective things change daily, there are enhancements, advancements and new innovations happening everywhere around the world that impact the entire industry," Munilall notes.

"So when Huawei approached me I was very excited because Huawei is one of the big players in the industry... they are the ones making the waves," she said.

According to Munilall at only three weeks in her new role she is currently looking at the business as it stands and evaluating where areas of improvement lie.

"To be frank with you our products are really good, I think we don't really do an excellent job of communicating that to customers - so we don't have the traction in the market yet.

"We've got awareness maybe, not necessarily love of the brand, so that is what we are trying to build," she explained.

In the short term we want to increase our market share to a substantial level because right now we're still quite small... our sales need to improve and we have very tight plans in making sure that happens in the short term, said Munilall.

According to Munilall they have set a time frame of six months to a year to start looking for a step change in their performance.

She also noted that South Africa is the largest part of Huawei's African market business contributing close to 50% of the total business revenue.

"While it's difficult to crack at first, once you get in you're in," she said.

As woman in the African tech space

Although I can't speak for all women but only speak for myself, I found it very conspicuous that there are are very few women in the industry, she said, adding that from all the interactions with the operators, with the retailers, as well as with other partners, there are very few women in IT.

"For me being the only female at the table has always been something that has been a challenge for me as you always feel like an endangered species.

"But there are many ways to look at that and at first that is the way I felt. I felt like I was in the minority at the same time that is your strength also because you are the only one of your kind at the table. That has its advantages, which you only learn with experience," she noted.

Munilall also noted that whilst the lack of women in the ICT industry is a historic issue, it's up to every woman to also address the female agenda within their work environments.

It takes a woman to make the tough decisions, she concluded.