Exclusive: CEO, head of sales leave inq. as part of reshuffle
Inq Group’s CEO Glad Dibetso and group head of sales Tshidi Pila MacHaba have left the pan-African technology company, based in Mauritius, as part of a management and strategic reshuffle.
Andile Ngcaba, inq’s executive chairman, confirmed the departure of the two executives to ITWeb Africa. However, when pushed on a claim by company insiders that the departures were due to ‘non-performance’, he refused to provide reasons.
Ngcaba simply responded: "The exits were mutually agreed upon."
The departures come as the company has announced other key appointments and strategic moves to enhance client experience by refocusing its resources into South Africa.
A Convergence Partners company, Inq. is present in 16 African countries and focuses on AI, cloud, security and connectivity.
Neither Dibetso nor Pila MacHaba responded to ITWeb Africa's request for comment on why they left inq., after relatively short tenures. Both had worked for the company for around a year.
Dibetso, who had previously worked for Dimension Data for over a decade, including a stint as MD for West Africa, was appointed inq’s CEO in July last year. His LinkedIn profile confirms he is no longer employed at inq. and indicates that he is currently an advisory board member of both the Gordon Institute of Business Science, based in South Africa, and the Nigeria-based Cloud Exchange.
Pila MacHaba joined inq. in August last year, having previously worked for Altron as head of sales.
As with Dibetso, her LinkedIn profile indicates her employment with inq. ended in July and states that she is currently a learning facilitator for Henley Business School and a leadership and business coach.
A company statement released today states that Grant Morgan was recently hired as chief commercial officer of inq. ITWeb Africa understands that Rayan Peters group CFO is acting CEO.
Morgan, an ICT industry veteran with over 30 years’ experience, was formerly MD at Seacom (his LinkedIn profile still lists him at the organisation) and was also a leading executive at Dimension Data.
The company statement also reveals Khethi Malinga as newly appointed Group Chief Human Capital officer.
A representative for the company’s PR firm told ITWeb Africa that inq. is preparing for “significant changes” next week. She said: “There are currently a few developments going on within inq."
The company statement adds that there will be a focus on enhancing client experience by servicing clients through South Africa, which “aligns with the new group-level strategy to leverage South Africa's robust market landscape.”
Quoting Ngcaba, the statement adds: “Along with this move, the Security Operations Centre (SOC) and Network Operations Centre (NOC) will be located in South Africa covering Namibia, Swaziland, Botswana and Mozambique.”
The company has recently ramped up is its artificial intelligence (AI) drive, having established a centre of excellence in Zambia, which complements an innovation hub in Botswana and a cybersecurity centre in Malawi.