Including telecommunications operators Vodacom Group, MTN Group and Telkom Group, there are 21 listed tech companies on the JSE that provide a wide range of services, from broadband and hardware to software and advisory – often in some or other combination.

All except one are valued at above R100-million.

The leaders of these companies have the responsibility to navigate tough economic conditions and a rapidly changing technological landscape while attempting to maximise value for shareholders.

TechCentral has a look at who the people are who lead these businesses.

1. Fabricio Bloisi, Prosus (R2.2-trillion) and Naspers (R863-billion)

Brazilian-born Fabricio Bloisi took the reins at Naspers and its subsidiary Prosus in July 2024. Despite being a subsidiary of Naspers, Prosus – whose main listing is in Amsterdam and has Johannesburg as a secondary listing – has a higher market value than its parent because it was created in 2019 to house Naspers’s international assets, including its stake in Chinese social media giant Tencent.

Bloisi holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the State University of Campinas and an MBA from Fundação Getulio Vargas. In 1998, at the age of 21, Bloisi founded Movile, a Brazilian mobile technology company. Under his leadership, Movile expanded into over 20 digital businesses. It bought iFood in 2013, a business that Bloisi led to become Latin America’s leading food delivery platform. iFood was acquired by Prosus in 2022.

2. Shameel Joosub, Vodacom Group (R286-billion)

Shameel Joosub joined Vodacom shortly after the company’s inception in 1994. He rose through the ranks over the years, occupying various leadership roles, including MD of Vodacom South Africa and CEO of Vodafone Spain (Vodacom is owned by Vodafone). He assumed the group CEO role, overseeing all African operations, in 2012.

Joosub pursued a BAcc Science degree part-time, while working, from the University of South Africa. He also holds an MBA from the University of Southern Queensland.

3. Ralph Mupita, MTN Group (R229-billion)

Zimbabwean-born Ralph Mupita started his career as a civil engineer at Haw and Inglis Civil Engineering in 1996. He pivoted into financial services when he joined Old Mutual in 2001, where he eventually became CEO of its emerging markets operations in 2012. Mupita joined MTN Group as chief financial officer in 2017, eventually taking over the CEO role from Rob Schuter in September 2020.

Mupita holds a BSc in civil engineering from the University of Cape Town and an MBA from UCT’s Graduate School of Business.

4. Zak Calisto, Karooooo (R30-billion)

Karooooo founder and CEO Zak Calisto started his career in telematics as a distributor for vehicle tracking company Netstar (Netstar is an Altron subsidiary – more about Altron further down this list). He co-founded Cartrack as a joint venture with Netstar in 2001, eventually listing independently on the JSE in 2014. The rebrand to Karooooo came along with a restructuring that saw the company’s headquarters move to Singapore, followed by a listing on the Nasdaq in New York.

A university drop-out, Calisto is now one of the wealthiest people in South Africa, with his 65% shareholding in Karooooo worth an estimated R18-billion, making him a freshly minted dollar billionaire.

5. Samantha Mudd, Bytes Technology Group (R24-billion)

Mudd took over the CEO role on a permanent basis in May 2024, which she previously occupied on an interim basis following Neil Murphy’s resignation in February that same year. Before joining Bytes, Mudd served as MD of Phoenix Software, a company acquired by Bytes in 2017. Her earlier career includes senior roles at WordPerfect, Novell and Trustmarque Solutions.

Mudd holds a psychology degree from the University of Nottingham. Her love of IT began during a gap year when she worked within IT sales at Trustmarque, where should we continue working part time while she pursued her studies.

Bytes, which was previously owned by Altron, is listed in London and has a secondary listing in Johannesburg. Its business is mainly focused on the UK market.

6. Serame Taukobong, Telkom Group (R20-billion)

Serame Taukobong assumed the top leadership role at Telkom Group in September 2022 following a three-year stint as CEO of Telkom’s consumer business. Under his leadership, Telkom’s mobile business nearly quadrupled in size. Before joining Telkom, Taukobong held senior roles at M-Net, Unilever and South African Breweries. His telecoms career began at MTN in 2004, where he held various roles in Uganda, Iran and South Africa.

Taukobong holds a BSc in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Cape Town. He has undertaken various executive management programmes at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, IMD in Switzerland and the US-based Wharton School of Business.

7. Faan van der Walt, WeBuyCars (R18-billion)

Raised in Bronkhorstspruit, Faan van der Walt co-founded WeBuyCars with his brother Dirk in 2001. The two were hands-on in every aspect of the business from the outset – buying, fixing and then reselling cars – which laid a solid foundation for their deep understanding of the automotive retail market. WeBuyCars was listed in April 2024 with an initial market capitalisation of R8.3-billion.

Van der Walt holds a teaching degree from the University of Pretoria and started WeBuyCars after a two-year teaching stint in the UK.

8. Jens Montanana, Datatec (R15-billion)

British-born South African billionaire Jens Montanana founded Datatec in 1986 and the company listed on the local bourse in December 1994, making it one of the longest-listed tech companies on the JSE. Montanana is among the highest paid CEOs on the JSE, having raked in R216-million in remuneration and benefits in the 2023 financial year, followed by R110-million in 2024.

Montanana holds a degree in electronic engineering from the University of Reading.

9. Alan Dickson, Reunert (R10.7-billion)

Alan Dickson has been CEO of Reunert since 2014. His career began as a design engineer at African Cables in 1997, and he rose through the ranks to become commercial director in 2007 and MD in 2009. In 2012, Dickson assumed the role of MD at CBI-electric, a Reunert subsidiary, before ascending to his current role two years later.

Dickson holds an MSc in electrical engineering and an MBA, both from the University of the Witswatersrand in Johannesburg.

10. Werner Kapp, Altron (R10-billion)

Kapp assumed the CEO role at Altron in October 2022. Prior to joining Altron, Kapp dedicated 22 years to Dimension Data (now known as NTT Data). At Dimension Data, Kapp held various leadership roles, including regional executive for the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Gauteng regions; chief operating officer for the Middle East and Africa; and finally CEO for the same region.

Kapp holds a law degree from Nelson Mandela University (Kariega is his home town), a master’s degree in business leadership from the Unisa School of Business and has completed a global leadership program at IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland.

11. Brett Levy and Mark Levy, Blue Label Telecoms (R9-billion)

The Levy brothers started out selling car radios in Gauteng’s East Rand before co-founding Blue Label Telecoms in 2001. The brothers have been nominated for various entrepreneurial awards over the years, including Absa Jewish Entrepreneur of the Year (2003) for Brett and a nomination for the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur SA finals (2007) for Mark. Together the Levy brothers won the top entrepreneur award in the African Access National Business Awards in 2011. They’re probably best known for buying a stake in Cell C, which cost Blue Label shareholders billions of rand. A turnaround at the mobile operator is now taking shape, which is boosting Blue Label shares after a long period of underperformance.

12. Lincoln Mali, Lesaka Technologies (R6-billion)

Lincoln Mali joined Lesaka Technologies in May 2021. Prior to that, he held several senior roles at Standard Bank Group over his 19-year tenure at the company. These include head of group card and payments, director of customer channels and regional head of the western region in Africa. Mali has also chaired Diners Club South Africa and was a member of Visa’s Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa Business Council.

13. Rhys Summerton and Dennis Venter, iOCO (R2-billion)

Rhys Summerton and Dennis Venter are the only other co-CEOs on this list. The pair was appointed in February 2025 to drive iOCO’s turnaround strategy, which included a rebranding from its former name, EOH Holdings, in December 2024.

Summerton has an investment banking background, having founded Milkwood Capital in 2014. Prior to that, Summerton served as MD and global head of emerging markets research at Citigroup from 2009 to 2013. Summerton is a chartered accountant.

Venter, who is also a chartered accountant, served as non-independent director of the iOCO board before his appointment as co-CEO.

14. Bradley Sacks, Capital Appreciation (R1.9-billion)

Sacks co-founded Capital Appreciation in 2015, leading its transformation from a special-purpose acquisition company (Spac) into a prominent JSE-listed fintech platform. Prior to Capital Appreciation, Sacks held significant roles in the financial sector. He was MD and global head of technology at Bank of America and Bank of America Securities. Additionally, he served as an associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.

Sacks holds an undergraduate degree from Wits University and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, where he also obtained his graduate degree.

15. Thabo Seopa, Metrofile (R1-billion)

Thabo Seopa was appointed as Metrofile group CEO in October 2024. Prior to that, he served as independent non-executive Director on Metrofile’s board for three years. Seopa’s entrepreneurial history includes his co-founding of Awande Investment Managers in 2018. On the managerial side, Seopa served as CEO and MD at Trudon, the publisher of the Yellow Pages.

Seopa holds a BCom in accounting from the University of Limpopo, a higher diploma in tax law, a diploma in finance and a diploma in management from the University of Johannesburg.

16. Hein Engelbrecht, Mustek (R776-million)

Hein Englebrecht was appointed as CEO of Mustek in June 2022 following the death of company founder David Kan earlier that same year. Engelbrecht’s history with the company began in 1997 when he joined Mustek as group financial manager. In 2000, he was promoted to group financial director and subsequently to group MD in 2007. Mustek is now the subject of a takeover bid from printing and packaging specialists Novus Holdings.

Englebrecht holds a BCom degree in accounting from the University of Pretoria and is a qualified CA.

17. Elizna Read, PBT Group (R592-million)

Elizna Read took over PBT’s leadership from Pierre de Wet in April 2020. She joined the data analytics and information management company in 2000 as an office manager. She ascended to various roles over the years, including operations support manager, resource manager, human resources director, operations director and chief operations officer.

Read holds a national diploma in public relations from Boland College and attended the University of South Africa from 1998 to 2000.

18. Tertius Zitzke, 4Sight Holdings (R396-million)

Zitzke stepped into the CEO role at 4Sight in November 2019. A seasoned technologist, Zitzke co-founded AccTech Systems in 1994, which went on to become a leading Microsoft and Sage business partner with business across Africa and beyond.

Zitzke completed business professional development courses at the University of Pretoria’s Graduate School of Management. Zitzke was recently a guest on the TechCentral Show for an episode that will be published this week.

19. Clifford Katz, ISA Holdings (R316-million)

Katz has been at the helm of Information Security Architects for 26 years. Prior to that, he was MD of DataSecure, a company he founded in 1995. Katz studied marketing at the IMM Graduate School in Parktown, Johannesburg.

20. Amit Makan, Ayo Technology Solutions (R131-million)

Amit Makan has been group CEO of Ayo since February 2023. According to the Ayo website, Makan holds two master’s degrees from the University of Cape Town and over 25 years of experience managing technology, marketing and communications businesses. Ayo may not be listed much longer, though, after its largest shareholder, Sekunjalo, announced plans to take it private.

21. Greg Morris, Sebata Holdings (R98-million)

Greg Morris joined Sebata in 2000 and has held various roles, including financial director. He was appointed as CEO in 2011. Morris has grown Sebata’s portfolio in municipal services, metering technologies and enterprise software solutions.

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