Cisco appoints govt affairs director for Africa

CISCO, leader in Information Technology has appointed Siyabonga Madyibi to the new position of Government Affairs Director for Africa.  This is Cisco’s first Government Affairs position for the continent.  

  In this new role Siyabonga, who has over 14 years’ experience in telecom policy, will lead Cisco’s government affairs and public policy strategy in Africa, engaging with top government officials and key policy makers in Africa. His remit will focus initially on South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria working in close partnership and alignment with Cisco’s Africa Leadership team, led by David Meads, VP for Africa at Cisco, on policies and relationships that will advance Cisco’s business in Africa.  

  Speaking on his new position, Madyibi said, “I look forward to leading Cisco’s Government Affairs program in Africa given its important and integral role in Cisco’s strategy for growth in Africa.  With the technology market currently growing at an exponential rate and governments playing an important role helping to develop the opportunities that are being created, Cisco aims to actively partner with government departments to help drive this growth and build on these opportunities.” 

   As the home to nine of the world’s 15 fastest growing economies, Africa is ripe for transformation making it an increasingly attractive environment for global business investments. Technology is at an inflection point, in which it can transform African economies and create many new opportunities, with the increased digitization of countries.  Subsequently, governments throughout the continent are now increasingly becoming aware of the importance of growth in ICT and the benefits it can offer.  

   For the past decade, Madyibi has led the government and regulatory strategy for Dimension Data in Africa. Before that, he worked with the South African Regulator, ICASA, and for MTN, one of the leading mobile operators in the telecoms sector in Africa. Siyabonga holds a BA Law degree from the University of Cape Town and an LLB degree from the University of Natal.