Hi, I’m Jaydev Chiba.

I was recently asked to share my experiences of working at Vodacom and insights of the ICT industry over the past 19 years.

Having started at Vodacom in 1998, I’ve had several roles with increasing responsibility within the IT environment before being appointed as Vodacom Group CIO in 2011.  Over that time the company grew from 1 million subscribers to over 40 million in 2017 and evolved from 2G to 3G and now 4G.

Over the years we have successfully designed, built, implemented and operated numerous solutions ranging from CRM & Billing, Online, ERP, Business Intelligence, Security, buildings and infrastructure projects and many more that has impacted every facet of the business across the Vodacom Group of companies.

Over the last 2 years the focus has shifted towards the digitalisation of the company and leveraging Agile to accelerate time to the market. Since 2011 our IS Comms face to face sessions have provided an opportunity for me to share the company & IT Strategy whilst allowing the IT team to showcase their own projects and successes.

We’ve leveraged our relationship with Vodafone in a number of ways: by getting procurement economies of scale, aligning strategy and product standards, deploying best practices globally as well as knowledge sharing.

We’ve participated in numerous worldwide projects and in some cases led the market in the projects that Vodafone initiated internationally. I am very proud of the IT team we’ve built in Vodacom. The depth of knowledge and experience is amazing with most of the senior executives in the team having in excess of 15 years of Telco experience.

The strength of the team allowed me to focus on broader strategic challenges while they took care of the day to day issues. It brings me great fulfilment to watch several of my staff grow and develop with my guidance as a trained Meta-Coach, knowing that I have made a positive impact in their careers and lives.

It has been great working with an amazing team of top class professionals that are absolutely driven to win and remain at number one.

I hope to leverage that same passion and culture on the road ahead and the opportunities that will follow. People have said that I will be leaving a legacy in Vodacom.

For me, I’m just humbled to have been part of something so incredible that this company has changed SA and parts of Africa by virtue of what we have been able to do every day during my time in the last 19 years at Vodacom.

Uplifting people, creating economic opportunities and allowing even the poorest of the poor to have access to telecommunications. Leaving the ICT giant, Vodacom and formal employment after 32 years, one thinks about what life will be like not being in a corporate role.

I want to explore different opportunities and discover new possibilities within IT consulting and advisory, coaching and mentoring, public speaking, contributing to non-executive board roles and then perhaps dabbling in technology start-ups.

The past was exhilarating; the future is exciting and I’m certainly ready to accompany you on your journey ahead!

I’m Jaydev Chiba. Let’s connect.