Africa holds potentials to lead in fourth industrial revolution- Mrs Smith

The newly promoted Managing Director (MD) of Cisco for the Sub-Saharan Africa, Mrs Cathy Smith has said that Africa holds the potentials to lead in the fourth industrial revolution.

Mrs Smith made this disclosure after her appointment was proclaimed, adding that as long as Africa is ready to lead in this era, Cisco will facilitate the technology innovations across the continent.

“Africa has so much potential to be a leader in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We are already proving our worth with the technology innovations that are coming out across the region,” she said.

Smith listed some three elements that are needed to consider as a region, including that the development of digital skills is paramount;

All industries are being digitally disrupted which presents an opportunity for a growing digital economy and Public-private partnerships are powerful levers for change.

She stated that in this era of digitisation, “no one leader knows it all, so learn to collaborate with your colleagues and with your industry peers.”

Mrs. Smith who has over 25 years of experience in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, said things have changed drastically since she first joined as a programmer.

“In my early days, we used to work with heavy hardware that we would need to manually have to carry to a customer, which is why so many females shied away from the sector for so long.

“Nowadays, everything is automated and software driven, so we don’t have to carry heavy loads anymore. Thus engineering has included Internet of Things (IoT), security, collaboration, and networking among others,” she said.

Cathy Smith joined Cisco in April 2015 as the head of Cisco’s business operations across South Africa, charged with the development and execution of Cisco’s go-to-market sales and digital transformation strategies for the region, prior to her latest promotion.