Head of IT Africa
M+R Spedag Group
Total des années d'expérience :13 years, 2 Mois
Designation Chronology:
• Since April 2015 : Head of IT Africa
• September 2011 - Mar 2015 : Regional Manager - IT(East Africa)
• May 2009 - August 2011: Regional Manager - IT(East Africa)
• May 2007 - April 2009: IT Manager
• December 2005 - April 2007: Business System Analyst.
Inducted as Business System Analyst and moved up the career hierarchy receiving accolades and multiple promotions up till the position of Head of IT Africa, through exceptional performance.
Countries currently responsible for
• Uganda
• Kenya
• Tanzania
• Rwanda
• Burundi
• South Sudan
• South Africa
• Congo
• Zambia
Highlights:
• Pioneered development and implementation of IT management policies and initiatives for 9 countries in East Africa that enhanced the business efficiency by reducing paperwork, process times (from days to hours), increased accuracy and augmented automation as under:
- Virtualization to improve uptime from 89% to 99.99% thereby reducing costs by 46%
- Restructured application development process by implementing reusable object oriented programming modules that shrunk delivery time by 50%
- Established a result focused environment with precise development and testing processes to reduce software defects by 60%
- Amplified automation of processes and cut down manual processes by 50% which resulted in reducing overhead costs
- Streamlined network traffic and trimmed down costs by 35% through eliminating preventable routing and equipment
• Successfully established new quality and development procedures to fine tune the IT summary of the organization thus decreased the trouble tickets by 90%.
• Proficiently devised and instituted an authority matrix that enables shift of experts to meet user needs thereby increased efficiency by 25%.
• Key person in core team (of senior managers) for strategic planning and operational governance of FOCUS.
Key Responsibilities:
• Spearheading formulation of goals, objectives and operating procedures by providing line management, leadership and strategic direction to a team of 25 members to bring the organization’s overall IT management under explicit management control.
• Formulating IT annual operating and capital budget, analyzing KPI’s, establishing trends, identifying deviations and ensuring that any technical downsides are adequately compensated.
• Engineering solutions for problems which may be complex and long-standing, performing cost/benefit analysis to determine technical, business and budget feasibility in lieu of business case justification.
• Orchestrating enterprise-wide disaster recovery and business continuity plan while conceptualizing business solutions by use of technology architecture, tools or software application to achieve technical superiority.
• Steering crucial aspects of project life cycle while interfacing between suppliers, senior managers and other departments for translating complex technical and business requirements into actionable and deployable solutions in line with ISO standards.
• Scrutinizing external emerging environment, evangelizing technological advancements, standards/methodologies to automate essential processes to increase internal productivity.
• Negotiating effectively with suppliers/vendors to acquire all IT resources at competitive prices without compromising on quality identifying approaches that leverage resources and provide economies of scale.
• Building and managing high performing technical teams - hiring qualified candidates, training and managing these teams to maximize on their potential, reaching the organizations established goals.
Designation Chronology:
• Since September 2011 : Regional Manager - IT(East Africa)
• May 2009 - August 2011: Regional Manager - IT(East Africa)
• May 2007 - April 2009: IT Manager
• December 2005 - April 2007: Business System Analyst.
Inducted as Business System Analyst and moved up the career hierarchy receiving accolades and multiple promotions up till the position of Regional Manager - IT (East Africa), through exceptional performance.
Highlights:
• Pioneered development and implementation of IT management policies and initiatives for 9 countries in East Africa that enhanced the business efficiency by reducing paperwork, process times (from days to hours), increased accuracy and augmented automation as under:
- Virtualization to improve uptime from 89% to 99.99% thereby reducing costs by 46%
- Restructured application development process by implementing reusable object oriented programming modules that shrunk delivery time by 50%
- Established a result focused environment with precise development and testing processes to reduce software defects by 60%
- Amplified automation of processes and cut down manual processes by 50% which resulted in reducing overhead costs
- Streamlined network traffic and trimmed down costs by 35% through eliminating preventable routing and equipment
• Successfully established new quality and development procedures to fine tune the IT summary of the organization thus decreased the trouble tickets by 90%.
• Proficiently devised and instituted an authority matrix that enables shift of experts to meet user needs thereby increased efficiency by 25%.
• Key person in core team (of senior managers) for strategic planning and operational governance of FOCUS.
Key Responsibilities:
• Spearheading formulation of goals, objectives and operating procedures by providing line management, leadership and strategic direction to a team of 25 members to bring the organization’s overall IT management under explicit management control.
• Formulating IT annual operating and capital budget, analyzing KPI’s, establishing trends, identifying deviations and ensuring that any technical downsides are adequately compensated.
• Engineering solutions for problems which may be complex and long-standing, performing cost/benefit analysis to determine technical, business and budget feasibility in lieu of business case justification.
• Orchestrating enterprise-wide disaster recovery and business continuity plan while conceptualizing business solutions by use of technology architecture, tools or software application to achieve technical superiority.
• Steering crucial aspects of project life cycle while interfacing between suppliers, senior managers and other departments for translating complex technical and business requirements into actionable and deployable solutions in line with ISO standards.
• Scrutinizing external emerging environment, evangelizing technological advancements, standards/methodologies to automate essential processes to increase internal productivity.
• Negotiating effectively with suppliers/vendors to acquire all IT resources at competitive prices without compromising on quality identifying approaches that leverage resources and provide economies of scale.
• Building and managing high performing technical teams - hiring qualified candidates, training and managing these teams to maximize on their potential, reaching the organizations established goals.
Highlights:
• Proficiently managed time schedules, technology and capital growth needs on time for implementing Logistics Pro ERP Solution consisting of GL, AP, AR, PO and FA with a strong focus to adhering to deadlines and assigned budgets.
• Exploited internet and successfully set up an Intranet for knowledge management and data-warehouse from grass root level.
• Played a pivotal role in implementing centralized support solution - Sysaid and integrating Oracle Database with central location in lieu of business intelligence software, thereby augmenting efficiency and overall productivity by 80%.
Key Responsibilities:
• Directed a team of 12 members and devised a comprehensive IT strategy focused on speed, simplicity, stability and scalability to facilitate organic growth of the business across 6 countries in East Africa in sync with mission, vision and business objectives of the organization.
• Evaluated, deployed and managed IT resources to meet technical requirements of ever growing business, maintained and supported the existing infrastructure by developing new technical solutions.
• Proposed system modifications and applications upgrades, supervised establishment of service level agreements and monitored department performance to produce high quality deliverables in line with corporate standards.
• Maintained keen focus on cost control and resource optimization initiatives to keep cost structure in sync with organizational goals while improving technical competency of organization.
• Worked in close liaison with other departments of the organization to establish round the clock mechanism for attentive monitoring and resolution of any performance related issues and bottlenecks.
• Investigated and implemented new infrastructure technologies for successful project-specific installations and configurations and developed strategies targeted towards reinforcement of business concepts.
• Optimized the capacity utilization and performance of company IT infrastructure with detailed emphasis on budget and time scales. Identified potential risk and created contingency plans to avoid any fall-outs.
• Administered and controlled various projects, involving procurement, bifurcation of resources and formulation of budget while fostering cost effectiveness. Advised technical team on programmatic design and implementation matters.
Highlights:
• Generated savings of $1Mn by making strategic negotiations and tactical pricing for acquiring hardware/software and consulting services (budgeted $8Mn).
• Proactively extended network and database administration services which enabled to minimize labor expenses of $ 150, 000 annually.
Key Responsibilities:
• Architected design and installation of LAN/WAN infrastructure, explored technological upgrades available to institute enhanced network connectivity of disparate Windows Servers and PC Systems.
• Managed a team and handled end-to-end project lifecycle from strategic planning and tactical activities to negotiating, organizing resources in order to optimize processes and achieve project objectives.
• Ensured that all engineered solutions are endowed with capability to meet project scope, budget and time constraints. Effectively defined technical requirements to non technical stake holders.
• Fostered IT best practices and provided administrative support to daily operational activities and streamlined IT operations in alignment with the business objectives of the organization.
• Maintained and administered computer networks and related computing environments. Inspected installed systems and directed modifications to ensure operational performance meets specified standards.
• Identified critical business issues and developed immediate and long term solutions including enhancements to existing applications and new IT infrastructure packages.
Highlights:
• Orchestrated system modification/ expansion and authored new system releases. Handled all IT restructuring initiatives in entirety from inception to completion involving installing, debugging, encoding and testing.
Key Responsibilities:
• Conducted survey and diagnosed IT infrastructure requirements/ problems, computed suitable designs, calculations, selected appropriate systems and software suitable as per needs.
• Performed data backups and disaster recovery operations. Planned, coordinated and implemented network security measures in order to protect data, software and hardware.
• Liaised with end system users and systems/ software developers to ensure effective system and software are developed, coordinated and updated the line managers on the status of projects undertaken.
• Generated an array of technical and management reports for strategic analysis and interpretation by top management. Highlighted potential deviations/issues and recommended economical solutions.
Other Professional Experiences:
• May 2005 - October 2005, Software Engineer, SAPZ Info Systems Pvt. Ltd., India.
MBA Information Technology
