Tag Archives: Africa’s economy

AMA, Business

SAP appoints Nazia Pillay as Managing Director for Southern Africa

MaraviPost

New leader takes reins as region gears up for era of AI and cloud.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, September 10th, 2025-/African Media Agency(AMA)/-SAP has appointed Nazia Pillay as its new Managing Director for Southern Africa.

Sergio Maccotta, Senior Vice President at SAP Middle East and Africa South, says: “Our purpose as a business is to help the world run better and improve people’s lives, reflected in our ongoing commitment to transformation and corporate responsibility throughout the continent. Nazia will bring vital expertise and leadership skills to one of SAP’s most important regions as we continue to empower youth, drive innovation within our customers and partners, and build a more inclusive, sustainable future. With companies across Southern Africa gearing up for an era of AI- and cloud-led innovation, we are especially excited to see how Nazia’s leadership will guide how organisations adopt technology as a strategic lever for national development and growth.”

Pillay says she will focus on three core areas in her new role, including a laser-like focus on customers to ensure existing partnerships are strengthened and new ones cultivated, and helping customers prepare for a digital-first, cloud-first world. “Teaming up with our valued customer and partner ecosystem across the region is mission-critical for our business, especially as we showcase SAP’s latest capabilities as an AI-first, suite first technology partner. As a people-focused leader, I have also made it my longer-term ambition to make our local office the best place to work in South Africa.”

The appointment comes as companies across Africa gear up for AI and cloud transformation. A recent report found that AI could revolutionise Africa’s economy and contribute as much as $2.9-trillion to the continent’s economy by the end of this decade.

Research conducted by SAP found widespread challenges with access to AI and other tech skills throughout East, West and Southern Africa. According to SAP’s ‘Africa’s AI Skills Readiness Revealed’ report, six in ten African organisations view AI skills as ‘extremely important’ to their success.

However, all companies surveyed expected to experience some AI-related skills gap in 2025, with nine in ten saying a lack of AI skills is already hurting their organisations through failed innovation initiatives, delays in implementations, and an inability to take on new work.

Pillay joined SAP as a graduate over 20 years ago, and has worked in roles spanning consulting, support, quality management, customer success and, most recently, as the head of the organisation’s regional partner ecosystem. She fundamentally believes SAP has a leading role to play in helping Africa’s public and private sector companies achieve their AI and innovation ambitions.

“Large cloud vendors such as SAP can help offset local skills shortages by providing access to advanced tools managed by global experts. Companies across the region benefit from global insights and best practices while bolstering their internal capacity to achieve higher levels of efficiency, innovation and growth.”

Companies are also increasingly investing in upskilling and reskilling their workforce to meet the demands of a rapidly changing business and technology landscape. “Our research found that nearly half (48%) of African organisations consider upskilling their employees a top skills-related challenge this year. As the pressure to build greater skills depth mounts on companies, vendors such as SAP can be invaluable partners, providing insight, expertise and technical capabilities that help drive successful innovation and transformation.”

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of SAP Africa.

Visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @SAPNews.

About Absa Group Limited

Absa Group Limited (‘Absa Group’) is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and is one of Africa’s largest diversified financial services groups. 

Absa Group offers an integrated set of products and services across personal and business banking, corporate and investment banking, wealth and investment management and insurance. 

Absa Group owns majority stakes in banks in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania (Absa Bank Tanzania and National Bank of Commerce), Uganda and Zambia and has insurance operations in Kenya and South Africa. Absa also has representative offices in the People’s Republic of China, Namibia, Nigeria and the United States, as well as securities entities in the United Kingdom and the United States, along with technology support colleagues in the Czech Republic.

For further information about Absa Group Limited, visit www.absa.africa

About SAP

As a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, SAP (NYSE:SAP) stands at the nexus of business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted SAP to bring out their best by uniting business-critical operations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

Note to editors:

To preview and download broadcast-standard stock footage and press photos digitally, please visit www.sap.com/photos. On this platform, you can find high resolution material for your media channels.

For customers interested in learning more about SAP products:

Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24

United States Only: 1 (800) 872-1SAP (1-800-872-1727)

For more information, press only: 

SAP Head of Communications Africa, James Wilson at

james.wilson03@sap.com 

ByDesign Communications, Palesa Mokitle, at

p.mokitle@bdcomms.co.za  

SAP Press Room; press@sap.com

The post SAP appoints Nazia Pillay as Managing Director for Southern Africa appeared first on African Media Agency.

Business

IWG, The Leading Flexible Workspace Provider Expands Franchise Opportunity in Malawi

Maravi Post Reporter

Franchise opportunities – Africa’s economy will grow faster than any other continent’s over the next five years and flexible working is a huge part of that future

International Workplace Group (IWG plc) this month announced the expansion of the first flexible office space franchise opportunity in Malawi. The company is currently seeking driven multi-brand franchise operators, landlords, private equity firms and high net-worth individuals to seize the opportunity to buy into the lucrative flexible working market at attractive returns. With the first franchise centre already open in Angola and new centres opening in Guinea and Djibouti later this year, the company is determinedly targeting the African continent for development and investment opportunities for early adopters of the franchising model.

A report on the Future of Work in Africa, released by the World Bank this month, shows that access to digital technologies could set Africa on a different path to the rest of the world. While there is globally a focus on new and old sectors, in Africa digital transformation will predominantly enable advances in productivity and efficiency in current sectors. To do so, the report maintains that they need to focus on the three E’s: enabling entrepreneurship, enhancing productivity through creating better business environments; and extending social protecting coverage.

Regus, an IWG plc company, started the flexible working movement over 30 years ago and has remained the global leader since, growing to over 3 400 locations worldwide. Its proven business model has shown its resilience through many economic cycles in Africa and globally. The group of IWG companies supports over 2.5 million community members which include successful entrepreneurs, individuals and small businesses as well as large corporates. Regus in Africa has worked at creating a professional business environment where African businesses can flourish and grow.

By 2020 it is estimated that 50% of workers will work remotely most of the time, which will create a dramatic shift in the way the African populations work. By 2030, it is predicted that 30% of all commercial real estate will be flexible workspace.

The only way to cater for the huge demand will be through rapid growth, hence IWG plc’s aggressive move to franchising in cities and urban centres, but also in smaller feeder towns and areas. With their focus on a “great day at work every day” the Regus brand alone has become the go-to for entrepreneurs and large corporates trying to attract and retain talent.

Research across 80 countries showed that 83% of workers around the world would turn down a job that didn’t offer flexible working. Over 40% of workers said that their daily commute was the worst part of their day, opting for jobs that would allow them to work closer to home.

Eligible franchisees will commit to opening a prescribed number of centres within a period of 2 to 3 years, have a proven track-record in business, property or investment and will work closely with Regus to find and design ideal locations and uphold IWG’s strict operating standards.

In return, franchisees buy into an established global brand that provides multiple revenue streams including monthly memberships and referral fees; leverage their highly effective marketing strategy and global sales platform; have access to IWG’s entire network of world-class operational support; and diversify their investment portfolio to include an industry that will have created 30 million jobs across 16 of the world’s countries by 2030.

Join IWG plc at https://franchise.iwgplc.com/

For more information or to find out more about Franchise opportunities in your country, please contact Mo.Nanabhay@iwgplc.com.