‘Wherever I go, I make friends,” says Thoko Mokgosi-Mwantembe, chief executive of Hewlett-Packard’s South Africa operations, and I can’t help but believe her. I’ve just witnessed her charming a waitress with such effortless sincerity that I ask if they know each other. “You’ve got to do what makes you content. I love what I do. I thrive on it,” she says.
Mokgosi-Mwantembe has just been named the Corporate Business Woman of the Year for 2007 by the Businesswomen’s Association. When we meet at a Sandton coffeeshop she is relaxed and courteous, despite a full day of meetings.
“The ultimate would be a business person’s award, but we haven’t reached that level of parity. This award encourages other women to do even better. The glass ceiling used to be thick. Now it is thin. A lot has improved, but the ceiling is still there,” she says, commenting on the award.
Mokgosi-Mwantembe joined Hewlett-Packard three years ago, a year after the merger had begun to be implemented. “The impact was very minimal,” she says, referring to the global job losses that followed Hewlett-Packard’s much-talked about 2003 merger with Compaq, but from which South Africa was sheltered. Despite its size, HP employs just 500 permanent staff members and 500 contractors. “We’re very partner-centric. A lot of our sales are done through partners.”
“The whole merger thing is behind us now. I’d like to think that we have come together nicely,” she says. “You don’t feel or see anything different at all. Rather than competing, the two companies brought complementary offerings and skills and we have seen phenomenal growth.”
Mokgosi-Mwantembe has built up a substantial CV in the telecoms industry. Before heading HP, she was chief executive of Alcatel SA, with senior positions at Siemens and Lucent Technologies, and she responsible for Telkom’s rebranding. “You’re constantly dealing with evolving technology and evolving customer needs. You never reach the goalposts because they keep shifting. There’s evolution involved,” she says.
It requires a particular type of person to keep up with an industry that’s constantly changing. “You need the skills to support dynamism — the types of people that will embrace change, otherwise they will drown in frustration.”
Once you’ve got the right kind of people, you need to put ongoing skills training in place. “It’s a continual shift. Every employee [at HP] has a development plan, including myself. We have to learn continuously. We need to anticipate change and how the market will accept change.”
Change management — as the gurus like to call it — seems to be a hot topic at HP. “As a company, we have to anticipate and prepare ourselves. We have a big R&D [research and development] budget, as do, I’m sure, our competitors. That way, innovation becomes a winning story and you’re always ahead of the curve. It’s a survival strategy, but it’s also a business strategy. It’s key,” Mokgosi-Mwantembe says.
Before she became a hotshot ICT executive, Mokgosi-Mwantembe, who holds a master’s degree in medical chemistry, worked for several pharmaceutical companies, including Glaxo and Merck. “For me there are key similarities. Both are analytical and technical. When I made the change, my mindset was ready. It was only the content that had to come.”
Like the ICT sector, the pharmaceuticals industry embraces change. But in her new field “the change happens at a faster rate and takes place in a different sphere”.
For a moment, she looks dreamy. “When I was in the United Kingdom I used to play around with molecules. The dynamism is a common thread.”
Does she miss chemistry? “I used to, but I’ve been here [telecoms] many years now. But I always enjoy it when people talk about drugs,” she admits.
Both industries, she says, improve people’s lives. “ICT is an enabler for economic growth. It enables you to do what you are doing better and more efficiently. It’s exciting to see the difference you can make. Pharmaceuticals make people’s health better, while ICT makes people’s lives better through economic growth.”
She is passionate about education, too. “As a company we’re very focused on helping in the education space, through our corporate social investment. Education automatically helps bridge the digital divide.”
What about environmental awareness? “Every company needs the environment. We have a design for the environment programme. We design for energy efficiency — for instance, we use low-voltage processors which use 10 times less energy — and for reuse or recycling. We have re-used parts since 1987. Last year about 75-million kilograms’ worth of hardware was re-used — something like 14 jumbo jets. We also look at material innovation, both for the product and the packaging.”
HP runs office recycling plants in 40 countries, where consumers can dump old computers. Mokgosi-Mwantembe is keen to add South Africa to the list. “It’s not just about doing well. It’s about doing good for communities and the planet. We must leave something sustainable for our children.”
So, from a professional trend spotter, what’s next for ICT?
“Convergence is the next big thing. It’s happening already, with phones that can play video and use the internet,” she says.