The Botswana Digital and Innovation Hub (BDIH) has named one, Diane Mongudi as its acting Chief Executive with effect from 03 April 2023. This follows the departure of Tshepo Tsheko who was also leading the Block 8 based state owned entity on acting capacity.
Tsheko, who was appointed the BDIH acting CEO since April 2021, has since joined Inc.Edge as managing director. The company, Inc.Edge describes itself as a global leading-edge solutions provider in areas that include Internet of Things, Fabric, SDN/NFV for Edge Cloud, Secure Access Services Edge and Elastic Edge.
In a statement this week, BDIH confirmed both the departure of Tsheko and appointment of Mongudi.
“Whilst this development is a sad loss to the BDIH, the board and staff wish to thank Mr Tshepo Tsheko for his leadership and contribution to the growth of BDIH”, reads part of statement issued this past week.
The statement further stated, “In the interim, the board of directors has appointed Mr Diane Mongudi to serve as acting CEO effective 03 April 2023”.
Mongudi’s substantive position at BDIH is Director of Finance & Procurement. He is regarded as a seasoned accountant with more than 15 years industry experience after starting his career at Ernest and Young, one of the country’s big four audit firms. Mongudi then joined Associate Fund Administrators Botswana as an accountant and later on worked as Finance and Administration Manager overseeing the accounting, administration and human resources divisions. According to the BDIH, Mongudi also worked for the then Botswana Tourism Board as Finance Manager before joining Debswana Pension Fund as Finance Manager in 2013. He later joined the Botswana Innovation Hub in November, 2015.
Acting CEOs…
Both Tsheko and Mongudi have been appointed CEOs on interim basis following the departure of BDIH founding CEO, Alan Boshwaen in early 2021. At the time of his departure, Boshwaen had led BDIH for two (2) terms of five years each having joined the state owned entity on the 1st June 2011. Boshwaen was tasked with establishing and operationalizing the then new entity, and setting up the first Science and Technology Park (STP) in the country. BDIH says a big part of the STP is the entity’s headquarters, commonly referred to as the icon building. In 2021, ten years after being set up, the state owned hub rebranded to the Botswana Digital and Innovation Hub (BDIH) as part of the country’s efforts to embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and accelerate its digital transformation strategy. It is not yet clear when the board will appoint a substantive CEO to lead the organization’s strategy that seeks to accelerate the country’s digital transformation initiatives.
