Logicalis strengthens Pan-African capabilities with senior appointments

Cape Town, 1 March 2019 - Logicalis South Africa (Logicalis), a subsidiary of Datatec Limited (JSE: DTC), has made three senior appointments to significantly strengthen its regional management team and build on the platform established in South Africa to further expand reach and capabilities across the region.

The company appointed Jakes Jakobsen as Managing Executive of Sales and Marketing, Caesar Tonkin as Chief Information Security Officer and Morné Laubscher as Hybrid IT and Cloud Practice Manager of Logicalis South Africa.

 Logicalis, part of the international Logicalis Group, is an IT solutions and managed services business offering digital enablement services to help local and international customers take advantage of digital technology.

Jakes Jakobsen is responsible for leading the company’s business strategy and sales and marketing operations. Jakes has more than 20 years’ experience in the IT industry and has held senior sales and consulting roles at leading South African IT firms responsible for delivering key business targets for large corporate and mobile service provider customers.

Caesar Tonkin has been appointed as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the South Africa and Africa region. Caesar is seasoned in cyber security with 12 years of local and global information security experience. Previously, he led the Global Information Security function at a multinational mining house and gained broad experience in cyber security across several industries as a trusted advisor to several CISOs and CIOs. His appointment is aimed at building on the mature Logicalis cyber security capabilities already present in the UK, Europe, US, South America and the Far East. 

In his new role Morné Laubscher will head up the Hybrid IT and Cloud Practice. Morné is a cloud technology expert with over 20 years’ experience in the industry. He was involved in building some of the first private cloud platforms in South Africa and has been involved in running product, services, consulting and solutions practices across multinational digital cloud ecosystems in various vertical markets.

Frikkie Grobler, CEO of Logicalis South Africa, said:
"The three appointments add a great deal of expertise to the team as the business continues to expand its offering across Southern Africa and other African markets.

 “We are extremely proud of the world-class managed services business we have built in a short space of time. We are servicing local and international markets and are positioned to extend our scope beyond services by offering bespoke digital business solutions to our customers. 

“Security and cloud are key drivers in our strategy to grow market share and I believe we have the right expertise and global experience to help organisations take advantage of the best possible solutions for their businesses in a highly competitive market.”

“Our goal is to be the strategic partner of choice to vendors and customers. We understand the local market and we are able to leverage global resources and expertise through our parent, Logicalis Group.”

Since starting operations in March 2017 with six employees, Cape Town headquartered Logicalis grew rapidly, including through the acquisition of IP telephony cloud and managed services business Clarotech in September 2018. The business currently employs over 120 people and continues to look for opportunities to expand further.

Enquiries:
Logicalis South Africa
Jakes Jakobsen – Managing Executive – Sales & Marketing                    
+27 (0)21 935 6698
Michele Cox – Marketing Executive                                                       
+27 (0)21 689 5330