BACKGROUND

 

Mr. Nelson Mgcina is a seasoned and highly motivated individual who has spent over twenty (25) years of his career in the information technology sector. Nelson has a vast educational, training and working experience in IT. His high school and university education were financed through obtaining scholarships locally and internationally. Nelson started his career in the corporate as a junior programmer/ IT technician and progress in years to become a Programme Manager, Regional Manager, Chief Information Officer and an Independent Consultant. As a person motivated by challenges, he left the public sector and joined the private sector. He has been a personal IT advisor/mentor to CIOs / IT Managers in many companies including Gauteng Social Department, National Department of Transport, Department of Education, South African Social Services Agency, Ithala Bank, just to name a few. The IT advisory services he rendered included implementing IT Governance, IT Service Management, IT Strategy as well Project and Programme mamangement.

 

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Nelson matriculated in Soweto in 1978. In 1980 he obtained a certification from Chamdor Institute to become an Electronic Technician. In 1982 he obtained a Computer Programming diploma from Control Data Institute. In 1986 he graduated from Hampton University (USA) with an honors degree in Computer Science. In 1994 he obtained a project management certificate from Damelin College. In 1996 he completed the Management Development Programme with the University of Pretoria.

 

Some of the training that he has done includes dBase III, Clarion, Informix, System W, Commander EIS, One-Up and Clipper system development tools. He is certified in ITIL Ver. 2 (ISEB) and COBIT (ISACA) and ISO 9001 (SQMI).

 

WORK EXPERIENCE

 

Vocational Work: International Business Machine - IBM

Nelson’s working experience started at IBM where he worked as a vocational student during school holidays in 1978 and 1979. His main task was to capture data into punch cards and do backups to tape drives. This experience introduced Nelson to the world of computers, which ultimately shaped his career in IT.

 

1981 to 1982 National Cash Register – NCR

As a qualified Electronic Technician, Nelson’s responsibility at NCR was to repair faulty electronic boards, which were used in cash registers. This involves performing fault finding on the faulty board and replacing the faulty electronic component e.g. resistors.

 

1986 to 1988 Anglo American Corp.

He started at Anglo as a junior programmer. His primary task was to develop systems using dBase III and Clipper programming languages. His secondary task was to install software and hardware in personal computers. This experience gave him an opportunity to interact with users. He left Anglo as a senior programmer.

 

1989 to 1990 Olivetti Africa

At Olivetti he worked as an Analyst Programmer responsible for the analysis, design and implementation of the List Price System and Cashbook System. The programming languages used were Informix and dBase III Plus.

 

1990 to 1992 Eskom - Information Technology Department (ITD)

He joined the ITD as a Senior Analyst Programmer to analyze, design, and implement decision support systems. The systems that he was involved in were for the Generation Group. His involvement in these projects gave him access to interact with Generation executives including one to one interaction. These interactions included getting user requirement, system demonstration, project meetings and user training.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1992 to 1994 National Sorghum Breweries - NSB

At NSB he was employed as a project manager. The significant projects that he managed include:

1. The NSB Executive Information System, which was used by company executive team to manage the production and sales of the sorghum beer countrywide. NSB has regional offices in Gauteng, Kwa-Zulu Natal and Cape Town with depots in major cities.
2. Implementation of the Profile Personnel System. This HR system was used to manage the whole of NSB internal staff. The implementation included the system to interface with Accpac payroll system. The challenge with this system was to consolidate 3 different hr systems that were used. 

 

1. The other systems included NSB Remote System, NSB Bursary Trust Fund System and NSB Shares System.

 

1994 to 1997 Eskom – Generation Department

Nelson was recruited back to Eskom to work for the Generation Group as a Regional Information Manager (IM). The region’s task was to manage the value added information support services to the Generation Business Units (power stations). His region comprised of six (6) stations namely: Matimba, Majuba, Lethabo, Kendal, Kriel and Matla power stations. Each station had a minimum of 3 IM staff to service the station. IM had to facilitate computing support to meet the information needs of the power stations. IM had to co-ordinate all IT related issues. He also managed the region’s human resource, finances and assets.

 

1997 to 1999 Eskom – Information Technology Department (ITD)

He rejoined ITD as a Business Development manager (BDM). He was part of the IT Board which was tasked with the planning and execution of the overall Eskom IT strategy. As a BDM his task included selling and promoting ITD services to the Corporate Services Group which included the HR, Finance, Risk Management, and Pension Fund business units. Duties included developing partnership with customers to provide value added IT based business solutions. Ensure service level agreements with customers are in place and managed. Manage solution team leaders and ensure that project commitments are achieved and the customer-ITD interface is effectively managed. He was also responsible for revenue management.

 

1998 to 1998 Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)

In 1998 Nelson was seconded for nine (9) months by Eskom to the IEC as a Chief Information Officer to establish the IT infrastructure in preparation for the 1999 South African general election. This required the development of an IT strategy and later the sourcing in of the implementation partner through a tender process. Accenture were awarded to be the implementation partner. His duties also were to establish the local area network for the head office and the wide area network. He also tasked to manage the procurement of IT resources

 

1999 to 2001 Eskom – Information Technology Department

He joined the Systems Development department of ITD to mange the section responsible for the Eskom Transmission group IT systems development and implementation. His main duty was to manage all the system development and implementation projects of the Transmission group. He manage the department’s finances, assets and staff. Manage and maintain constant communication with all stakeholders to ensure customer service delivery.

 

2001 to 2002 arivia.kom

When arivia.kom was formed from the consolidation of the IT departments of Eskom, Transnet and Denel, Nelson joined the eVenture section. His main duty was to establish business ventures for arivia.kom. Create venture opportunities, alliances as well as developing solutions to be integrated into other lines of arivia.kom business. Formulate a consolidated venture strategy and evaluate potential partners and alliances to fulfill this strategy.

 

2002 February to June 2006 NDM Information Technology Services

When he left arivia.kom he started his own consulting company focusing mainly on IT Governance. This includes maturity assessment and implementation using the Cobit and ITIL frameworks. His main task was to source in work i.e. business development, and to ensure delivery by putting resource to deliver. He was also accountable for strategic partnership development, service delivery, and revenue collection. Some of the clients were Pikitup, Eskom, arivia.kom, Spoornet, City Power, Department Of Social Development and Department of Education.

 

June 2006 to April 2007 Pink Elephant

Nelson was employed at Pink Elephant as a Business Development and Account Manager. His duties involved marketing and selling the company’s training and consulting services mainly IT Service Management (ITIL), Project Management (PRINCE2) and IT Governance (COBIT) to both public and private sector. He was involved in identifying strategic partners that will work with Pink Elephant. 

 

May 2007 to October 2007 HP South Africa

Nelson was employed at HP as an Account Support Manager for Mobile Technology Network (MTN) Ltd, which is one of South Africa’s leading Telecoms Company. This includes MTN South Africa and Swaziland. His duties involve coordinating HP’s extensive resources and multi vendor alliances for the ongoing support of MTN’s IT environment. Nelson served as MTN’s primary contact with HP and he works closely with MTN’s technical staff and IT management to help ensure ongoing alignment with MTN’s business goals.  He developed and managed the account support plan, delivered technical services, conducted periodic reviews, conducts joint MTN and HP operations meeting and coordinates other HP resources as and when is needed.

 

November 2007 to December 2009 Kenterton Consulting

Nelson was employed at Kenterton as a Lead Consultant for IT Service Management and IT Governance. His duties involve strategy formulation and implementation of ITIL and COBIT. Nelson also did business development and account management for Kenterton. The company that he served were Ithala Bank, Public Rail Agency of South Africa and Department of Home Affairs

 

May 2010 to January 2012 Khum Investments

Nelson was employed by Khum Investments as a lead consultant. His role was that of a Project Manager at Eskom for the implementation of a Quality Management System (QMS) ISO 9001:2008 for the Group Capital division. This project also involved the implementation of a QMS electronic system, Achiever Plus, a Governance, Risk and Compliance software solution. The success of the project in 2011 saw it being rolled out to the rest of the Eskom Group. He also fulfilled the role of account executive.