Kholofelo Matimatjatji graduated from Belgium Campus iTversity in 2015 with a Bachelor of Computing degree. She is currently a senior business analyst team lead as Discovery Invest as well as the managing director at a start-up company called Puno MGT. We touched base with her to find out about her current positions, as well as her experience as a woman in the IT field.

1. Why did you choose to pursue a career in the IT field?
I have always found the dynamic nature of the IT industry fascinating and thrilling.

2. What has your experience as a woman in the IT field been like so far?
I appreciate my femininity more in this male-dominated industry. As a female leader my leadership approach is more nurturing and people centric, underpinned by my own values of sound judgement and business astuteness. This sets me apart from my male counterparts who equally have their own unique styles of interaction and leadership.

The IT field is an exciting space to be in, particularly in this time of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Gender-neutral, brilliant ideas are mushrooming every other day that are changing the face of technology and extensively exploring our capabilities as the human race. It’s amazing and I’m fascinated to see these developments and be involved, at times pioneering these value propositions. My inputs are relevant and appreciated, particularly in the environment I work in. Women are appreciated and given an equal opportunity to contribute as well as lead.

3. What do you enjoy most about your job?
Solving problems excites me just as much as people do. I get to discover new solutions by interacting with different faces walking through the corridors of Discovery each day. Without these interactions, challenges would not exist and subsequently the solutions wouldn’t either. The same can be said about the entrepreneurs that seek out our management consulting services. Our impact ranges from minor operations optimization to long term strategy development, all of which leave me with an immutable sense of fulfilment seeing dreams live beyond today.

4. Tell us a bit about Puno MGT.
Our core business objective is to serve SMEs. The motive for starting up the business was seeing how home-grown township businesses in South Africa never grow beyond the knowledge and technical expertise of the founder. Through extensive observation and pattern triangulation, I attributed this to the lack of basic business administration skills and strategic planning. These businesses have an abundance of passion and expertise but are stuck in a perpetual survivalist mode. Remedying this conundrum was as simple as providing basic business administration services as well implementing optimizations to their processes, which was what I did daily as a business analyst. I felt it was my responsibility to make myself available to help these visionaries get to where they want to be, it is my way of giving back to the community.

5. Do you feel that Belgium Campus sufficiently equipped you to enter industry?
I have always joked with colleagues that Belgium Campus emulates an IT boot camp. I got to develop an exceptional work ethic that stressed the value of quality work as well as respecting deadlines and commitments. These are core and essential skills necessary in the work environment.

6. What is your fondest memory of your time at Belgium Campus?
At the risk of sounding cheesy, I would have to say the people. Belgium Campus always felt like home, from residence life to academic. There was never a shortage of helping hands or people to bounce a ridiculous hypothesis off, whether it was a random LAN gaming binge or computing an ORS algorithm. Someone, somewhere would always be willing to help and that’s something that has stayed with me to this day.

7. What are your goals for the future?
I want to show young people the value of participating and engaging in the asset and wealth management industry. I want to make the industry accessible and current for young people, not only for sustainability purposes, but also to ensure that cyclic generational poverty is a thing of the past for the young South African.

I am the executive board member for my own enterprise but it is only a matter of time until I make it onto other influential boards of multinational corporations, actively seeking better lives for people and changing the world for generations to come.