Siyabonga Madibi is Cisco’s Government Affairs Director for Africa, a post that wi require him to lead Cisco’s government affairs and public policy strategy in Africa, engaging with top government officials and key policy makers in Africa.

Madibi, who brings on board 14 years experience in telecom policy will focus initially on South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria working in close partnership and alignment the Cisco’s Africa Leadership team, led by David Meads, VP for Africa at Cisco, on policies and relationships that will advance Cisco’s business in Africa.

 Pastora Valero, Senior Director, Government Affairs, Cisco Europe, Middle East & Africa and Russia CIS (EMEAR) said, “We are delighted to have Siyabonga on board especially at a time when we are witnessing considerable growth and investment in ICT throughout Africa which makes proactive engagement with governments a vital strategic imperative for us at Cisco. I look forward to working with him as a key contributor to our global Government Affairs team as we actively support African governments in the drive to increase access to affordable, reliable technology.”

 Siyabonga Madyibi, Government Affairs Director, Cisco, Africa said, “I look forward to leading Cisco’s Government Affairs program in Africa given its important and integral role in Cisco’s strategy for growth in Africa. With the technology market currently growing at an exponential rate and governments playing an important role to helping to develop the opportunities that are being created, Cisco aims to actively partner with government departments to help drive this growth and build on these opportunities.”

 For the past decade Siyabonga has led the government and regulatory strategy for Dimension Data in Africa. Before that, he worked with the South African Regulator, ICASA, and for MTN, one of the leading mobile operators in the telecoms sector in Africa. Siyabonga holds a BA Law degree from the University of Cape Town and an LLB degree from the University of Natal.