Joan Joffe is the recipient of the first Computer Society of South Africa (CSSA)/Computing SA (CSA) Fellowship Award, being honored for her exceptional career as an ICT professional, and for her service to the CSSA. The award was made last Wednesday night, at the annual CSSA President"s Awards Banquet.

This award is made to an individual who has demonstrated a significant contribution to the ICT industry. With Joffe having been in the industry for over forty years in the industry, this is a simple qualifier. The recipient receiving the award would also have to be viewed as a role model and mentor who has shown dedication to advancement in the local ICT industry. And, looking back on Joffe"s career, this too is obvious.

Many will know Joffe from her years with telecommunications company, Vodacom, but her career in the industry started long before her time there.

After completing her degree at Wits University in 1959, majoring in Mathematics, Joffe decided to take a break, before continuing with her plan to study towards an LLB degree. She happened on a position as trainee programmer with ICL and thus started her long career in the ICT industry.

A spell studying Computer Science at Stanford University, plus a few years working in San Francisco for Standard Oil of California, followed. Returning to SA, Joffe joined IBM Corp. as a systems analyst, and then moved into sales at Hewlett-Packard (HP). "I recall loading the boot of my car in the mornings, driving to see customers all over Johannesburg, Pretoria and the East and West Rand, and returning in the evenings with an empty boot and a purse overflowing with checks. It was a great confidence-builder, and my experience at HP changed the direction of my life," she says.

In 1977, HP set up a dealer network, and offered her a dealership. "I started Joffe Associates in a very small way," she says. "My office was my car, and I had a pager which beeped continually as people began placing orders with me."

Always able to spot trends, Joffe in 1982 imported the first IBM PCs into SA, a full year before IBM SA decided to launch the product. She remarks that her best ever sale was when IBM SA purchased its first IBM PC from Joffe Associates.

In 1987 Joffe sold out to then JSE-listed Datakor. After working out her management contract with Datakor, she was approached by Vodacom and offered the position of GM: marketing and sales. She joined Vodacom and played a key role in setting the framework for the advertising, distribution channels and sales strategy of the company, and was part of the team that launched the highly successful "Yebo Gogo" commercials.

After some years in the marketing role, Joffe was appointed as Vodacom"s first group executive - corporate affairs. She was also appointed as the first chairman of the Vodacom Foundation. She officially retired from Vodacom at the end of 2003, but says that retirement from the world of business is not an option for her. "There is so much energy and opportunity in this country, that I feel I just have to be part of it," she says.

She currently holds several non-executive directorships, and is on the advisory boards of a number of institutions. She is a founder member of women"s empowerment group, Nozala, and spends quite a bit of her time working on empowerment deals for the group.

Joffe is deputy chairperson of the Digital Partnership, a project that imports used PCs from countries around the world, refurbishes them locally and then places them in schools across the country.

From her foray into entrepreneurship, her extensive experience, vast accomplishments and significant contributions in the ICT sector, Joffe is a true case study of success, and a worthy recipient of the first CSSA/CSA Fellowship Award.

Also at the Awards Banquet, Torque-IT CEO, Mthunzi Mdwaba, was named IT Personality of the Year, SARS CIO, Ken Jarvis, was presented with the IT Leadership Award, Dr Phillip Tromp, currently MD of Perago, was named CIO of the Decade and Nedbank received the Computer Human Interface Award for its intranet project. Computing SA would like to extend its congratulations to all of the winners.

With additional reporting by Samantha Perry.