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This podcast is available on 6 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.

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TCS Legends

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by TechCentral

8 episodes

Updated Weekly

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Podcast Overview

TCS Legends features interviews with (and about) some of the leading figures who helped shape South Africa’s technology industry into what it is today.

Language

🇺🇲

Publishing Since

2/19/2024

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Recent Episodes

June 3, 2024

TCS Legends | Mark Todes: technologist and monopoly slayer

Mark Todes has a fascinating story to tell. The South African technologist and entrepreneur is TechCentral’s guest in the final episode of season 1 of the popular TCS Legends podcast. Todes, who is perhaps best known for helping fight Telkom’s attempts in the 1990s to extend its telecommunications monopoly to the internet, has a storied career that began in the mid-1970s in the pre-PC era of mainframes and minicomputers. In this episode of TCS Legends, Todes tells TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod about the founding of Compustat with his long-time business partner Mendel Karpul and how they went on to develop a word processor called GhostWriter (the name of which Microsoft later tried to wrestle away from them). In the show, Todes chats about: • How he and Karpul got their start selling a bureau-based accounting solution for pharmacies – and how they got their first big break. The solution was developed in Fortran using punch cards and ran on a minicomputer from Digital Equipment Corporation; • Their development of Survey 2000, a cadastral land surveying system – their first product for personal computers (developed by Hewlett-Packard, prior to the launch of the original IBM PC); • The development of GhostWriter, which became an early DOS-based competitor to the likes of MultiMate, WordStar and WordPerfect. • The launch of Internet Africa, a pioneering South African internet service provider that was later sold to Datatec (and later to Naspers); • The early days of the internet industry in South Africa, the formation of the Internet Service Providers’ Association and the existential fight with Telkom over whether the telecommunications operator’s government-sanctioned monopoly included the provision of internet services; • Working with Naspers, Mweb and the late Antonie Roux; • The launch of Korbitec (and its later sale to Naspers); and • How he and Karpul became early pioneers in the CD-ROM business. There’s much more than this to Todes’s story, making him one of the true legends of South Africa’s technology industry. Don’t miss this concluding episode of season 1 of TCS Legends. The series will return for season 2 in 2025.

May 21, 2024

Joan Joffe on building Joffe Associates - and Vodacom

Joan Joffe, the founder of Joffe Associates who would later play a pivotal role in the launch of South Africa’s mobile industry, began her IT career writing machine code on an ICL (then ICT) mainframe. Joffe, who introduced the IBM PC to South Africa in the early 1980s (much to IBM South Africa’s chagrin), has a storied career going all the way back to the late 1950s. Indeed, one of the first projects in which she was involved was developing the very first computerised payroll system for the SA Railways (now Transnet). In this latest episode of the popular TCS Legends interview series, Joffe tells TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod about her early career, what led to her striking out on her own with Joffe Associates, and how she eventually became marketing director for Vodacom during its start-up years. What many people might not know about Joffe is that she even had a stint as a technology journalist at one point in her career, writing a column for FinanceWeek, a now-defunct business magazine. In this episode of TCS Legends, Joffe chats about: • Her studies at Wits University; • Her early programming career; • Her time in the US, where she worked for Wells Fargo Bank and Standard Oil; • Her time as a saleswoman for HP selling pocket calculators and how that led to her securing an HP dealership and the formation of Joffe Associates; • The launch by Joffe Associates of the IBM PC in South Africa and Joffe’s clashes with local IBM management at the time; • The sale of Joffe Associates to Datakor, and why it was a disaster; • The Vodacom opportunity and what was involved in lauching South Africa’s first mobile operator; • The battle over Vodacom’s advertising agencies; • Working with Vodacom’s founding CEO, Alan Knott-Craig; • Meeting Nelson Mandela; • The early skirmishes with MTN; and • The launch of the Vodacom Foundation. Joffe, who succeeded in a male-dominated industry, went on to become a founding member of Nozala Investments. She has also served on the boards of various organisations, including the CSIR, Datacentrix and a number of non-profit organisations. Among other accolades and awards, she is a recipient of the Wits University Lifetime Award for Entrepreneurship. Don’t miss this fascinating interview with a pioneering woman in South Africa’s IT industry – and a true legend of the sector. *** TCS Legends is powered by Mitel. For all your Unified Communications and Customer Experience needs, visit Mitel.com. ***

May 6, 2024

Ivan Epstein on building and selling Softline

Softline co-founder and former CEO Ivan Epstein is TechCentral’s guest in the latest episode of TCS Legends. Epstein, who co-founded Softline in 1988 with Alan Osrin, chats to host Duarte da Silva – who also happens to have been the first guest on TCS Legends – about the early days of Softline, its listing on the JSE and its eventual sale to Sage. It was a heady time in South Africa’s nascent IT sector, and Epstein relates interesting titbits from that time, including what was involved in the JSE listing and the eventual sale to Sage. It’s a fascinating story, not only about a successful South African business, but also the people behind it. TCS Legends is powered by Mitel. For all your Unified Communications and Customer Experience needs, visit Mitel.com.

8 total episodes available

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Frequently asked questions

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What is TCS Legends?: TCS Legends features interviews with (and about) some of the leading figures who helped shape South Africa’s technology industry into what it is today.
How often does this podcast release new episodes?: This podcast updates weekly.
Where can I listen to this podcast?: This podcast is available on 6 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
Does this podcast accept guests?: No, this podcast does not typically feature guests.

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