Jem, South Africa’s HR and financial platform for frontline workers, announced the appointment of Zuko Mdwaba as Strategic Enterprise Partner and investor.
Mdwaba is best known for building Salesforce and Workday’s African businesses from the ground up, scaling both from relative unknowns on the continent to household names generating over billions in annual revenue. He brings over 30 years of experience in global technology companies across Africa.
His three-decade career also includes leadership roles at Oracle, SAS, Telkom and several other technology leaders. Zuko is renowned for his commercial acumen, credibility with C-suites and a track record of building high-performance teams that disrupt and deliver impact.
Mdwaba joins Jem at a critical inflection point as the company enters a scale-up phase and expands from serving mid-market companies to targeting South Africa’s largest and most important employers. He will help drive major enterprise sales opportunities and close landmark deals, focusing on partnerships. He will mentor Jem’s founders and commercial team on enterprise go-to-market, sales strategy and meaningful execution.
And he will be a public ambassador, building trust with decision makers at the executive level, representing Jem at industry events and in the media.
Mdwaba commented: “Jem has created something rare. The platform not only solves real business problems but does so with purpose. The team’s energy, ambition and focus on impact are what drew me in. I am excited to help take Jem to the next level and unlock new value for South Africa’s employers and their people.”
Simon Ellis, co-founder and CEO at Jem, says “Zuko isn’t just an advisor and investor, he is one of the continent’s sharpest enterprise operators. Zuko’s record speaks for itself. His experience, network and leadership will accelerate Jem’s transition from startup to category provider. Most importantly, he’s going to help us bring better outcomes to millions of South African deskless workers and their employers.”
Jem is building Africa’s HR and financial platform for frontline and deskless workers. By combining smart technology with an unrivalled understanding of frontline work, Jem helps businesses manage their people and pay simply and effectively, improving outcomes for both employers and employees.
Jem’s platform also digitises and streamlines HR operations for employers, from leave management and payslip delivery to internal communications and query management. By removing barriers to access, Jem has helped 150,000+ workers across 150 businesses become more engaged and financially secure.
