BCSgroup team

BCSgroup currently employs 55 full-time staff, is committed to training and skills development of its work force and allocates significant resources to this annually. Staff members at all levels have the necessary minimum education levels and the requisite technology-specific certification.

Key members of the executive and management team are as follows:

Niel de Wet: Executive Chairman BPV, BCSgroup

Niel is responsible for driving the Vision of BCS Group by defining and implementing the Groups strategy. Niel has a real passion for business building, and is personally driven to deliver on the convergence potential. He has extensive experience in corporate management and has been a founding member and a strategic partner to businesses in the IT, ICT and Financial Services Sectors. A lot of the successes of the companies can be directly attributed to his management style, that focus strongly on skills development and leadership through motivation, his ability to find synergistic investment opportunities and to leverage the best value from these ventures.

Niel was instrumental in the Vodacom GSM roll out managed by Infracom as well as the roll out of Telkoms Vision 2000 project, which doubled the installed land-line last-mile infrastructure. He was also involved in converting all Telkoms analogue exchanges into digital exchanges as well as the management of the DECT Technology roll out. In addition, he managed the Telkom National Network Operating Centre roll out in Centurion.

Niel holds a B.Comm (Accounting) degree from the University of Pretoria, and B.Comm (Honours) through Unisa.

Charl Cilliers, CA (SA): Managing Director BPV, BCSgroup
Charl completed his articles at the auditing firm Arthur Anderson after which he was promoted to Audit Supervisor. After leaving the profession, he gained experience in corporate finance, specialising in restructuring and operations, after which he joined Finstruct (Pty) Ltd in 1999 as Group Financial Manager. His responsibilities included group finances and operations management.

He joined INsure as Financial and Operations Director in December 2000, being made responsible for finance, operations and strategic planning. In October 2002, following a management buy-out, he was appointed Managing Director of INsure.

Charl is also the MD of INshare.

Willie Olivier: Chief Operating Officer (Data and Infrastructure) BCSgroup

Prior to joining BCSgroup, Willie Olivier worked for Internet Solutions (part of the Dimension Data Group), and received the award in 2007 of Winner of the Quarterly CEO Team, which was exclusively awarded to one team across the global Group, as well as the Excellence Award which was awarded to the top 10% staff in a company.

Willie has worked on several exclusive 3rd Party ventures in the past 10 years including:
Internationally: Nokia Europe/Africa, Check Point UK/Ireland/South Africa, ISS, Internet Security Systems (ISS) UK/South Africa, RSA UK, Global Communication Systems (US), Osirus (UK), Motorola (SADC), Mail Marshall UK/Middle East/Africa and NetIQ Africa/Middle East
Africa: Comsys Ghana, DD Nigeria, Stratosat, Pronet, Zambia, Intelsat Fuchsstadt, Satellite Options & Solutions Kenya, Transtel SA, Advanced Telcoms Zimbabwe, Oderanet Nigeria, Telecom Namibia and AT&T London.
Nationally: Global Technologies, Beyond Security, Cisco, Comztec, Comsol, VAD Africa, Westcon, Communication Solutions, Vodacom, MWeb and Condyn

Willie has a Computer Science Degree from the Computer Training Institute at CTI Pretoria, has completed a Management Advancement Program at WITS University and was an iDirect Hub Operator in Washington DC. Willie is a founding member of the CTS Telkom Company in Namibia, of which he remains a shareholder.

Rowland Mundell: Customer Centre of Excellence Executive BCSgroup

Before joining BCSgroup, Rowland worked in the Service Industry for 7 years as well as the Telecoms Industry for more than 25 years from companies such as Eskom, Telkom, and MTN. More specifically, Rowland was involved in ITIL Service Management at MTN and Telkom, System Development as part of the SDLC at MTN, restructuring of strategic projects at MTN, regional and national account manager at Telkom, business integrator at Eskom, operations Manager at Eskom, process re-engineer at MTN, Telkom and Eskom, and service manager and call centre manager at Telkom.

Rowland holds a post-graduate Programme and Project Management degree from the University of Pretoria, an Advance Management Program (AMP) as well as a Management Development Program (MD) degree from the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).

Bianca Gruen, Legal and Regulatory BPV, BCSgroup

Prior to joining BCSgroup, Bianca was the Legal and Regulatory Officer at Zensho Telecoms where she fulfilled the roles, inter alia, of drafting various types of client and supplier agreements, regulatory compliance and applications in relation to ICASA, reviewing and signing of all supplier, management, and other contracts, compiling and advising on shareholder agreements, liaising with Telkom in relation to Interconnect Agreements and ordering of E1 links, liaising with GSM operators in relation to Interconnect Agreements, and working behind the scenes on USAL and USSASA negotiations.

Bianca has been instrumental in aligning BPVs regulatory compliance, and ensuring that the company has all necessary licences, numbers, type approvals, spectrum and interconnection agreements to provide an effective telecommunications service.

Bianca holds an LLB from Unisa and specialised in advanced contractual law.

Frans Els, CA (SA): Financial Director BPV

Frans Els has worked within the accounting and auditing environment for just over 20 years. He continued to work throughout his tertiary education where he earned his B.Compt, B.Compt (Hons), Post Grad Diploma in Auditing, Higher Diploma in Taxation and Diploma in Estate tax (with distinction) from UNISA. He proceeded to pass his Chartered Accountants Qualifying Examination, first time, in 2000. During this time he become Audit Manager where he was responsible for the auditing of systems, risk assessments and corporate governance as well as forensic audits, financial statements, VAT and payrolls.

Frans entire into private practice and opened his own company in 2002. In July 2008 he sold his practice and accepted the position of Financial Director at one of the leading financial services providers within the short term insurance market Insure Group. He currently holds membership with the IOD (Institute of Directors), the SAIT (Institute of Tax Practitioners) and CA (SA) (Chartered Accountant).

Ebrahim Ally, CA (SA): Financial Director BCSgroup, CitiConnect, B-Wired

Ebrahim graduated from the University of Cape Town with honours in B. Bus.Sc. Finance, and thereafter completed his articles at KPMG, specialising in treasuries and valuation of financial instruments.

Ebrahim then joined the Standard Bank Graduate Development Programme, and after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, joined the Oasis Group in 2003 as the senior mining analyst responsible for coverage of the global diversified mining sectors. In 2006, he became Head of the SA Institutional Client Services business of the Group, publishing several articles, and was also responsible for global business development in Europe and the Middle East. He joined IBM Europe in 2008 as part of the Strategic Value Creation team responsible for developing the business case proposition of a leading emerging market telecommunication service provider.

Ebrahim joined BCSgroup in June 2009.