During the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was screaming from the mountaintop, wondering why we weren’t celebrating our CIOs (Chief Information Officers), tech leaders and heroes who were silently grinding behind the scenes, literally moving their operations to secure centres, maintain critical infrastructure and keep the world running and alive despite the shutdown.
Those were the words of the Convener, The CIO & C-Suite Awards Africa, the continent’s premier platform celebrating excellence in technology leadership, while narrating the idea that led to the awards.
She continued: “Cyberattacks were spiking, and without the tireless work of the CIOs, a lot of companies would have collapsed. Many of these tech leaders were probably losing their lives quietly, completely unseen. I felt it was grossly unfair that these individuals keeping our world connected were so unappreciated and unrecognised. The CFOs and CEOs get all the awards, but the guys taking the bullet are invisible. My mission became to put a crown on their head and give them the public spotlight they deserved.
“The biggest challenge at the time however was wrestling the spotlight away from the marketing people. For them, the CEO or the CFO is the natural, as the face and brand of the company, leveraging every event for amplification. They simply didn’t understand why James, the IT guy somewhere who is usually behind the scenes, should suddenly be the public image. Initially, the awardees themselves were conservative and hesitant. Many were so used to working in the shadows that they didn’t even inform their companies about their nominations. Some just showed up quietly, thinking, let me just see what this is about, pick the award, and leave before I get into any trouble. Ultimately, I had to convince companies that giving the individual the crown meant the company would shine too. It was a massive cultural shift we had to drive.”
Speaking on the selection process for the awardees, Laseinde said: “We established a stringent, governance-focused selection process with the help of technical partners. To ensure fairness and meritocracy, not just choosing someone I liked, we appointed a panel of Jurors (senior IT veterans and founders). Nominees must submit a project executed within the last 12 months, detailing its quantitative and qualitative impact on their organisation and value chain. We also require strict confidentiality clauses and subject all submissions to rigorous desktop validation to verify their claims. It’s all about justifiable achievement, not popularity.”
When asked the impact of the awards based on testimonials and its role in elevating CIOs and C-Suite technology leaders? She said: The testimonials and ripple effects have been profoundly encouraging, validating our decision to celebrate these tech leaders. This not only gives them personal visibility but also elevates their roles within their companies, shining a spotlight on the entire IT team. By acknowledging their crucial contributions, the awards successfully foster an environment where the CIO/CISO role is seen as essential to the C-suite, inspiring both current leaders and future talent in the often-unseen tech ecosystem.”
On female representation in the Pan African awards Laseinde who revealed that her career ambition is to serve as Nigeria’s ambassador to the United States, leveraging her passion for tech ecosystems and national pride to bridge continents, said: “In five years, our growth has been remarkable, but one thing became clear early on, female representation was painfully low. By our second edition, about 90% of nominees were men, and it troubled me deeply. I knew talented women were doing incredible work, yet they were not putting themselves forward. So, I created the Ladies in Tech and Leadership Network, a relaxed coaching and mentorship space where we hold honest conversations, build confidence, and push women to step into the spotlight. We have even taken the movement across Africa, Kenya last year and Rwanda next. The progress is slow but real. More women are showing up, nominating themselves, and realising their stories deserve to be seen and celebrated.”
Abiola Laseinde is an award-winning legal and business executive with over 20 years of multi-sectoral experience spanning manufacturing, banking, extractive industries, and asset management. She is also the Founder of The CIO & C-Suite Club Africa, a fast-growing network of over 1,000 senior technology executives and decision-makers committed to shaping Africa’s digital future. She also established the Ladies in Tech & Leadership Network (LITL) as a strategic platform for women in tech and leadership to accelerate the conversation on the digital transformation of Africa. As the Founder and the CEO of Edniesal Consulting, Abiola leads strategic advisory services in governance, regulatory compliance, corporate innovation, business development and event management for clients across multiple sectors in Africa. Her work is grounded in ethical leadership and a deep commitment to inclusive innovation.
