LIONESS WEEKENDER COVER STORY
TakeNote IT, a South African cyber security business providing innovative IT solutions to clients
Mamela Luthuli is a well-known business leader, founder, entrepreneur, and CEO of Take Note IT in South Africa, which provides cyber security and innovative IT solutions to its clients. The business was established in 2007. Her purpose is “I am dedicated to protecting and keeping businesses and our people safe in South Africa and the rest of the world. I believe that technology and 4IR are only at the tip of a disruptive revolution that will create a new way of life for us all.” As a CEO, she guides her team of 65 young leaders to build a future for themselves the business, and the future of the country. Her contribution to the Cybersecurity and IoT industry has been realized through engineered products & services that secure digital and physical assets by proactively mitigating the risk of hacking, vandalism, and theft, through engineered cyber security and IoT solutions - helping to protect your business, protect your people, protect your reputation.
Mamela Luthuli has been an entrepreneur her whole life, having started several informal ventures since the age of 14, to now being at the helm of one of the few black, female-led cyber security and IoT firms in South Africa. Her passion for technology gave birth to a vision of a cyber-secure and protected digital and physical ecosystem. She has not stopped and with another leap in innovation she is pioneering the development of a product locally that will detect and prevent theft and vandalism of critical business infrastructure. Her passion is to mentor young people creating opportunities for them. In her quest to build the future leaders of tomorrow and contribute to the social issues of Unemployment and Job Creation in South Africa, she is championing Take Note’s Cybersecurity center of excellence by training young people straight from schools, colleges, and universities and equipping them with the skills required for work opportunities within Take Note IT and its associated companies internationally. This is critical given the estimated 400 million vacancies in cybersecurity worldwide. Through her work, she wants to change the narrative for all women, for women that are marginalized and disadvantaged, and change the narrative for the young leaders of tomorrow.
Mamela has won several awards: Award Winner of MMH ESD Program Outstanding Effort Applied, IBM ESD, Nedbank Finalist in Business Ignite Initiative, Standard Bank Finalist on Top women Entrepreneur, Eskom Business Investment Competition Finalist under Trade and Services, AfricaTech Week: Security Technology Company Award, Woman Of Stature: Women in IT: Technology category Award winner: Africa Tech week: Cybersecurity and Finalist Standard bank Entrepreneur award.
Mamela has a Degree in Public Administration from Cape Town University (Pentech), an MBA from Henley International Business School, a Management Development Programme (UNISA), Project Management: from the University of Stellenbosch, a Board Leadership Course (Gibs business school), a Strategy Course (Gibs University) Microsoft Fundamentals, Harvard VPAL Cybersecurity: Managing Risk in the Information (Harvard University)
Lioness Weekender spoke to the innovation-driven Mamela Luthuli about her game-changing business, her passion for protecting people in the digital world, and her vision for the future.
What does your company do?
At TakeNote IT, we secure your digital and physical assets by proactively mitigating the risk of hacking, vandalism, and theft, through engineered cyber security and IoT solutions – helping you protect your business, protect your people, protect your reputation.
What inspired you to start your company?
My fascination with technology started when Microsoft introduced the internet. I knew then that “this is the future”. I was blessed with seeing opportunities in change and disruption and thinking big when other people around me went on with their day. My fascination turned into a passion. I researched, read, studied, and became involved in IT and technology so much that it just became me. I believe that technology and 4IR are at the tip of a disruptive revolution that will create a new way of life for us all. We need to be proactive, embrace it, and make it work for our value creation. Being an entrepreneur and having the courage to live my passion happened when I read Richard Branson’s book “Screw it, just do it”. It dared me to go on my own and follow my passion; the rest is history.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
Our differentiated offering is our ability to offer proactive and cost-effective engineered solutions for early detection and quick response to Cybersecurity, digital and physical threats.
We have strong partnerships and value-chain capabilities that enable us to serve our clients with cutting-edge products and services. Our end-to-end solutions create a full value stream from development - implementation and managed services, making us the only turn-key cost-effective solutions provider in Africa.
As Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) we have developed innovative RFID tags (asset tamper detection systems) giving us the edge in terms of innovation, supply chain efficiency, speed to market, and cost-effectiveness. Importantly, it ensures our commitment to job creation and supplier development adding value to the greater economy.
Tell us a little about your team
I have a team of young energetic success chasers who constantly develop and sharpen their skills to be the best in their work so that we can be the best in the industry. As a medium size company, they work across teams and function collaboratively. This is part of the DNA as they know that this allows them to learn more to make a difference. Some of them have come through our "Cyberacademy" and this has entrenched their mindset that we need to be role models for the next generation of leaders.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
My entrepreneurial spirit took shape at the age of fourteen (14) helping my mother sell vegetables after school and on weekends. I learned what people needed, how to buy products they needed, sell them with passion, and make money to earn a living. Most importantly I learned how to please my customer, to care, and give back.
Lesson learned - you must never think that you are working too hard, feel a victim of circumstances, or that any work is beneath you. Look at every experience as an opportunity.
I took the same work ethic to varsity and work. When I was an intern, I would run errands and do all the things that the other interns would never do. I would go and buy cigarettes for my supervisor, sweep the floors, make tea, and wash the dishes. The defining moment for me was when was given the most important project of my career - To lead and manage the city of Cape Town visit by the South African President Mr. Nelson Mandela. A proud and historic moment for me. A moment that inspired my dreams and defined my ambitions. South Africa needed people who could make a difference. I decided I was going to be that person.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
Since the disruptions and pandemic from 2019 and with the increase in cybercrime, theft, and vandalism we pivoted our services and products at TakeNote IT. Our aim is to ensure engineered digital and physical asset solutions secure your systems, data, and infrastructure for business continuity and peace of mind. We also saw the opportunity to develop and innovate “early warning technology” with an expanded and enhanced Asset Tamper Detection System (Active intelligent RFID with onboard computing power). With the high increase in vandalism and theft, (and knock-on loss to the economy of about R187 billion in the public enterprise sector alone) the current market products were too expensive, has limited range detection, and used multiple technologies through different platforms to activate the sensor, making protection complex, reactive and inefficient. Take Note IT’s Asset Tamper Detection Sensor is deployed to infrastructure to detect vandalism and theft and transmits to a base station (IoT receiver). The sensor has a “redundant communications” ability which means that when it is outside the range of the base station, it can still be detected using multiple technologies that is built into this one unit. It does by automatically switching between other low power communications technologies making this product globally scalable. The Sensor can communicate up to 10 times the range of normal cellular signal with an average of 30km from base station. It has an onboard GPS ability to give the live location of device. The sensor itself is resilient to interference such as jamming as it is built on security using old morse code principles. The solution is modular and portable which means that you can deploy and add to and remove as per your requirements, making cost efficient. We have recently enhanced the solution with polyurethane plastic racks for underground cable protection to increase accuracy on position and improve efficiency for maintenance. The cost is competitive not only in terms of exchange rates fluctuations but is realized through supplier chain efficiencies as it is locally manufactured - making it available and accessible. Importantly the product that is locally manufactured will serve not only the proudly local National Development Plan (NDP) but will serve to contribute to supplier development and job creation.
Our other initiative is our “Cyber academy” Our passion for youth development, job creation, and the shortage of skilled talent in this sector has inspired us to create the Take Note IT Cyber academy. Through the academy, we mentor and train young people directly from colleges and schools and equip them with skills to work at Take Note IT and other organisations that need the skills.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
I get to live my dreams and let my passion serve my purpose. Not many people get this opportunity in life. Today I believe that my passion for using technology to protect businesses serves a greater purpose. It enables me to deliver on my commitment to help businesses survive and thrive for a greater South Africa. If we do this, we can invest in youth education, training, and job creation contributing to economic growth”
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
My advice is do not look outside of yourself for changes and wait for other people and the system to change. You are in control and will own what you do and how you do it. By this, I mean that I work on my skills and talents and build relationships so that people get to know who I am and what I am capable of. I don’t have to change who I am to fit in. I learned that I could just be me. I work to build relationships and be the best that I can be so that my reputation precedes me. I believe that if Oprah Winfrey and Maya Angelou can succeed against all adversity then so can I. I will continue to be a strong voice advocating support and transformation for women. I will remain calm and graceful yet firm in my views as this has helped me gain respect and support.
The world and industry are dominated by males and there is a strong wildly skewed perception that expertise and experience reside with men. As a black female, I have to work 10 times harder to just get noticed and then 10 times harder to position my expertise and be recognized. I believe that whilst we are transforming, we are far from our picture of true transformation where women have an equal opportunity to have a seat at the boardroom table.
Use your leadership voice. Be authentic and honest about who you are and what you want to be. Then just live your dreams. Don’t let fear stop you. Most importantly don’t let you stop you. We self-sabotage. Believe in yourself. Know your talents and work relentlessly on being exceptional for you and not anyone else.
To learn more about the work of TakeNote IT, contact Mamela Luthuli via email: mamela@takenoteit.co.za or visit the company website and social media platforms:
