Today, Nortjé is more than three years into his highly successful tenure as MD at redPanda Software, the leading retail software partner in South Africa.

Nortjé’s journey to tech was facilitated by retail, a shared passion in the redPanda Software business that is known for delivering best-of-breed solutions across retail verticals that match a retailer’s unique business context.

Nortjé himself started out in retail, managing a branch that saw him embed himself in every aspect of what it takes to succeed in the industry.

“Many of my friends when I was young were playing games and taking computers apart or writing programmes, I was never that guy. I grew up in retail. I am a retailer, born and bred. From the bottom up, I learnt operations and front and back office functions, including managing people and customers. Then, as fate would have it, one day I was instructed to get involved in a digital transformation project for a JSE-listed retailer and, as they say, the rest is history,” says Nortjé, with his trademark smile and humility.

This led to a career change from operations to software development, where he used his retail operations background, business analyst qualification and analytical thinking to start developing retail solutions.

Gerhard Nortjé joined redPanda Software in 2017 because of what he says is their shared belief in producing high-quality work for clients with honesty and integrity.

Believing in the power of collaboration to solve issues and unlock potential, over the span of four years he grew from Business Development Manager to Senior Development Manager and then Operations Director. He was promoted to MD in October 2021.

“People are very important to me,” says Nortjé. “They are the lifeblood of any business. I connect with people. I have a little ritual that matters to me. Every morning before I even have my coffee I walk the ‘shop floor’, so to speak. I engage with everyone I see. You see, as retailers, we used to walk the shop floor and greet everybody every day. Keeping this alive is special.”

Nortjé says that he is driven by a shared purpose at redPanda Software. “Our vision is to build long-lasting relationships that drive sustainable growth within the retail industry. This can only be achieved if you are a genuine, trusted partner that brings valuable expertise.

“If we say we want to positively impact our clients, then we must live the values that enable this. When we bring new people into the business we are clear and deliberate in how we explain this to them. We take time to explain their role and what ‘positively impacting the businesses of our clients’ means.”

Business, as with life, is not always plain sailing. Nortjé says that it is through the hard times that one learns about oneself, and builds the resilience and drive to thrive and grow. “The lockdown was a while ago now, but it is still affecting people. It caused a loss of business and staff – remember the great resignation? This wasn’t an easy time,” explains Nortjé.

“But it reminded us that nothing, nothing can be taken for granted. You can become too comfortable, you can relax believing things will always just work out the way you want and that your staff and your customers will always remain loyal.” Nortjé explains that as with all things in life, you need to continually work on the relationships and things within your control to build that resilience, both personally and within a business.

Naturally, hiring the right people is crucial. Nortjé says that when it comes to talent management, he looks at behaviours over skills.

“Don’t misunderstand this, obviously skills are important. Every position has a set of skills that are non-negotiable and we ensure these are in place, but what is it that sets people apart? What makes me want to bring you into the business or promote you within the business. Hiring people who exhibit the right behaviours is invaluable,” he says.

Nurturing young talent is an investment in the future, not only of the business but also the industry, says Nortjé. “We support the redAcademy initiative that was designed to train work-ready young people, who learn theory while also getting on-the-job, live and relevant training. In addition to this we have also run our own successful intern programme for more than 10 years.” An investment in young people is an investment in all our futures, he explains.

When pressed about industry trends, Nortjé says that recently, every conversation, eventually, leads to artificial intelligence. “Of course, it has become important and one of our key focus areas. We are working carefully from a strategy point of view to define how we leverage and adopt the technology to benefit our business and the businesses of our clients,” says Nortjé.

However, cautions Nortjé, as enabling as technology is, redPanda Software holds onto its retail DNA. “We are retailers. We look after retailers. We work with retail software. We are not trying to become AI specialists for AI’s sake. Rather, we will always stay true to our value proposition and ask how, where, or if at all, any new technologies support the success of our partnerships.”

Nortjé, having worked his way up from the trenches in retail, has clear advice for young people who want to grow in their careers. “Pay your dues. Start where you need to start. Be prepared to learn. Understand the basics. Don’t make demands when you are not ready. Pave the road towards your success first. Learn from everybody you deal with, even if you don’t like them, even if what they do is – in your eyes or the eyes of someone else – not great. Even if they do things poorly… that is still learning. Become a sponge and take every opportunity to learn what to do, and what not to do.”

Looking back on the key influences in his life and success, Nortjé emphasises the importance of mentorship.

“Many people have played a role in shaping who I am today, offering guidance and support both professionally and personally.”

It is found in our devices, homes and cars, and underpins the services we need and use every day.

Every business in almost every sector understands that the rate of digital transformation is increasing exponentially, which, in turn, puts pressure on them to remain competitive.

We are starting to see a shift in how IT is viewed generally. The status quo has been that there are companies that provide a range of IT services to businesses who focus on their own core business.

This makes sense. However, think about banking and retail, specifically.

IT, especially software development, has become a key differentiating factor and is foundational to their evolving businesses and the services they can offer to demanding customers.

In this highly competitive landscape, digital strategy needs to be at the forefront of an organisation’s planning. Rather than be seen as a support function, it needs to be integral to a business’s strategy, with the right people, producing talent and outcomes at the right cost and quality.

The alternative, and this is currently a very real pain felt by businesses, is that if IT is outsourced at an arm’s length, there is often a loss in long-term planning and strategic capabilities.

This is over and above navigating different organisational cultures, time zones and languages. Of course, one of the biggest worries is losing valuable business IP.

South African corporates have overcome these challenges somewhat by setting up their own development centres offshore. However, one shouldn’t be shy to ask: What is their long-term plan as a good corporate citizen to bring this capability back to South Africa?

We all have a vested interest in this country and being part of the solution is exactly what the country needs, and what the same businesses’ future customers so desperately need.

We support the government in their view that young people without experience still need to find employment.

However, young people are turned away from businesses that don’t have the capacity to provide the kind of experience they need to become fully fledged software developers. Many businesses believe that the only way they can be part of the solution is by burdening their already finely stretched teams with training and onboarding young people.

It’s precisely because of this that we came up with a model that ensures this is all handled by the academy and not businesses themselves, giving business’s peace of mind that they’re getting talent that’s already proven itself in their live environment, without burdening their own resources.

redPanda Software has hired redAcademy graduates from its 2023 and 2024 intakes. Human Capital Director at redPanda Software Insaaf Daniels said:

“This initiative has not only bolstered our team with fresh talent but has also resulted in high talent retention and significant cost savings of over R800,000 in recruitment fees.”

Niel Coetzee, Head of Engineering at redPanda Software, emphasises the company’s success in retaining junior talent, as a result of receiving experiential training in their live environment.

This approach has proven effective, with multiple cohorts of junior candidates successfully transitioning into valuable long-term employees.

“With the culture and way of working already entrenched as they join us, we have found that they quickly get in step with the delivery team. Additionally, from a technology perspective we have seen that having candidates familiar with the chosen tech stack and way of working allows the onboarding process to be streamlined significantly,” says Coetzee.

Point is, none of this is philosophical. There are practical steps businesses can take to get to a point where they are effectively nurturing their own local talent that addresses their needs, without having to slow down or compromise in any way.

The concept that underpins redAcademy demonstrates the efficacy of building role-ready candidates. This is how it works:

• A business carves out time to assess its needs and roles (jobs) of the future
• The discovery phase only takes a few hours, which results in the development of customised training material to develop role-ready candidates specifically for each organisation
• After six months of highly focused theory, the team begins live development training in the business’s environment, overseen by the academy’s experts, adding no extra burden on already stretched software teams
• Because they are trained in a live environment, the candidates are known to businesses before being onboarded as team members
• A comprehensive quality assurance phase ensures that candidates presented are, in fact, ready to hit the ground running, and that they are aligned with the business’s culture and expectations
• Candidates who have been trained and gained experience in a business’s own live environments are interviewed by an experienced team to assure a culture fit

Of course, many businesses outsource projects offshore, but with the country’s best interest at heart, they can start small by shifting projects to local software development partners or their own in-house teams.

If businesses across sectors are starting to shift how they see IT and software, from a support element to something key to their business’s strategic roadmap, then they need to ensure a solid and reliable skills pipeline.

Building your own talent, tailored methodically over the space of a year to your own business’s unique needs, without being burdened with actually doing the training, really does present a compelling opportunity to grow South Africa’s talent pool.

“We work with retailers to strategically look where the world is going so that they can adapt and be prepared to take advantage of opportunities, but we also listen to what their current challenges are,” he says. “The understanding that about 80% of South Africans have at least one loyalty card in their wallets tells us that consumers are looking for value.

“There’s an emotional aspect to loyalty programmes, where customers seek recognition from the company where they spend their money, and then there’s the intention to save money or extract added value. A relevant loyalty programme must sit at this cross section,” says Ludi.

Beyond this, loyalty programmes are not just crucial in attracting and retaining customers, but in an era where consumers, especially the younger generations, are increasingly influenced by values, a good loyalty programme can go a long way towards building brand resonance, securing both long-term loyalty as well as driving impactful behavioural change.

“Knowing where the leading markets in the world are headed, and how quickly South Africans – both businesses and consumers – adopt new technologies, we made a calculated decision to partner with Loyal Guru to bring a global best-in-class solution delivered in South Africa by a rand-based organisation with local support,” says Ludi, adding that the cultural match between the companies was immediately apparent. “After introducing Loyal Guru to a number of local retailers and seeing their reactions, we knew their solution resonated with our market needs.”

Borja Sanfeliu, CEO of Loyal Guru, explains that the SaaS product is the result of more than 10 years’ software development around more than 60 enterprise retail customer needs. “All indications are that the loyalty market is going to grow by up to 5x in the next five or six years. And so when we met the team at redPanda Software, who are specialists in retail, we immediately realised we were aligned on DNA – to innovate in the retail sector. We have the solution their current and future customers need and they have the expertise and market knowledge to implement it efficiently and effectively,” he says.

Sanfeliu says that Loyal Guru builds trust with retailers as it addresses three main problems, which he says are shared around the world. “First there is the front house, the different tools to interact with customers, such as ecommerce, POS and marketing cloud. Then, the programme needs to run on clean and actionable data, and so this must be in place. And finally, personalised content. This is how you automate personalisation for millions of customers.”

He explains that various retailers will naturally be at different stages of maturity where each of those three challenges are at different phases of sophistication. “Retailers need a solution and implementation partner that are agile and who respond quickly to needs. Yes, technology enables business, but you don’t need all technology to enable business and so there must be a commitment to finding the best solution that trims the fat and delivers value,” explains Sanfeliu.

Ludi agrees, adding that having a multi-vendor strategy enables an implementation partner to work with a variety of APIs and vendors to build tailored and best-fit solutions for retailers of all sizes and complexities. “The outcome, certainly with Loyal Guru, is a good customer experience with easy to use products as the flow and journey has been tested with millions upon millions of customers across use cases globally. Secondly, and this is vital for trust, there is simple and clear transparency about how consumers earn their loyalty rewards.”

Sanfeliu says influencing customer behaviour is an area that will see massive growth around the world. It provides brands with an opportunity to resonate with consumers based on their brand values. “Here, a retailer rewards customers not just for transactions but also for behaviour. For example, a fashion retailer may encourage its customers to return clothing for recycling and then reward that behaviour.

“A brand that encourages healthy eating may reward exercise or sport involvement, and even then, the reward may not be points or savings on the next transaction, but rather another service, such as a tailored diet programme for the customer. The potential use cases are almost endless, but they all are premised on the massive opportunity for companies to meaningfully resonate with customers based on their values, all the while influencing their communities for the good.”

However, we still hear phrases such as “it’s a man’s world” and “women are fighting for a seat at the table”.

This is because despite progress, there is still a gap.

There isn’t gender parity yet, certainly, from a recruitment perspective, even in an organisation such as our own which has made remarkable progress with a woman-to man-ratio of 40% to 60%, we need to proactively build strong women recruitment and retention strategies.

The industry needs to do this not as a box-ticking exercise, but because diversity is a strength.

The truth is that the talent pool is nowhere near 50-50 representation and so there needs to be a sharp focus on finding the talent, hiring female employees and bringing on interns with a focus on women.

The job isn’t as difficult as it was a few years ago and a lot of credit must go to schools that include subjects such as coding in their curriculums – this immediately broadens awareness among girls. Coupled with female technology leaders visiting schools and universities, girls now have a chance to see themselves in a technology career.

This is crucial because the stereotype of a male-dominated environment needs to be addressed early.

From our perspective, when we visit universities to talk about software engineering, we make it our mission to dispel stereotypes and reinforce the truth that progressive companies welcome all personalities.

It’s beautiful to see eyes light up when young people realise that all types of people are welcome in technology, and that the traits they need to succeed are a passion for technology, a strong sense of accountability and self motivation.

Different businesses will approach empowering women in tech differently. At redPanda Software, the mere fact that the human capital director is a woman is inspiring to young people at the start of their careers.

More than 50% of our people leaders are women – and this was a strategic decision because it is an employee’s first touchpoint with a business.

We focus intently on internship programmes where we believe that giving opportunities to young women is an investment in an equal workforce.

Alongside internship programmes, we find mentorship programmes to be crucial. The Red Ladies mentorship group, for example, has been highly successful in moulding and shaping young women in the organisation, not justwith technical support but also through empathy, such as mothers speaking to mothers,among many more areas of support.

Women’s month is about shining a light on the empowerment and upliftment of women, and giving younger people direct access to those who have blazed a path is worth its weight in gold. Turning the lens specifically to the technology workplace, there are common challenges that women face.

There’s no hiding from the fact that more women suffer from imposter syndrome than men, especially in technology. In this country we come from diverse backgrounds and patriarchy is embedded in many cultures.

Emerging from a world where women should be seen and not heard, and then walking into a professional environment that still has a higher proportion of men, many young women are afraid to make their voices heard.

Women often feel outnumbered – they feel they must fight harder to be seen and heard. In large groups of men, there are often shared interests and life experiences, making it more difficult for young women of different backgrounds to connect with male counterparts professionally.

Businesses can make the work life easier for women in tech. It is crucial because if they don’t, there will be employee churn and in a skills-scarce environment and a male-dominated talent pool, this presents a serious diversity challenge.

At redPanda Software, most of our initiatives are led by females, including wellness and spiritual initiatives.

Reliable and accountable employees enjoy flexible work hours because we respect that our staff have families. One of our female employees teaches pilates, and by creating an open, two-way relationship we have found a way for this to exist side by side with her professional career.

Beyond their recruitment strategies, businesses must have a longer-term plan of identifying women in the business that show potential.

They need to be placed on courses to be upskilled and surrounded with a support network to help them grow in the business while getting ahead in their careers. This leads to happy employees and happy employees don’t leave.

Women wanting a career in technology should look for businesses that provide a proven platform for them to share their skills, and career pathways that allow for growth.

Look for an organisation that prioritises a supportive workplace culture. Don’t be afraid to ask about culture during interviews.

However, the biggest piece of advice is this: Don’t wait for an invitation to take your career in your own hands. Use your voice, and seek out environments that encourage you to grow.

Identify where you want to grow and then make it happen. Seek out mentors, surround yourself with support and back yourself.

Lastly, always hold yourself accountable and strive towards excellence because when you add value to the workplace you start climbing the career ladder.

“I have interviewed upward of 400 juniors in my career. When I interview a junior, it is all about attitude and aptitude rather than technical knowledge, which can be taught. The benefit of working with an organisation such as redAcademy to source young IT talent is that unlike a university degree, redPanda Software can influence the course curriculum. As redPanda Software is the software development partner for South Africa’s leading furniture retailer, the Lewis Group, this is invaluable, as we can refine what our requirements are for the end goal. In addition, these highly-motivated candidates – called Sprinters – are more likely to take full advantage of what is their first formal job opportunity. Quality talent makes a difference to a business, and this is a great way for organisations like the  Lewis Group to secure that talent from  redAcademyand contribute to social responsibility in a sustainable way,”

Identifying the Challenge

redPanda Software is an enterprise retail software developer and technology partner, providing highly customised software solutions to leading retailers around the world.

Through the development of long-term partnerships based on trust, transparency and specialist experience, the company delivers enduring, quality software and solutions that enables forward-thinking retailers to achieve their growth objectives. 

The company’s unique partnership approach begins internally, with bold investment into internal talent development that propels a sustainable growth cycle. This growth cycle enables the company to provide advanced technical expertise to future-focused retailers, and to partner with best-of-breed solutions providers in key areas such as Point of Sale solutions (PoS), last-mile delivery and digital transformation journeys. 

As the demand for software development talent continues to rise, redPanda Software faced a significant challenge: the need to establish a sustainable pipeline of skilled software developers to build client solutions. This included skilled resources to work on the Lewis Group account, within redPanda Software.

In a unique approach to address the issue, Lewis Group entered into a partnership with redAcademy that would see talented young South Africans being trained in a manner that would also see them contributing to the development of IT solutions for Lewis.

Partnership with redAcademy

When adopting traditional recruitment methods, it is not uncommon to find candidates who possess two or three of the technical skills that an organisation needs, but there is still a gap and they need to be taught new skills that are particular to the business they are joining. Through redAcademy, redPanda Software is able to secure the exact blend of technical skills that it requires.

redAcademy is an innovative skills and experiential learning hub that specialises in teaching coding and technology skills. Unlike the traditional academic approach, candidates (or Sprinters as they are called) in redAcademy can fast-track their IT careers in a live environment, taught by dedicated software lecturers and guided by senior real-world developers, to develop working solutions for real customers, such as the Lewis Group, using the most relevant coding languages.

This was an ideal partnership; being a proudly South African company, the Lewis Group is also committed to supporting and uplifting young people who may not have the opportunity to study in formal tertiary education. Beyond that, it sees the strategic value for the country in fast-tracking young people onto the career ladder.

Before a single candidate was trained, redPanda Software worked with redAcademy in order to develop the course outline, as well as provide guidance around course material and what the candidates would learn about. This included in-depth train-the-trainer sessions so that redAcademy lecturers could familiarise themselves with redPanda Software’s technology stack and best practices, though the need for this is likely to diminish as the partnership matures.

The course material was further refined along the way, with redPanda Software architects working with redAcademy lecturers to modify the course as required so that successful Sprinters were fully aligned with the redPanda Software’s requirements. Of course, self-development is a journey and learning doesn’t stop once someone finishes their studies, but redAcademy has set a solid foundation for this growth.

Work-ready Sprinters

Sprinters take part in a one-year long programme where the first six months is weighted towards theory, learning career dynamics, learning business structure, and more, while the second six months is a sprint that’s weighted towards actual, real-world development of solutions for an array of the biggest retail customers in the country. 

Because the course is custom-developed, and there is close cooperation between redPanda Software and redAcademy, the second six months of practical experience and development of real world solutions is completed inside redAcademy with oversight from redPanda Software, with clients directly funding the solution creation.

In-depth interviews with team members are then conducted to assess their skills, to determine if there is a good cultural fit and if they already have exposure to the domain knowledge needed.

Those meeting the criteria are recruited as permanent staff by redPanda Software, which saves time and resources as compared to a traditional hire, as the organisation doesn’t have to wait for a few months to know what they are getting.

This innovative approach means that instead of just doing abstract exercises once the Sprinters arrive at redPanda Software, this six-month workplace exposure to live projects for Lewis Group adds significant value to the Sprinters.

They get to see the practical use of their skills, and also add value to redPanda Software as the company can actually use the software that has been developed. Those who successfully complete the year-long programme were then taken on by redPanda Software as company employees.

Adding value to clients

Similarly to any potential employee, Sprinters are also interviewed before they join as permanent employees in order to identify which fields they want to move toward; while they might technically all start out as junior developers – which is the high-level goal of the partnership with redAcademy – there are a variety of roles available within the software development environment. 

Because of the close relationship between redPanda Software and the lecturers at redAcademy, the organisation gets a better understanding on where best to place the Sprinters once they are brought on-board permanently. For example, we have had a candidate successfully placed directly into a database administrator role, while some candidates placed within the business analysis team have also received much positive feedback.

All the Sprinters taken on have been placed in the team servicing the Lewis Group, Southern Africa’s single largest furniture brand, and have already added tremendous value to redPanda Software with their coding and automated testing roles allowing more experienced members to focus on priority issues.

Ultimately, the intention for the future is that the course, the material and the engagement with redAcademy and Sprinters will mature as the two organisations optimise their working relationship.

This includes expanding the course offering to enable future candidates to work on different technology stacks that are used for other redPanda Software clients, thereby ensuring that the company has a healthy influx of motivated, talented and well-suited individuals.

“By investing in programs like redAcademy’s Career Sprint, we have not only provided these young individuals with valuable knowledge, skills and real-world experience from working on our tech solutions, but we have made a meaningful difference in their lives,” adds Arno Geldenhuys, Head of Information Technology for Lewis Stores (Pty) Ltd.

According to Waleed Achmat, HR Director for Lewis, this initiative supports the Lewis vision of developing and upskilling youth to become future leaders for the country.