Full Name: Yugasen Naidoo

Position: CEO of Praxis

Main Activity of the Company: Praxis provides a range of information technology (IT) services for the private and public sectors

Date and Place of Birth: Pietermaritzburg, November 25, 1969

Education: BSc (computer science), University of the Witwatersrand, 1992; MCSE, Microsoft Corporation, 1997; OCP (BDA 8i), Oracle Corporation. I am also an IBM-certified security professional and a Prince 2 practitioner (Ilxgroup)

First Job: Developer at South African Breweries

Career History Prior to Current Position: Programmer, South African Breweries, 1993 to 1994; senior software engineer, Praxis Computing, 1994 to 1996; engineer/NT consultant, Electronic Data Services, 1996 to 1998; business analyst/software specialist, Prestasi Financial Services, 1998 to 2001; founding member, Definite Solutions Personnel, 2001 to 2007; IT consultant, Exponant, 2001 to 2004; executive account manager, Exponant, 2004 to 2007; CEO, Praxis, 2007 to date

Size of First Pay Packet: R2 500 a month, 1993

First Job with Present Group: Developer

Value of Assets under Your Control: Not stated

Number of People under Your Leadership: 80

Management Style: Mostly relaxed – I am lucky to have a very competent management team

Personal Best Achievement: Not stated

Professional Best Achievement: Turning Praxis around. When I rejoined Praxis in 2007, over 35% of the staff had left in the year before and the company was experiencing difficulties

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: Nelson Mandela

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: People like Warren Buffett, Jack Welch and Steve Jobs have all contributed to how I manage my career

Person You Would Most Like to Meet: Barack Obama – he has done amazing things during his Presidency

Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: Elon Musk for his vision and ability to navigate great risks while successfully changing entire industries

Philosophy of Life: Work hard, stay healthy and be kind

Biggest Ever Opportunity: Buying a stake in Praxis, which enabled me to try new ideas and grow personally and professionally

Biggest Ever Disappointment: Nothing comes to mind – life throws mishaps at you and you have to be prepared for them

Hope for the Future: That we solve the problems South Africa is facing. It is sad to see the number of people who are jobless and the appalling state of our education system which, together, contribute to many of our current issues

Favourite Reading: Mainly Bloomberg News or the New York Times. I also love reading books by Jeffrey Deaver, Michael Lewis, Malcolm Gladwell, Frederick Forsyth

Favourite TV Programme: House of Cards

Favourite Food/Drink: Curry, of course/wine or whiskey

Favourite Music: Mostly hip hop, R&B (Rihanna), rap (Eminem) and pop (Sting) and some classical music

Favourite Sport: Snooker and tennis

Favourite Website: Google. I can never get over the fact that we have a large portion of the world’s information at our fingertips. Also it’s really amazing that Google in effect constantly makes several copies of the Internet around the world (which is what we are accessing, as opposed to the actual Internet)

Hobbies: Playing (albeit badly) the classical guitar, scuba diving, bridge

Car: A C180 Mercedes-Benz

Pets: Two chow dogs

Miscellaneous Dislikes: Pessimists

Favourite Other South African Company: Bidvest and SAB

Favourite Foreign Company: Apple

Married: Single

Children: None

Clubs: PADI