Nihka Technology Group was founded to service clients in the private enterprise and SOE sectors. It is a digital technology company which focuses on business analytics and takes data to make sense of it for the clients. Using AI, the company is able to implement automation into various business processes.  

The company is adept at highly integrated and complex projects at utilities, government, the public sector, mining companies and banking institutions which it has delivered successfully. In recognition of its efforts, Nihka with its mid-sized, highly skilled and focused team has won multiple awards for concept and implementation of key ICT projects.  

Nihka's team of experts are passionate and extremely tech-savvy as they create innovative solutions for companies in all industries. Nihka is a 100% black woman owned business and is a proud independently verified Level 1 BWO B-BBEE contributor with a 135% procurement recognition level. This is in line with South African standards of business categorisation and corporate governance. 

A Proactive Leader Building Great Teams and Relationships  

Yashmita Bhana leads Nihka Technology Group as its Founder and CEO. Her job is to look after the people who are the business – her team – and the partners with whom they have built great relationships over the years.  

Yashmita came from a hardworking and humble background. "A company is reflective of its owner. This is true of my business and my life which ebbed and flowed in synchronicity with one another. I'm one of four siblings with a Dad that was a general store dealer and a mum who was a domestic engineer. They instilled in us an ethos of hard work, perseverance and kindness." 

With a Masters in Engineering and an MBA, Yashmita was highly sought after in the corporate world but chose a different path. During her studies she was the only woman in the engineering class and spent her university life in Doc Marten boots trying to fit in with the boys. Her early career days were spent on mines as a site engineer mingling with mineworkers and playing with explosives to build underground tunnels and dams, before she ventured into a safer IT environment. 

Coming from an engineering background and moving into technology seemed like a natural progression. Both fields form part of the STEM bodies of knowledge and it was an intuitive progression for Yashmita. The concepts were the same: her engineering training taught her how to apply her mind with logical precision. The same is applicable with the tech space; critical thinking skills whilst navigating rough terrain. 

Valuable Lessons Learnt from Experiences 

In 2003 Yashmita founded a company with a partner and it was doing exceptionally well. Things took a turn for the worst when she had her second son in 2007. When she got back from maternity leave, she found that millions had been missing from the business. She left as a director due to this serious breach of trust. The family went through a difficult time and had no money. There were moments where they didn't have enough food or money to buy items for the new baby.  

But she felt she could do more as an entrepreneur and make a much larger impact than she would if she was an employee. The first failure was near catastrophic, having lost everything except very valuable lessons learnt.  

Through it all, she had three beautiful, outrageous and energetic kids – two boys and a girl. Her youngest, a gorgeous 8-year-old girl named Dhiya (which means "the light") was born with Mosaic Down Syndrome and teaches the family everyday how one can triumph despite one's circumstances. Dhiya is also the inspiration for her being a campaigner for children with disabilities to be included in assisted main stream schooling. To this end, she has established the Dhiya Development Foundation whose mandate is capacitation of youth in digital technologies. They are also focused on the introduction of technologies into South Africa that can have a positive social impact and inclusion of kids with disabilities in mainstream education. 

'A sense of belief that anything is possible' has been the driving force for Yashmita over the years. She has recently developed an online platform for women entrepreneurs (She-Ra – www.she-ra.co.za) to encourage support, collaboration and exposure. 

Overcoming Challenges for Growth 

Having founded Nihka in 2008 and during the 11-year journey of building the company, Yashmita says that the entity has soft failed about three times. The lack of detailed processes and reliance on her as the chief decision maker made it difficult for the company to grow. She felt that her she was getting in the way of the process and not delegating responsibly to the team. Every failure has seen the team bounce back stronger than before. Over the years the team has grown from one employee to just over 50 people.  Processes are more streamlined and automated with little reliance on the business owner for decision making.

Traits of a Transformational Leader

Organisations that are gaining the competitive edge are the ones who are becoming more human. Leaders need to develop an understanding of the differences amongst technology, innovation and creativity. For Yashmita innovation seeks to challenge the status quo; to diverge from the usual. Being curious, investigative and almost childlike are key characteristics that a business leader not only needs to inculcate into team dynamics but also to emulate. Transformational leaders also display a developed and developing sense of resilience. The idea of failing, continually ideating and inspiring thinking with implementation, will go a long way into developing people and the enterprises that they run and seek to serve. Much of the innovation one has developed in the company has been a result of failing multiple times.  

The tagline for the Nihka Technology Group is bringing EQ into AI. Yashmita believes that when looking for good talent, a transformational leader will look for a robust and positive attitude. One can train for skill but can't train for attitude. 

Innovating for a Human–Centred Approach 

The company always works from a human–centred approach though the team builds tech solutions that lie in the space of narrow AI or automation. The team comprises highly skilled technical leads from design thinking to systems architecture. This is combined with expert and strong partners in the network both locally and internationally to provide complimentary services in the spaces of marketing, cloud storage, some development and capacity building. In developing solutions for clients, Nihka Technology Group's value offering is in understanding the depth of their challenge in order to address systemic tech issues rather than just applying a band aid to the wound or issue. Rigorous testing to ensure quality output and sustained use is part of its always-on process. At Nihka, the team are committed to asking the hard questions to educate the client for an even slicker solution or product. The AI for Good and Tech for Good ethos always informs the company's approach.  

Nihka's entire approach is held together by the guiding force of the company which is: remembering to have fun! Pre-lockdown, the team would hold dance competitions every Monday and Friday and follow that with a brainstorm using crayons and markers to draw out new product ideas. This creative excitement was then channelled into the solutions and new ideas the team conceptualised for its clients. 

Building a Strong Tech Framework for the Future 

To be successful, organisations need to become more human. Nihka Technology group has always worked on the premise of blending empathy and a keen understanding of the human condition into the tech fabric of any solution that the company creates.  

The industry of AI as a technology will develop even further into the realm of a more stringent focus on data ownership, private sector responsibility around usage and sharing of data, and AI ethics or Responsible AI. Governments who are currently developing AI policies to manage digital economies will be in a constant state of flux with private sector corporations on policies, regulation and innovation. This will occur over a period of time until such moment where there is shared responsibility between users and the platforms over how their data is managed.  

Yashmita also thinks that robots will have a deeper integration into everyday life, and like the coronavirus pandemic forced the global workforce to integrate tech tools into most business processes, so too will a moment dawn on global workers about the shared existence of robots. Though they may be focused on automation and the first responder assistance for customer care, a robot's ability to delve deeper into more difficult human requirements will become apparent.  

Advice to Aspiring Female Entrepreneurs 

Yashmita says, as an aspiring female entrepreneur or emerging woman leader, it can be easy to have the mind-set that one is entering into a traditionally 'male-dominated' industry. Emerging women leaders must cast away that mind-set and approach the entry as simply going into an industry. This will remove the sub-conscious idea that women are always fighting an uphill battle. Rather, they are working as professionals and bringing equal value to the industry of choice.  The mind is a powerful thing. If one is looking for obstacles, it will be found. Yashmita's approach is to actively look for the opportunities instead of obstacles.  

The lessons Yashmita applies in her daily journey which hold her value system together are: 

1. Learning to unplug for better personal growth. When the day is done, or when one's body and intuition is calling for a timeout, it really means timeout. This is essential for the gift of you to keep on giving. 

2. Your tribe is your power. Yashmita's support system comprised of select people are vital for her daily growth and appreciation of the things that make life worth living. This leads to more considered business decisions for a healthier and happier approach. 

3. The importance of contracts in business. Emerging women leaders must not do anything without it being documented so that there is accountability on all sides.  

4. The power of always learning – the approach and attitude to lifelong learning will always put one as a business owner one step ahead while remaining humble to life and its challenge including wins, both large and small.