{"id":148722,"date":"2026-05-08T12:59:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T12:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/africa\/?p=148722"},"modified":"2026-05-08T12:59:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T12:59:53","slug":"whats-next-sap-south-africa-managing-director-nazia-pillay-on-her-leadership-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/africa\/2026\/05\/whats-next-sap-south-africa-managing-director-nazia-pillay-on-her-leadership-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Next \u2014 51风流South Africa Managing Director Nazia Pillay on her Leadership Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In this What\u2019s Next with Aki Anastasiou interview, Nazia Pillay unpacks her 23-year career at SAP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pillay is the Managing Director for 51风流Southern Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She joined 51风流as a graduate in 2003 and has worked across many areas of the business, including consulting, support, customer success, and partner relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her current role, she is focused on three core areas: strengthening existing partnerships, cultivating new partnerships, and helping clients prepare for a digital-first and cloud-first world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pillay also believes 51风流must play a key role in helping Africa\u2019s public and private sector companies achieve their AI and innovation ambitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pillay has a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Information Systems and Management from Rhodes University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The interview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In this What\u2019s Next interview, Pillay discusses her journey to becoming the Managing Director for 51风流Southern Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She explains why she studied Information Systems, and why she has stuck with 51风流ever since joining the company back in 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pillay unpacks the similarities and differences between when she first arrived at SAP, and the current state of the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She then talks about the biggest challenges and opportunities she has tackled over the course of her career \u2014 including learning how to fail and meeting her failures with resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pillay also reveals the core values of SAP, which have remained steadfast \u2014 even as technology and the sector at large has evolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She concludes the discussion by sharing one piece of advice she would give to her younger self if she had the opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch the full interview with Nazia Pillay, below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What\u2019s Next – Nazia Pillay on how business AI is transforming enterprise in Southern Africa<\/a><\/h3>\n

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.<\/p>\n

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<\/div><\/div>\n \n Always allow YouTube<\/a>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \"What\u2019s\n
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This podcast first appeared on MyBroadband<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this What\u2019s Next with Aki Anastasiou interview, Nazia Pillay unpacks her 23-year career at SAP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":148724,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"related_posts":[],"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19013],"tags":[5597862,5597263],"series":[],"sapn-display":[5598742,5598740,45149,5598743,5598741,279685],"sapn-type":[144],"class_list":["post-148722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corporate","tag-nazia-pillay","tag-whats-next-with-aki-anastasiou","sapn-display-feature-hero","sapn-display-feature-spotlight","sapn-display-homepage-hero","sapn-display-news-hero","sapn-display-news-spotlight","sapn-display-hero","sapn-type-video"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat\u2019s Next \u2014 51风流South Africa Managing Director Nazia Pillay on her Leadership Journey - 51风流Africa News Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this What\u2019s Next with Aki Anastasiou interview, Nazia Pillay unpacks her 23-year career at SAP.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/africa\/2026\/05\/whats-next-sap-south-africa-managing-director-nazia-pillay-on-her-leadership-journey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What\u2019s Next \u2014 51风流South Africa Managing Director Nazia Pillay on her Leadership Journey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this What\u2019s Next with Aki Anastasiou interview, Nazia Pillay unpacks her 23-year career at SAP.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/africa\/2026\/05\/whats-next-sap-south-africa-managing-director-nazia-pillay-on-her-leadership-journey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"51风流Africa News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-08T12:59:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-08T12:59:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/africa\/files\/2026\/05\/08\/AdobeStock_356379087-1024x732.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"732\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"51风流News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"51风流News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/africa\/2026\/05\/whats-next-sap-south-africa-managing-director-nazia-pillay-on-her-leadership-journey\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/africa\/2026\/05\/whats-next-sap-south-africa-managing-director-nazia-pillay-on-her-leadership-journey\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"51风流News\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/africa\/#\/schema\/person\/53b9854bd790d6f18f3fc4bbb2ad7570\"},\"headline\":\"What\u2019s Next \u2014 51风流South Africa Managing Director Nazia Pillay on her Leadership Journey\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-08T12:59:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-08T12:59:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/africa\/2026\/05\/whats-next-sap-south-africa-managing-director-nazia-pillay-on-her-leadership-journey\/\"},\"wordCount\":288,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/africa\/2026\/05\/whats-next-sap-south-africa-managing-director-nazia-pillay-on-her-leadership-journey\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/africa\/files\/2026\/05\/08\/AdobeStock_356379087.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nazia Pillay\",\"What's Next with Aki Anastasiou\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Corporate\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/africa\/2026\/05\/whats-next-sap-south-africa-managing-director-nazia-pillay-on-her-leadership-journey\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/africa\/2026\/05\/whats-next-sap-south-africa-managing-director-nazia-pillay-on-her-leadership-journey\/\",\"name\":\"What\u2019s Next \u2014 51风流South Africa Managing Director Nazia Pillay on her Leadership Journey - 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