TELKOM BUSINESS
Lunga Siyo , CEO of Telkom Business and Yep !, reveals the technological and cultural transformation enabling it to become a one-stop platform for SMBs
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T elkom is a diversified group of companies , which started out as an incumbent fixed line operator in South Africa . Over the years , it has diversified into a mobile business and an IT business , alongside Towers and Property and a network infrastructure business . Lunga Siyo heads up the small and medium business division of the company , which evolved out of its Yellow Pages business . “ We had three entities within the group that were servicing these small and medium businesses ,” says Siyo . “ An IT company , BCX , selling IT solutions , then a fixed line operator selling voice lines and data and broadband . Yellow Pages was selling marketing services and advertising . We ’ ve combined all of those three entities into one we initially called Telkom SMB .”
The organisation has since evolved , however , into a brand known as Yep !. “ It ’ s a marketplace business , in essence ,” says Siyo . “ We wanted to serve our customers using a digital marketplace rather than physical stores or via telephone , just to make it easier for businesses . Think about a bakery . They want to make sure that they bake cakes , and sell them to
OCTOBER 2020