Just 15 months into his tenure as the local country head for Microsoft, Pfungwa Serima has already been recognised as one of the industry`s top performers. Priding himself on the fact that he has never had to apply for a job, Serima says the most important thing one can give another person is a skill, but adds that one cannot just stop there. “Providing training without a purpose is criminal; give people jobs after training,” he says.

Taking over the reigns at Microsoft as the company was being vilified due to delays in the release of Vista and Office 2007, Serima recognised the importance of deadlines at the time, but diplomatically said that as the company is in the business of providing a service through its products, it was pivotal to bring to market a product of the highest quality.

Seeing himself as a strategic thinker, he says that his experience in the skills development space assisted him in channelling a route for the growth of his career. Taking a road less travelled, Serima left his position as CEO of Accenture Technology Solutions to become services director at Microsoft and, ultimately managing director, in an effort to ready himself for his finest hour.