Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans

Business, Entrepreneurship and Tourism

Harmony Mothibe, 32

Founder and operations director
BotsZA

Harmony Mothibe is making waves in the tech field. He is the founder and operations director at research and development company BotsZA. The firm specialises in applications powered by artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation and chatbots.

Mothibe says he wakes up every morning with an attitude of winning, the desire to solve problems and to add value to society. When he sees his company’s products and services being used — such as the chatbot Hazie, which is a job placement bot that connects job seekers and recruiters — it gives him strength to keep working harder.

His work has brought him many proud moments.

In 2019, his company was selected by IBM as one of the top seven tech startups to participate in the IBM techscale programme. This opportunity opened doors and opportunities in the tech industry.

Mothibe was also invited as an expert by the United Nations in 2017 to participate in a government experts convention on Lethal Autonomous Weapons. He took part in a panel discussion on entrepreneurial perspectives for emerging technologies in the field of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems.

He would like to see more young people involved in emerging technologies in the field of artificial intelligence, automation and chatbots.

“I believe people can do extraordinary things if given an opportunity.”

Mothibe’s success is grounded in his curiosity. “The tech industry changes very rapidly and one needs to adapt quickly and keep up with the trends otherwise one will miss the train or become irrelevant.”

Harmony Mothibe, 32

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