As the year draws to a close, Ryan Noik sat down with Damian Michael - Managing Director of Innovo Networks to chat about entrepreneurship, technology, AI and cybersecurity, and the critical importance of mentorship while AI redefines industries.

RN: Given your recent nomination at the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, what are some of the major lessons you have learnt as an entrepreneur and how have they impacted how you view the industry?

DM: Thank you. The nomination itself was a humbling recognition of the entire team's effort at Innovo Networks. If I were to distil the major lessons, two come to the forefront.

First, the paramount importance of building a resilient and adaptable culture, not just a resilient product. Early on, I believed a superior technical solution was the entire game. I've learned it's only half. The market shifts, technologies evolve, and crises hit. A team that is empowered to learn, to challenge assumptions, and to pivot without breaking is your ultimate competitive advantage. This has fundamentally shifted how I view our industry: it's no longer a technology race, but a culture race. The companies that will lead are those that can learn and adapt faster than their competitors.

Second, clarity over inspiration. In the early days, you're driven by a grand vision. But I've learned that a clear, executable strategy for the next 90 days is often more valuable than a visionary 5-year plan. This has made me view the tech industry with more granularity. It's not a monolithic entity, it's a collection of specific problems waiting for specific, well-executed solutions. We've become obsessed with solving one client's problem exceptionally well, rather than trying to boil the ocean.

RN:  With AI really coming to the fore over the past couple of years, have you seen an increased demand in the services that Inovo offers – are businesses grappling to a larger extent with their IT and in more needing of what Innovo Networks provides?

DM: Absolutely, and in ways we anticipated and in ways we didn't. The AI boom has been a powerful catalyst, but not in the simplistic way of "everyone now needs AI." Instead, it has exposed a fundamental weakness in many organisations' digital foundations.

Businesses are grappling with two realisations. First, their existing data estates the very fuel for AI are often messy, siloed, and insecure. You can't build a powerful AI engine on shaky data infrastructure. Second, the computational and networking demands of AI are immense. This has created a surge in demand for our core services: building robust, scalable, and high-performance IT networks and cloud environments that can support these new AI workloads.

So, to your point, are businesses grappling more with their IT? Yes. They now understand that their IT infrastructure is not just a utility cost, but the  central nervous system for their future competitiveness, with AI being the most recent and demanding manifestation of that.

RN: How is Innovo Networks dealing with the growth of AI as well as the preponderance of cybersecurity issues?

DM: We see AI and cybersecurity not as separate challenges, but as two sides of the same coin, and our strategy is built on that integration.

Regarding AI growth, we are both a user and an enabler. Internally, we use AIOps (AI for IT Operations) to automate network management, predict failures, and optimise performance, which makes our services more proactive and efficient. For our clients, we are the "plumbers" for AI, we ensure the data pipelines and computational networks that power their AI initiatives are reliable and high-speed.

For cybersecurity, the game has changed. AI is a powerful tool for both attackers and defenders. We are embedding AI-driven security layers into the networks we design from the ground up. This means moving beyond static perimeter defence to systems that can learn, detect anomalies in real-time, and autonomously respond to threats. It's about building an immune system, not just a fortress wall.

RN: It seems like there are two views of entrepreneurship in South Africa. Pessimists say you can’t be a successful entrepreneur here, the market is too small, the economy is too strained etc. And those who are more optimistic and forward thinking say South Africa is an ideal place to be an entrepreneur, and to innovatively solve real world problems. What is your view of entrepreneurship generally in the country?

DM: I am firmly in the optimistic camp, but my optimism is a conscious choice, not a naive one. The pessimists are not wrong about the challenges; they are wrong about the conclusion.

South Africa is not an easy environment. It is a pressure cooker. And while a pressure cooker can be stressful, it also forges incredible strength and innovation. The constraints you mentioned, a strained economy, infrastructural challenges are not just obstacles; they are our most significant market opportunities. We have real, gritty, meaningful problems to solve in logistics, fintech, agritech, education, and healthcare.

Successful entrepreneurship here requires a different mindset. You cannot simply replicate a Silicon Valley model. You must be deeply contextual, resilient, and have a dual focus on commercial sustainability and social impact. This necessity to build businesses that are both profitable and purposeful is, I believe, creating a unique and powerful breed of entrepreneur that will be competitive on the global stage.

RN: What is your perspective  on how you see the IT industry changing in the years ahead – and what are some of the standout challenges and opportunities that you foresee?

DM: The IT industry is moving from being a support function to the core engine of value creation across all sectors. I see three standout shifts.

First, the “Democratisation of Technology." With AI, low-code platforms, and cloud services, powerful tech is becoming accessible to non-technical users. The challenge and opportunity for firms like ours is to be the guides and architects in this new landscape.

Second, the Quantum Horizon. While still emerging, quantum computing will redefine encryption and problem-solving in the next decade. The opportunity is immense, but the challenge is a "crypto-agility"—building systems today that can be secure in a post-quantum world.

Third, and most critically, the Ethical Imperative. As technology becomes more pervasive and powerful, the industry will be judged not just on what it can build, but on what it should build. The standout challenge will be navigating the ethics of AI, data privacy, and digital inclusion. The companies that lead with a strong ethical framework will earn the trust and the business of the future.

RN: One of the standout points I heard at the awards was the need to inculcate entrepreneurship particularly amongst the youth. I noticed that you do a great deal of mentorship in this regard. Do you see mentoring as the bridge that gets youth from where they may be to becoming successful entrepreneurs in South Africa, and if so can you elaborate on that?  

DM: Mentorship is not just a bridge; I see it as the scaffolding that allows the bridge to be built. The raw talent and untapped potential in South Africa's youth are staggering. What's often missing is the structure, the confidence, and the network to channel that potential.

Mentorship provides three critical things:

1.  Contextual Reality: It demystifies the path. Young aspiring entrepreneurs can see that success is a series of learned, repeatable processes, not a magical event.

2.  Psychological Safety: It creates a space to fail safely. Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster. Having a mentor who has been through the lows and survived is invaluable for mental resilience.

3.  Network Access:  It opens doors. A introduction from a mentor can be the difference between an idea staying in a notebook and it finding its first customer or investor.

We don't just need to teach youth how to code or write a business plan. We need to surround them with an ecosystem of believers and guides who can help them navigate the specific, complex reality of building a business in South Africa. That is how we unlock our single greatest national resource: our people.