Speakers

Marco Gagiano is the SVP, Global Head of Connectivity & C2 at Cassava Technologies, and joins us with more than 20 years of strategic and operational leadership experience across the telecoms and financial services sectors, and a career spanning Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

Before joining Cassava, he served as Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer at MTN South Africa until 2022, where he led the development and execution of enterprise-wide strategy, digital transformation and commercial programs to improve efficiencies and accelerate growth. Prior to that, Marco has held senior roles at Vodacom, Vodafone Group, and Telesure Investment Holdings, where he built and led functions in Customer Value Management, Business Intelligence, Enterprise Channel Strategy and Commercial Operations.

Since leaving MTN, Marco has worked as a technical and commercial advisor on telecommunications projects for major public and private sector clients. His recent engagements include e-commerce platform design & build, MVNO design & build, and multiple due diligence projects across telecom, healthtech, and media assets, on behalf of local and international institutional investors.

He holds a PhD from Stellenbosch University and an MBA from Henley Management College and has served on various technology advisory boards in academia and business.

Known for his analytical rigour and operational depth, Marco brings a unique blend of scientific training, commercial acumen, and transformational strategic leadership to each engagement.