Career Journey

Five Chapters.
From Medicine to Technology.
And Back Again.

Twelve years as a doctor, more than thirty in technology and business, and, since 2021, a return to medicine through health education.

Chapter One

Medical Doctor

MBChB — UCT 1977 General Practitioner Cape Town & Port Elizabeth

Hasmukh Gajjar qualified MBChB at the University of Cape Town in 1977 and spent the next twelve years in medicine: an internship at Somerset Hospital, two years as a medical officer at Livingstone Hospital in Port Elizabeth, a year in the Department of Medicine at Groote Schuur, and then eight years as a general practitioner in Belgravia Road, Athlone.

In 1985, as the students of Belgravia Road rose against apartheid, the injured came to his surgery — and not every doctor in Cape Town could be trusted not to hand them to the police. The practice computer took on a second, unspoken purpose: a register of doctors who could. Through the Concerned Doctors Action Committee, which he helped found, and the UDF, that list found its way into the communities that needed it.

  • 1977 MBChB conferred, University of Cape Town
  • 1978 Internship at Somerset Hospital, Cape Town
  • 1979–80 Medical Officer, Livingstone Hospital, Port Elizabeth
  • 1981 Medical Officer, Department of Medicine, Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town
  • 1982–89 General Practitioner, Belgravia Road, Athlone, Cape Town
  • 1985 Founding member, Concerned Doctors Action Committee

Chapter Two

Technology — HNR Computers, WordPerfect, Novell

Co-founder & MD, HNR Computers Managing Director, WordPerfect Marketing Director, Novell

In 1987, while still in general practice, Hasmukh Gajjar and one of his patients, Rasheed Hargey, started HNR Computers, a company importing and distributing software. In 1989, while waiting to take up a post as a registrar in training in the Department of Medicine at Groote Schuur, he sold his practice and joined the business full time. It happened by accident rather than design.

He stayed because HNR was a way to challenge the mostly white-owned businesses of the apartheid era. It was one of the early Black-owned businesses in the IT industry, distributing WordPerfect, Symantec, Aldus and Lotus software, and became WordPerfect's distribution partner for southern Africa. In May 1990, when the ANC sat down with the government for the talks that produced the Groote Schuur Minute, HNR Computers supplied the ANC delegation with its desktop and laptop computers.

When WordPerfect opened its own South African office in 1992, he became its Managing Director. In 1993 he secured WordPerfect's financial backing for the African Institute of Technology, a technology training initiative launched by activists in Johannesburg. After Novell acquired WordPerfect in 1994, he became Marketing Director of Novell South Africa.

In 1996 he and colleagues started Ndizani Technologies in Cape Town, providing services and technical support to Novell customers; he was its Managing Director until October 1997. Alongside this work he was a founding member of the Western Cape Black Information Technology Forum (BITF), chaired its first executive, and from May 1999 chaired the national BITF.

  • 1987 Co-founded HNR Computers with Rasheed Hargey; Managing Director until 1991
  • 1989 Sold his general practice and joined HNR Computers full time
  • 1990 HNR Computers supplies the ANC delegation at the Groote Schuur talks with desktop and laptop computers
  • 1992 Managing Director, WordPerfect Corporation South Africa
  • 1993 WordPerfect backs the African Institute of Technology, an activist-led technology training initiative in Johannesburg
  • 1994 Marketing Director, Novell South Africa, after Novell acquired WordPerfect
  • 1995 Chairman, Western Cape Black Information Technology Forum (to 2002)
  • 1996–97 Managing Director, Ndizani Technologies, Cape Town
  • 1999 Chairperson, National Black Information Technology Forum (to 2003)

Chapter Three

Business & Boards — Vodacom, J&J Group, Consilience, Faritec

Chairman, Vodacom Group Executive, J&J Group Chairman, ZADNA

In October 1997 he was appointed non-executive Chairman of Vodacom Group (Pty) Ltd, which had launched in 1994, and worked in the role full time. During his 27 months there, to March 2000, the shareholders came to agree more closely on strategy, relations between shareholders and management improved, and the company's dealings with government became much better. He also pushed for Vodacom to address the needs of economically marginalised customers. He counts it as his first major experience of organisational change management.

In 2000 he chaired Radian Technologies, an investment company, and joined the J&J Group as an executive overseeing its technology investments, a post he held until 2011. For J&J he was CEO of Consilience Technologies from 2001 to 2003, a J&J-led initiative in partnership with Tata Africa, and then Deputy CEO of Faritec from 2003 to 2010, representing J&J's 30% stake.

Boards asked him to chair them for his experience in change management and governance. He was President of the Black Business Council from 2001 to June 2002, and for twelve years, from 2003 to 2015, he chaired the .za Domain Name Authority (ZADNA), which manages and regulates South Africa's .za domain names.

From 2002 to 2019 he chaired the Thabo Mbeki Education Trust. During the establishment of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, the Trust, under his chairmanship, supported the transition — contributing to the Foundation's establishment and advising on its design as an overarching foundation able to support and manage a range of programmes and projects.

  • 1997–2000 Chairman, Vodacom Group (Pty) Ltd
  • 2000 Chairman, Radian Technologies
  • 2000–11 Executive, J&J Group, overseeing its technology investments
  • 2001 CEO, Consilience Technologies — a J&J initiative with Tata Africa (to 2003)
  • 2001–02 President, Black Business Council (to June 2002)
  • 2002–19 Chairman, Thabo Mbeki Education Trust
  • 2003–10 Deputy CEO, Faritec, representing J&J's 30% stake
  • 2003–15 Chairman, .za Domain Name Authority

Chapter Four

Entrepreneur — Free Your Mind, Silulo, Mobilearn

Founder, Free Your Mind Technologies Business Partner, Silulo Ulutho Technologies Founder & CEO, Mobilearn

In 2010 Hasmukh Gajjar founded Free Your Mind Technologies to promote digital literacy through the one device most South Africans already carried — the smartphone. The message was simple: be smart with your smartphone.

From 2011 to 2013 he was a business partner in Silulo Ulutho Technologies. Together they built a chain of digital lifestyle stores, including Vodacom stores, for people whose only device was a mobile phone. For almost two years he was based in, and worked from, Khayelitsha, and he managed and operated Vodacom stores until 2015.

In 2012 and 2013 he began creating how-to videos in English and isiXhosa, and promoting the effort under a new name: Mobilearn. Turn your smartphone into a classroom.

For years Mobilearn was a passion project. Then, in 2017, Vodacom asked him to supply videos, and the passion project became a commercial enterprise. Mobilearn is now a boutique digital media company that still operates today, with Vodacom still a key client. He is its Founder and CEO.

  • 2010 Founded Free Your Mind Technologies — "be smart with your smartphone"
  • 2011–13 Business partner, Silulo Ulutho Technologies; worked from Khayelitsha for almost two years
  • 2011–15 Managed and operated Vodacom stores
  • 2012–13 Creates how-to videos in English and isiXhosa; the work takes the name Mobilearn
  • 2017 Vodacom commissions videos, and Mobilearn becomes a commercial enterprise
  • 2017–now Mobilearn becomes a boutique digital media company, with Vodacom a key client

Chapter Five — Current

Health Education — Medilearn Africa

Founding Director, Medilearn Africa UCT Refresher Course, since 2021 Non-Profit Company

Since January 2021 Hasmukh Gajjar has managed and administered the technical side of the University of Cape Town Department of Medicine's refresher course for the Fellowship of the College of Physicians. The department asked him to help when the course moved online during COVID-19.

That work led, in 2024, to Medilearn Africa, a non-profit company (NPC) that he founded and of which he is Founding Director. Its aim is to connect health workers and to advance health care through knowledge sharing. It is a new organisation and still small.

  • 2021 Begins managing the technical side of UCT's refresher course for the Fellowship of the College of Physicians
  • 2024 Founded Medilearn Africa NPC; Founding Director
  • Now Connecting health workers through knowledge sharing

Read On

Alongside the day jobs.

Read about the organisations he served alongside each chapter — from the Black Information Technology Forum to the Thabo Mbeki Education Trust — or get in touch.

Advocacy & Leadership About Hasmukh