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Company abounds with alumni
The talent assessment company, PsychAI Talent Group (PTG), abounds with NWU alumni. There’s Dr Ederick Stander, chief executive officer (CEO), who completed his BCom, honours, master’s and doctoral degrees at the NWU’s Vanderbijlpark and Potchefstroom campuses.
He is an extraordinary professor and National Research Foundation-rated researcher.
Then there’s Ian Rothmann, chief technology officer (CTO) (also known as “chief nerd”), as well as Franco Cronje, chief financial officer (CFO); Sibusiso Mnxuma, director for PsychAI Africa; Gerdi Mulder, senior industrial psychologist; and Tasmin Towsen, operations director.
Three developers, Erik Jonker, Stian Scholtz and Adriaan van Tonder are also NWU alumni, as is administration lead, Sune Jonker.
Other team members from the NWU include Dr Ryk Croukamp, Dr Danie du Toit, Prof Marius Stander, Terri Pienaar (director for Australia), Tanya de Villiers (territory leader Middle East) and Dr Lara Roll, who did a post doc at the NWU.
Is it any wonder that being innovative and entrepreneurial is second nature to the PTG team?
More about fitt
- fitt presents the robustness of a traditional assessment centre on a fully digital interface, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) for interviewing, aptitude tests, work sample tests, simulations, surveys and situational judgment. This ensures quality multi-method assessment at scale.
- The University of Cambridge (UK) Psychometrics Centre is the validation partner on the platform. This ensures continuous testing of fitt data, ensuring the highest levels of reliability and predictive work performance.
High-flying tech company’s secret weapon is … NWU alumni
You know you’re in good company when you’re standing in the spotlight in Dubai, being photographed alongside innovators from global technology pioneers such as Huawei and Mastercard.
As one of the startup winners of the 2021 Tech Innovation Awards says in the awards video, such companies are the “rockstars” of the technology world.
It's all the more impressive, then, that talent assessment company, PsychAI Talent Group (PTG), was among the winners at the awards, presented by the magazine Entrepreneur Middle East on 6 October.
Present at the award ceremony in Dubai are from left Tanya De Villiers (fitt territory leader Middle East), Dr Ederick Stander (PsychAI Talent Group chief executive officer [CEO]), Wissam Younane (CEO of BNC Publishing and conference presenter), Ian Rothmann (PsychAI Talent Group chief technology officer) and Franco Cronje (PsychAI Talent Group chief financial officer).
“We feel really honoured about getting this award; we have reimagined the way psychometric testing is done and we are very excited we can provide this to SMEs out there,” said Ian Rothmann when he accepted the company’s trophy during the ceremony.
Come to think of it, perhaps it isn’t such a surprise that PTG did so brilliantly, winning the Best Tech Solution for SMEs with its digital talent assessment platform, fitt.
This is, after all, a business where NWU alumni are particularly well represented. The entire leadership team of PTG graduated from the university, along with quite a few of its staff. (See text box.)
Prize-winning technology
Their prize-winning platform, the Fully Integrated Talent Tool (fitt) is available in English and Arabic. It has been used by professionals from 30 different countries globally for recruitment, selection, succession planning, workforce analytics, leadership development and skills audits.
fitt won the award after the platform was voted most innovative, user-friendly and impactful technological solution for small and medium enterprises.
That was not its first or only award. fitt also won the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) award for Coaching and Mentoring in 2020, and the Future of HR Award in South Africa.
What makes fitt unique?
These are a few of the characteristics that make fitt exceptional:
- Candidates can be assessed anywhere in the world as fitt’s AI verifies the candidate’s identity and does real-time observation for proctoring.
- Instantaneous feedback is provided to a candidate as they complete a fitt journey. In addition, the digital learning system, fittCOACH, integrates with fitt and provides curated content based on the candidate’s unique developmental needs.
- Although fitt is fully digital, a registered industrial psychologist is assigned to every profile for the highest levels of quality assurance.
“We don’t build technology to win awards, but we are appreciative of the affirmation that we are on the right track,” says Ederick, adding that it “all started here” – at the NWU.
Drum roll, please, for these South African “rockstars” of the global technology world.
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Leaving a footprint all over the world
Dr Ederick Stander, PsychAI Talent Group CEO, says their talent assessment tool, fitt, is used in various organisations globally.
“Our clients include four of the largest energy utility companies in the Middle East and Africa, one of the world’s fastest growing mining organisations, professional services firms, the largest telecoms company in the Middle East, several banks and investment companies, a number of global energy and chemical companies, as well as insurance businesses.”
PsychAI Talent Group has offices in Johannesburg and Dubai, and regional support offices in Australia and Saudi Arabia.