East African Tech Community Mourns A Loss

The African Tech Sector is mourning the demise of a big contributor to the development of technology in the continent. Karim Hirji, who was the Distribution Manager and the Service Sales Manager at Dell Technologies, based in Nairobi, Kenya, passed on 7^th February, 2023. The cause of his untimely demise is yet to be shared by the family.

Karim has over 25 years’ experience in the local technology sector, having served in various tech companies in East Africa. Additionally, he has over 15 years of senior level management experience with various IT companies and international vendors.

He specifically gathered expertise in providing hands-on leadership and direction for sales, sales support, marketing, channel development, customer service, purchasing, accounting, and human resources.

Karim started his career as a Business Development Manager for Westcon Africa, a role he played for 14 years. He worked for Westcon Africa’s Nairobi office from 1994 to 2008. After this long spell, he joined Dell as an Account Executive and worked for 5 years until 2014 when he left.

He left Dell, initially, to join Hewlett-Packard (HP) in Tanzania, where he worked as the Country Manager for Tanzania. Karim then moved to Hitachi Vantara, after working for HP for a year. At Hitachi Vantara, he served as a Senior Manager in Sales and had a year’s spell at the company.

Karim then returned to Dell in 2017, where he has worked until his untimely demise. After returning to Dell, he served as the Service Sales Manager, and later was added another role of Distribution Manager.

Karim holds Bachelor’s degree in Maths and Operational Research from the University of Leeds.

His peers have taken to social media to express their condolences to the family and to the East African tech community. It’s a great loss.