Farid Essack Email & Phone Number

Founder of Crossbolt, a project management company that specializes in running high risk IT initiatives. Over 20 years in business with a client list spanning three continents and alumni that include more than a few C-level executives.

Johannesburg, South Africa

Joined Discovery as permanent staff at a GM level (SVP in USA) with the intent of joining VG USA in Chicago in 2023. I needed to spend a year working in South Africa before the transfer could be processed and was deployed to the global platform team with the intent of establishing the SAFe “Release Train Engineer” role. I was responsible for a 50 person team servicing the technology requirements of all our global insurance partner markets and kept that space running fluidly and absent of drama.… Show more Joined Discovery as permanent staff at a GM level (SVP in USA) with the intent of joining VG USA in Chicago in 2023. I needed to spend a year working in South Africa before the transfer could be processed and was deployed to the global platform team with the intent of establishing the SAFe “Release Train Engineer” role. I was responsible for a 50 person team servicing the technology requirements of all our global insurance partner markets and kept that space running fluidly and absent of drama. My personal pathway changed when my wife was head-hunted into Australia and I chose to support her career. This resulted in me parting ways from Discovery. I was given the opportunity to run the transformation of Discovery’s new joint venture with AIA but took a postponement in order to support my family through the country transition. The relationship with Discovery remains a close one. Show less

Chicago, Usa

Reported directly to the CEO of Vitality USA and ran several initiatives in the global corporate wellness space along with joint ventures working directly with Apple in Cupertino. This stint included the Covid period wherein the wellness market was particularly dynamic and our strategies had to shift quickly to capitalize on things that were taking off and jettison other initiatives that were proving redundant. During this period, we had to grapple with the challenges of releasing a global app… Show more Reported directly to the CEO of Vitality USA and ran several initiatives in the global corporate wellness space along with joint ventures working directly with Apple in Cupertino. This stint included the Covid period wherein the wellness market was particularly dynamic and our strategies had to shift quickly to capitalize on things that were taking off and jettison other initiatives that were proving redundant. During this period, we had to grapple with the challenges of releasing a global app with fast rollout capability that still catered for region-specific nuances and rewards. The ‘Maverick’ team that I looked after, was highly regarded in the broader group’s delivery eco-system and set several implementation benchmarks. Show less

Johannesburg, South Africa ; Chicago/New York, Usa ; Manila, Philippines

Management of the program to re-engineer the underlying platform and all Vitality digital assets for all global markets in the Vitality Group. This was a high-capex, multi-vendor product build using a hybrid execution pattern that allows for some flex whilst still working within fixed time commitments for delivery. It was a complex program ecosystem involving a large development crew (> 10 agile development teams) operating across several countries and servicing the requirements of multiple… Show more Management of the program to re-engineer the underlying platform and all Vitality digital assets for all global markets in the Vitality Group. This was a high-capex, multi-vendor product build using a hybrid execution pattern that allows for some flex whilst still working within fixed time commitments for delivery. It was a complex program ecosystem involving a large development crew (> 10 agile development teams) operating across several countries and servicing the requirements of multiple international markets. The platform had over a million users in the first year of operation and is now hosting Vitality wellness solutions in 26 different countries. Show less

South Africa

Agile coaching to Scrum teams, Kanban support teams and Management (>50 million USD corporate programs). I was responsible for over 20 Scrum teams running full Scrum-of-Scrums with program level performance reporting.In addition to the coaching role, I had full coordination responsibility on several critical initiatives: Project Synapse, the ESB/SOA adoption initiative (taken live in 2011), SAP-Billing system interface (taken live in 2012) and “Clarity”, the new MultiChoice billing… Show more Agile coaching to Scrum teams, Kanban support teams and Management (>50 million USD corporate programs). I was responsible for over 20 Scrum teams running full Scrum-of-Scrums with program level performance reporting.In addition to the coaching role, I had full coordination responsibility on several critical initiatives: Project Synapse, the ESB/SOA adoption initiative (taken live in 2011), SAP-Billing system interface (taken live in 2012) and “Clarity”, the new MultiChoice billing platform where I was responsible for commissioning planning and DevOps coordination of over 50 separately deployable technologies. This was taken live in Namibia (2014) and SA (2015) using an innovative Waterfall\Agile pattern that attracted international interest. Show less

Johannesburg, South Africa

Coaching, team setup and initiation assistance to tech resources and execs on the SnappyHome initiative - a new product launch. This was a part-time consulting role.

Took an extended break from business and my professional career to spend time with my family, on hobbies and go exploring (overland in Africa and international trips).

South Africa

I managed a team of eleven architects and developers to come up with an overall architectural governance framework which was used to automate key business processes at the Financial Intelligence Centre. In doing so, we also pioneered Scrum as a delivery process. I turned down the offer of a second contract extension to spend more time with my family and on other activities outside my professional field.

Pretoria, South Africa And Hitachi/Tokyo, Japan

I was responsible for the program to replace the vehicle tracking system on Nissan’s vehicle assembly plant in Rosslyn, Pretoria. Responsibilities included turnkey management of all resources (people, vendors and budget) from proposal stage through to delivery, associated communication to stakeholders in South Africa and head office in Japan as well as project risk management. The system went live in January 2008 and is the only project of its kind to do so with zero downtime at any Nissan… Show more I was responsible for the program to replace the vehicle tracking system on Nissan’s vehicle assembly plant in Rosslyn, Pretoria. Responsibilities included turnkey management of all resources (people, vendors and budget) from proposal stage through to delivery, associated communication to stakeholders in South Africa and head office in Japan as well as project risk management. The system went live in January 2008 and is the only project of its kind to do so with zero downtime at any Nissan plant globally. The project came in 10% below budget and was wrapped up on schedule. Show less

Johannesburg, South Africa

I joined Data Abstraction as a partner and took on the portfolio of business growth and operations management. A highlight included all aspects of the product development and introduction to market of the Blindfold camera seal product. This included managing deliveries of the patent attorneys, branding consultants, graphic designers, development contractors, fund agents etc. I successfully raised grant funding through the Department of Trade and Industry’s SPII fund.

Philadelphia/Atlanta/La, United States

IRely Solutions, USA and India, New company launch, January 2004: Assisted the client with the business modelling and launch of a new IT related consulting venture. The company continues to operate, and has over 100 employees (www.irely.com). Harris Tea Company, USA, AT21 MES solution, September 2001 to June 2005: Designed and developed a holistic technology solution to meet their inventory management and quality tracking requirement. This involved managing a multi-site US factory… Show more IRely Solutions, USA and India, New company launch, January 2004: Assisted the client with the business modelling and launch of a new IT related consulting venture. The company continues to operate, and has over 100 employees (www.irely.com). Harris Tea Company, USA, AT21 MES solution, September 2001 to June 2005: Designed and developed a holistic technology solution to meet their inventory management and quality tracking requirement. This involved managing a multi-site US factory rollout and responsibilities also included the creation and management of a software development team in India. I was also involved in turnaround strategy consulting as part of the client’s acquisition growth. A material portion of tea drunk in North America still runs through the blending algorithms I coded during this time. Show less

Johannesburg, South Africa

I was involved in all aspects of design and commissioning of factory automation and manufacturing execution systems across many clients. This included the milestone SAB EC2000 project which resulted in the establishment of the world's most automated brewery. At the time we were considered to be amongst the most competent manufacturing systems teams in the world.

Johannesburg, South Africa

Won the best "Mechanical Engineering Bursar" award for every year I was on the scholarship program.

Bsc Eng. (Cum Laude), Mechanical Engineering

Activities and Societies: Was the bassist in a rock band that played all the clubs in the city and got a song or two onto national radio.

Education record