MBlocks, in partnership with Career Dynamics Global (CDG), is a specialist talent advisory practice dedicated to providing a highly personalised and professional recruitment service across the Telecoms and ICT sector. Together, we connect organisations with exceptional commercial, technical, and leadership talent across South Africa and the broader African market — combining MBlocks' deep reach into the telecoms and connectivity sector with CDG's 30 years of recruitment infrastructure, compliance, and delivery expertise.
We believe great recruitment is built on genuine partnership. By working closely with our clients to understand their unique business culture, strategic direction, and operational requirements, we consistently identify and place candidates who do more than fill a role — they elevate the organisations they join.
Astrid van Hoof is one of South Africa's most experienced specialist recruiters, with a career spanning more than three decades of executive search, talent placement, and workforce advisory across South Africa and Europe. As Managing Executive of Career Dynamics Global and Recruitment Partner at MBlocks, her depth of industry knowledge and the strength of her professional network make her uniquely positioned to identify, assess, and place senior commercial and technical talent that is not only technically qualified but genuinely aligned with the culture and ambitions of the organisations she works with.
What sets Astrid apart is her hands-on, uncompromising approach to candidate vetting. Every individual presented to a client has been personally interviewed and screened by Astrid — not delegated to a junior researcher or filtered by algorithm. This personal commitment to quality means clients receive a curated shortlist of candidates they can trust, not a volume of CVs to wade through. It's a philosophy captured in CDG's own guiding principle: providing sourced, qualified, and interviewed candidates, globally.
Astrid's cross-border experience across South Africa and Europe gives her a distinctive perspective on international talent flows, enabling her to support both local organisations seeking global-standard candidates and foreign companies entering the African market who need to build high-performing local teams quickly and confidently.
Through the MBlocks and Career Dynamics Global partnership, Astrid works alongside Ryan Miller and the wider MBlocks team to provide an integrated talent service — whether a client needs a single senior hire to lead an Africa market entry, a full commercial team for a new OpCo, or contract specialists to support a specific project or transaction.
Carrier & Wholesale Telecoms • ISPs & Network Operators • Enterprise ICT • Satellite • Cloud & Managed Services • SD-WAN & Connectivity • Cybersecurity • Edge Computing & IoT • South Africa • Rest of Africa • Europe
“Finding the right person for the right role is never just about matching a CV to a job description. It's about understanding what drives someone, what kind of environment they thrive in, and whether they will still be the right fit two years from now — not just on day one.”
Our standard placement fee is fully inclusive of all core pre-employment verification — giving you complete confidence in every candidate we place, with no hidden costs or add-on charges for the essentials.
Note: Role-specific psychometric assessments or technical competency testing are available and will be conducted at the discretion and cost of the client, based on the seniority and nature of the position.
Reach out to MBlocks to discuss your talent requirement.
Get in touchA snapshot of talent currently available through MBlocks Recruitment. Candidate identity is kept confidential until a formal introduction is arranged — get in touch to discuss a full CV and reference pack.
Global Partner Manager · Africa Market Specialist · Johannesburg, South Africa
A results-driven telecoms sales leader with over 25 years of experience driving revenue growth, strategic partnerships, and business development across Sub-Saharan Africa. This candidate brings a rare combination of carrier-side credibility, satellite and VSAT expertise (KA/Ku/C-band), and active pan-African partner ecosystem management across 11 countries — currently operating as Global Partner Manager at a leading African edge computing and intelligent connectivity platform with multi-OpCo presence across Southern, East, and West Africa. Consistently delivers 20%+ year-on-year revenue growth, with experience leading teams of up to 16 direct reports and is currently completing an MBA at a leading international business school.
Full CV, verified references, and career history are shared only once a client engagement is confirmed, to protect candidate confidentiality.
Alongside our recruitment practice, MBlocks also offers a complementary set of advisory services for foreign telcos entering Africa — whether you are looking to acquire a local operator, find a commercial partner, or build a team on the ground.
Buy-side and sell-side advisory for telecoms acquisitions across Africa. We identify targets, qualify fit, manage shareholder approach, and support deal execution — with mandates on both sides of the transaction.
Country-by-country assessment of the African connectivity and cloud market, including competitive landscape, regulatory environment, key operator profiles, and partnership options for your specific product or service.
Outsourced sales, technical & commercial skills for global telecoms vendors entering African markets. We embed within your go-to-market motion and deliver results without the overhead of a permanent Africa headcount.
Identification, recruitment, and enablement of channel partners, resellers, and distribution networks across South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
Strategic account management for both enterprise and carrier accounts across Africa. We protect and grow your most critical African relationships.
Independent commercial due diligence on African telecoms acquisition targets — ownership structures, customer base analysis, competitive positioning, and regulatory standing across key markets.
Africa's data centre and cloud connectivity market is one of the fastest-growing in the world. Foreign telecoms companies that move now will acquire the relationships and infrastructure that will be unavailable — or significantly more expensive — within five years.
South Africa accounts for the largest single data centre market on the continent, is home to carrier-neutral operators Teraco (Digital Realty), Equinix, and Africa Data Centres, and hosts major Internet Exchange Points (NAPAfrica, JINX, CINX). It is the natural entry point for any foreign telecoms company looking to establish a credible African base — and it is where MBlocks operates every day.
Nigeria, Kenya, and Egypt are the continent's next high-growth markets, driven by hyperscaler investment (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle all expanded African regions in the past three years), rising enterprise cloud adoption, and government digital transformation mandates. MBlocks has active commercial relationships and market knowledge across all three, plus East Africa and Southern Africa.
MBlocks is based in Johannesburg, commercially active across the continent, and has done business with the operators, ISPs, and enterprise customers you are trying to reach.
Johannesburg-based with an active commercial network across South Africa and Africa. Not a remote advisory desk — we are in the room.
Direct C-level relationships with all the major African Telco's, MNO's & ISP's built over 25 years. These are not cold introductions — they are warm conversations.
Experience across most industry vertical markets including Financial Services, Mining & Resources, Retail & FMCG, Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals, Media & Entertainment, Logistics & Transport and Tourism & Hospitality.
Structured to act as both buy-side and sell-side M&A advisor on the same transaction — maximising fee opportunity and deal efficiency, with full conflict disclosure to all parties.
Deep experience in IP transit, wholesale Ethernet, submarine cable, and carrier interconnect — spanning roles at Vodacom, China Telecom Global, SEACOM, Liquid Telecom, and MTN.
No junior associates presenting slide decks. Every engagement is led personally by Ryan Miller or one of our Senior Consultants.
A structured process that protects your position and moves at the pace the market demands.
We align on your strategic objective — acquisition, partnership, or sales build — and define the criteria that matter most to your business.
We map the landscape, identify and assess candidates, and present an anonymised shortlist before sharing any names.
Buy-side mandate with you, and where appropriate, sell-side mandate with the target — both with tail periods protecting all parties.
We approach targets through warm channels, qualify interest, and manage NDA and information exchange on your behalf.
Commercial term negotiation, due diligence coordination, and stakeholder management — through to signed transaction documents.
Whether it's a talent search, an acquisition, a commercial partnership, or senior sales coverage in Africa — MBlocks is ready to help.
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