In 1988 Leon Small was FNB's top COBOL developer, building cash management systems for one of South Africa's largest banks. In 1989 he left corporate to found Small Computer Systems — betting on Microsoft Windows before anyone knew if it would succeed. He built systems for Metrorail, computerised WasteMan (a system that survived three international acquisitions and ran for 20 years before SAP replaced it), and built the technology infrastructure for the IDT, TEFSA, and the Thousand Schools Project — three of post-apartheid South Africa's most significant reconstruction programmes.
Microsoft's Steve Ballmer visited South Africa, saw the Thousand Schools Project, and personally donated R150,000 to extend it. Thirty-five years later, a Metrorail manager Leon worked with in the early 1990s reached out after seeing his LinkedIn update — the work was still remembered.
After nine years lecturing at CPUT and running quality assurance for a major SA training provider, Leon founded GEMIS Technical Academy in 2025. Not because AI is new. Because he recognised the pattern — a technology shift arriving faster than organisations can adapt — and he'd built the bridge before.