At Vox, we believe our employees are the beating heart of our company, with merit and value built into all our available positions. In this edition of People of Vox, we meet Ross Kruger, a Business Development Manager based in Johannesburg. This young, driven BDM treats each client’s situation as an enjoyable puzzle to be solved.
As a Business Development Manager (BDM), Ross plays an important role in driving company growth by identifying new business opportunities, building strategic partnerships and cultivating client relationships. Vox BDMs research markets, generate leads, negotiate contracts and create sales strategies to increase revenue and expand the company’s customer base. Having joined Vox on 01 August 2023, Ross has already built a reputation for tenacity, deep technical learning and relationship-driven business development.
He says: “I enjoy hands‑on engagement, continual learning and the satisfaction of seeing a solution through from diagnosis to activation. My job encompasses connectivity solutions, with a specific focus on Frogfoot as one of the fibre network operators (FNOs) Vox works with. My role is to diagnose network issues and design fit‑for‑purpose solutions across clients that can range in size from SMEs to enterprise clients. I tell my friends that I connect people for a living!”
With personality traits that include adaptability, curiosity, tenacity and a determination to bring technical solutions to people in plain language, it’s no wonder that he’s a past winner of the Vox ‘Rookie of the Year’ Award! We delve deeper into what makes Ross tick.
Social Adaptability Translates into Business Diversity
Ross says that although his role is commonly perceived as sales-focused, he sees it more broadly than this, explaining: “I find business development to be very solution-orientated and analytical; the process is very fluid. My work is led by building relationships, and I’m entrusted with galvanising and creating long‑lasting relationships in all sectors.”
He describes his childhood as one of involving quite a lot of movement around South Africa, and living in various places: “I was born in Johannesburg but grew up everywhere!” he says, “and I do believe that moving frequently cultivated social agility skills and helped me to become very adaptable.
“When I was growing up, I was naturally able to gravitate socially with basically anyone; I can be a bit of a social chameleon. I think this helps me to be adaptable in my work when dealing with diverse clients, from IT directors to small business owners.”
His innate technological abilities were also starting to manifest at school – Ross learned how to build and assemble a computer from individual parts, a skill born from tinkering in IT labs at school.
After matriculating, Ross chose to take a gap year to think about his options, before deciding to study for a degree in applied social science, which he says has given him a background that has become surprisingly useful in his current role. “I think that studying sociology and psychology has helped me to read people and structure conversations. It’s been interesting and helpful to see how my studies have helped me in my engagements with clients, even though I’m now working in a very business-oriented role within the telecommunications arena.”
During the Covid period (2020 and 2021), Ross also studied for a Google certification, which sparked a real interest in working in the ICT space.
Having finished his studies, Vox became Ross’s first full-time corporate role, and before this he also did casual work at a restaurant at weekends, as well as taking on sales rep roles: “These early hustles helped me with independence and getting to grips with responsibility and getting used to long hours.”
From Diagnosis to Activation: the Full Circle
Ross clarifies that when he joined Vox, he faced some challenges, like many young people who are freshly out of school, including limited transport options. “This meant some long commutes and some long days, especially at the beginning of my career with Vox!” he says. “But I enjoyed taking on the challenges, and I worked very hard to show my commitment, because I felt that I really had to maximise the opportunity.
“Quite early in my position, I partnered with corporate real estate agents and freelance IT professionals to identify opportunities, and over time this has evolved into a robust channel of referrals and network‑led leads.”
This early innovation no doubt played a role in Ross winning the Vox Rookie of the Year Award, for the 2023 / 2024 financial year. He also achieved the accolade of winning #1 Salesperson in Johannesburg for four consecutive months, from August 2025 to November 2025.
But it wasn’t all plain sailing – although he is technically minded, Ross says the learning curve was initially very steep, and that the complexity of Vox’s solutions was initially daunting.
“However, I pushed through with ongoing effort, reading the product suite and getting hands-on with Vox’s offerings and solutions. I’ve also upskilled myself through doing various courses and training certificates. Today, my skill set embraces the arenas of connectivity, communication and cybersecurity.”
Ross outlines that his job requires him to have technical expertise together with the ability to translate complexity into practical terms for non‑technical people. A typical week includes a mix of Teams calls, on‑site visits, client engagements and order‑tracking. Protracted sales cycles demand patience and the ability to ‘play the long game.’
“I really enjoy what I call the ‘diagnosis’ phase of my job, when I arrive on site and set out to understand the network environment,” he says. “I start mentally assembling the solution while I’m on site,” he says. “I do also enjoy the full cycle: seeing a solution through to activation and knowing the client is satisfied.”
The Vox Matrix of Opportunities
Ross speaks warmly about the culture in his working environment: “It’s a friendly, dynamic environment where all my colleagues celebrate each other’s wins,” he says. “I really value the willingness of senior colleagues to teach and mentor newcomers. I think that our shared laughter, camaraderie and an openness to learning helps to make Vox a truly great place to work.”
Away from work, Ross enjoys family time, travelling in South Africa, quad biking, paintball, PlayStation and watching soccer: “I like ‘guy stuff’!” he says. “My bucket list includes doing at least one skydive and taking a trip to Japan – I admire the meticulousness and discipline of Japanese culture, which resonates with my own approach to life.”
Ross is looking forward to going from strength to strength in his career. “I’d like to move into a senior consultant role with a specific focus on the larger enterprise clients – although I do have quite a few large clients already in my portfolio, I would really like to make enterprise clients my main lane, so to speak.”
Ross has a deep appreciation and enjoyment of where he is now, after his studies and hard work to date. He says: “I really love understanding the technology behind the communications options that we provide to our clients every day: the fibre optic cabling and the binary coding and all these complex mediums through which we’re so interconnected. I think it’s so cool that I have a top to bottom understanding of it!”
“I am grateful to Vox for all my opportunities to date – as a young person, in the context of the country’s challenging economic background, it’s so good to know that opportunities are available if you are tenacious and prepared to work hard and don’t give up. I hope that my story can be motivational to others, even as I continue to learn, every day, from my colleagues and mentors at work,” he concludes.
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