Wim Vanhelleputte to lead Safaricom’s Ethiopia venture

Vodacom Group affiliate Safaricom has appointed Wim Vanhelleputte as CEO of its Ethiopia business from September, according to an internal memo.

Vanhelleputte, who joins from South Africa’s MTN Group where he served in various roles over the years, including as head of MTN Uganda, will replace Anwar Soussa, who will leave his post at the end of next month.

The Belgian national will be in charge of delivering the company’s ambitious growth targets in the vast market where it started operations last year.

Apart from signing on new subscribers, Safaricom is also introducing its M-Pesa financial services in the next few months, after securing a financial licence in May.

The memo announcing Vanhelleputte’s appointment was signed by group CEO Peter Ndegwa.

MTN Group, meanwhile, announced it has appointed Stephen Blewett as operations executive: markets. Blewett will take over the role from Vanhelleputte.

In his new role, Stephen will assume executive responsibility for the markets of Liberia, Guinea Conakry, Guinea Bissau and Congo Brazzaville, and provide general operations support across the same region, reporting to Ebenezer Asante, senior vice president: markets.

Read: World Bank pledges more funding for Safaricom in Ethiopia

Blewett most recently served as group chief operating officer at Digicel, based in Kingston, Jamaica. Before that, he was CEO of MTN Cameroon. He also previously worked for Autopage Cellular (as MD), Telkom Mobile and MCell Mozambique.  — Duncan Miriri, (c) 2023 Reuters, with additional reporting (c) 2023 NewsCentral Media

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