• The former chief executive officer of MTN Uganda and MTN Cote d’Ivoire will be joining Safaricom as its CEO for Ethiopia.
• Safaricom spent considerable time and money in launching its Ethiopian arm, with an initial investment of around $9 billion.
• Safaricom is awaiting the launch of its M-PESA mobile money product in Ethiopia after receiving a license to do so in May 2023.

The roughly 120.3 million strong population of Ethiopia is mostly unbanked and unconnected. Until recently the Horn of Africa country only had one mobile network provider – its state-owned telecom.

This left millions upon millions of potential customers in a practically untouched market, waiting to be connected to the internet and each other. Vodacom subsidiary Safaricom invested nearly $9 billion to launch an Ethiopian arm in order to take advantage of this market.

But the launch, which finally happened in October 2022 after years of planning and breaking ground, was not without issues. Now, it seems Safaricom hopes its latest CEO appointment will continue to benefit operations in the country.

It has tapped a former MTN South Africa executive in Wim Vanhelleputte to lead its operations as chief executive of Safaricom Ethiopia. He replaces Anwar Soussa who left the company earlier this month.

According to Reuters, Vanhelleputte (pictured in the cover image) spent many years at MTN, and has past experience in leading country-specific arms.

He served a six-year tenure as CEO of MTN Uganda prior to this latest appointment. The Belgium-born business man was also the CEO of MTN Cote d’Ivoire prior to this.

In 2022, MTN said that Vanhelleputte has “extensive operational experience across Africa” during his appointment to the position of Operations Executive: Markets.

Ugandan publication The Independent reports that MTN Uganda recorded tremendous growth during his tenure, with subscribers growing to 16 million from 8.5 million.

“As Wim joins us, we have planned for a seamless transition to ensure that we maintain our momentum so far in delivering our vision to transform lives through a digital future for all Ethiopians,” says Safaricom in a statement signed by Group CEO Peter Ndegwa.

Clearly experienced in the African telecom landscape, Vanhelleputte will face his toughest challenge yet. He will have to lead the burgeoning business of Safaricom’s Ethiopian branch, a highly important piece of the company’s portfolio.

Not only has Safaricom, Vodacom and others invested billions into the business, but billions more are expected to be churned out of Ethiopia.

A key aspect of this is through the mobile money platform M-PESA. The technology allows people to send money to each other requiring only a phone number. It has seen massive adoption across lower income regions in Africa, with over 300 million users.

In Kenya, Safaricom’s home of operations, M-PESA enjoys nearly 100 percent of market share and has been the telecom’s cash cow for many years now, providing huge swathes of revenue.

Safaricom received a license to launch M-PESA in Ethiopia in May of this year. “Since the commercial launch in October, the brand is visible, deeply rooted in Ethiopia and quickly becoming in every sense fabric of the society. The potential for Ethiopia is immense and we look forward to the future with optimism and excitement,” enthused Ndegwa about the product’s potential in the country.

Vanhalleputte will oversee the M-PESA launch, as well as the successful operation in what continues to be a nation struggling with instability.

Civil war raged across the country until the end of last year when a peace treaty was reached. Before this, the war reached the capital of Addis Ababa and Safaricom was forced to hastily evacuate its staff.

[Image – Uganda Securities Exchange on Twitter]