Neill Nortje, Country Manager for Paratus Zambia.
The pan-African telecommunications group Paratus has appointed Neill Nortje as Country Manager of Paratus Zambia. He succeeds Marius van Vuuren, who has been appointed by the group as Chief Operating Officer.
Nortje joined Paratus Zambia two years ago, launching the company's consumer service before being promoted to Operations Manager. He brings extensive pan-African telco experience spanning wholesale voice, data, enterprise connectivity, operations, cloud and data centre services. His appointment ensures continuity as the business builds on its strong reputation and accelerates the next phase of its growth.
Before joining Paratus, Nortje held senior positions with Wingu Africa, Telecom Italia and NeoTel, building extensive experience in pan-African data centre infrastructure, wholesale telecommunications and cross-border connectivity.
"Paratus has always stood out to me as a wonderful company with strong brand reputation in Zambia," says Nortje. "Not only is it a company that gets things done – and done right – but it has also built an outstanding reputation in Zambia, supported by an exceptional team and a strong customer-first culture. Marius leaves behind a fantastic foundation and I relish the challenge of building on the company’s success as we continue to grow and strengthen our market position."
Nortje says Zambia is entering an exciting period of digital growth, driven by economic stability, increasing investment and growing demand for reliable connectivity and digital services. "Our immediate priorities are to continue expanding network capacity into Zambia and beyond, strengthening our enterprise offering and further developing Zambia's role as a regional connectivity hub. We also want to continue enhancing the customer experience by delivering the reliability, resilience and service excellence for which Paratus is credited."
Enterprise services will remain a major focus, particularly as organisations increasingly adopt cloud technologies and respond to evolving data localisation requirements. Nortje believes Paratus Zambia is best positioned to support this given its world-class infrastructure, local cloud services, its Lusaka Tier III data centre and the fact that the group is delivering Africa’s quality network.
He also sees significant opportunity to improve the country's digital ecosystem by strengthening local internet peering and encouraging greater collaboration between network operators.
"Too much internet traffic still travels outside Zambia before returning to local users. By improving local connectivity and keeping more content closer to the users here in Zambia, we can deliver a faster, more resilient and more affordable internet service for businesses and communities alike."
Alongside commercial growth, Nortje is passionate about using technology to create meaningful social impact. Recent initiatives, including providing Starlink connectivity to a previously unconnected school in a rural part of Zambia, demonstrate how reliable internet access can transform education and create new opportunities for young people. "Connectivity has the power to change lives," he says. "Whether it's enabling businesses to compete globally or giving children access to educational resources they never had before, technology creates opportunities that have a lasting and positive impact."
Commenting on the appointment, Chief Executive Officer of Paratus Group, Schalk Erasmus, says: "Neill combines deep industry expertise with an excellent understanding of the Zambian market and our business. Having already played an important role in Paratus Zambia's recent success, we are confident he will lead the company to yet more growth and new horizons."
