Vodacom's managing executive of mobile commerce, Herman Singh, has left the company to join a competitor, ITWeb understands.
A well-placed source notes Singh left Vodacom at the end of April and is working out his six-month restraint of trade. The source could not reveal which competitor Singh will join, but it could be MTN, given the rivalry in the sector and MTN's recent bulking up of its enterprise unit.
Singh could not be reached for comment, as ITWeb understands he is out of the country, working as a digital strategist in Dubai. Vodacom spokesman Richard Boorman confirms he has departed SA's largest mobile operator. Boorman adds Vodacom does not yet have a successor to announce.
During his time at Vodacom, Singh was involved in relaunching M-Pesa for Vodacom last year. The mobile money solution officially re-launched at the end of July last year.
At the time, Vodacom said it aimed to garner a million users in the space of a year - and 10 million in five. One million is about the amount of users the service managed to previously drum up between 2010 and 2014.
In December, Singh said M-Pesa had 700 000 users active on the system - although about 300 000 more than that applied, but were rejected because they were either under 16 years of age, or not in possession of a South African passport.
Before his stint with Vodacom, Singh was CEO of Beyond Payments, Standard Bank's innovations and new business incubator, for five years. He joined Vodacom in February 2013.
Share