Vodacom has appointed an outsider to head up its local unit, putting to rest speculation that the company would hire someone from within parent company Vodafone's ranks.
This afternoon, Vodacom said BP Southern Africa CEO Sipho Maseko would take over running Vodacom SA in September.
Maseko, who has a BA and LLB from the University of Witwatersrand, will fill a position that has been vacant since Shameel Joosub left the company to head up Vodafone Spain at the end of March.
Maseko has been CEO of BP Southern Africa since 2008. Before that, he held a number of senior executive positions at BP for the past 14 years.
“Sipho [Maseko] has impressed us with his business acumen, leadership approach and track record in a multinational environment. We believe he will make a refreshing contribution to our business and we look forward to welcoming him on board,” says Vodacom Group CEO Pieter Uys.
Vodacom SA is the biggest network in the country, with 26.5 million subscribers, giving it the lion's share of the market, with about 50% of all subscribers. It is also the group's largest unit, accounting for R53 billion of Vodacom's total R61.2 billion revenue.
Maseko says he is looking forward to this new chapter in his career, and thanked his colleagues at BP “for a fulfilling tenure there”. He will also sit on the Vodacom Group board.
Joosub joined Vodacom when it launched in 1994 and is viewed as having been a “key architect in growing the business”.
Share