A few weeks ago, we learned that the plan to have Safaricom carrier services in Ethiopia was a done deal following the approval of a consortium of partners named Global Partnership, of which Safaricom is part of, as well as Vodacom, Sumitomo Corporation, and the CDC Group.
The development had also been preceded by Ethiopia opening up the mobile money space for foreign companies, which meant that Safaricom’s flagship product M-PESA could finally be unveiled in the new country.
Now, Safaricom is cementing its entry in Ethiopia, but first, it has appointed the Managing Director of the Operating Company in Ethiopia: Anwar Soussa.
Soussa has already started his tenure (as of July 1), and he will be reporting to the Board of the company, as well as the CEO of Safaricom, Peter Ndegwa.
Prior to his new appointment, Anwar had been serving as the Managing Director for Vodacom DRC, as well as the Chairperson of Vodacash, a spin-off of M-PESA since 2017.
It is possible that the Ethiopia entry will continue seeing more senior management appointments as the operator plans to execute part of its $850 million license obligations.
Safaricom seeks to invest $8.5 billion in the market over a decade. The investments should also see 1.1 million new jobs for Ethiopians.
The terms of the license also state that the company should deploy 4G network across the country by 2023.
