Safaricom has appointed Wim Vanhelleputte as the new Chief Executive Officer of Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia effective 1 September.
He replaces Anwar Soussa who will be exiting the company end of next month after less than two years at the East Africa leading telecommunications company.
“Wim brings leadership experience and industry knowledge having worked in the telecommunications industry across multiple markets in sub-saharan Africa for over 25 years,” noted Safaricom in a memo.
About Wim Vanhelleputte
He joins Safaricom Ethiopia from MTN Group, where he was the Chief Operations Executive-Markets since August 2022 and was responsible for performance and governance of four operating companies in West and Central Africa.
Immediately before he served as the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Uganda, a role he held from 2016.
Between 2009 to 2015, Wim was the CEO of MTN Cote d’Ivoire. He joined Airtel Africa briefly between 2015 and 2016, first as regional director-Francophone Africa, then a luster CEO for Airtel DRC and Congo.
He began his career as an associate engineer at Westinghouse energy systems Europe in Czech Republic, before joinig Siemens Atea as a project Engineer in Zimbabwe, then as a residential project manager in Gabon.
The Belgian national holds a Bachelors Degree in general engineering and a masters degree in nuclear and solid-state physics both from State University of Ghent.
Safaricom Ethiopia
Safaricom Ethiopia switched on its mobile telecommunications network and services in Addis Ababa, the country’s capital city in October last year.
The Ethiopian government launched Digital Ethiopia 2025 to help the country realise its digital potential and leverage technology to build a more prosperous society. As part of that process, Safaricom Ethiopia was granted a nationwide full-service Unified Telecommunications Service Licence and is the first company in the country to launch a competitive mobile service to Ethio Telecom, which is state-owned.
Safaricom Ethiopia is owned by an international consortium including Vodafone Group; Safaricom PLC; Vodacom Group; Sumitomo Corporation – one of the largest international trading and business investment companies; and British International Investment (BII) – the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor.
Safaricom Ethiopia CEO to exit end of July
Video; Breaking down the MTN Uganda IPO with CEO Wim Vanhelleputte
