Wim Vanhelleputte

Last updated

Wim Vanhelleputte
Born
Belgium
NationalityBelgian
CitizenshipBelgium
Alma mater State University of Ghent
(Bachelor of Engineering)
(Master of Science in Nuclear & Solid-state Physics)
Université libre de Bruxelles
(Master of Science in Power Plant Management)
Occupation(s) Engineer, Businessman and Corporate Executive
Years active2000s – present
Known forManagerial skills, Business record
Title MD and CEO of Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia.

Wim Vanhelleputte is a Belgian engineer, businessman and corporate executive, who is the chief executive officer and managing director of Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia Plc. He was appointed June 2023. [1] He took up his current position on 4 September 2023. [2] [3]

Contents

He is reported to have ..."extensive leadership experience and deep industry knowledge, having worked in the telecommunications industry across multiple markets in sub-Saharan Africa for over 25 years".... [4]

Before that, from 1 August 2022 until 31 August 2023, he was the Regional Operations CEO of MTN Group's operations and governance issues in four operating subsidiaries in West and Central Africa. The subsidiaries are operating in the Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Liberia. [1] [5]

Background and education

Vanhelleputte is a Belgian national. He is also reported to be a naturalized Ugandan citizen. [6] He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree, awarded by the State University of Ghent, in Ghent, Belgium. The same university awarded him a Master of Science degree in Nuclear & Solid-State Physics. He also holds a Master of Science in Power Plant Management, from the Université libre de Bruxelles, in Brussels, Belgium. [1]

Career

Vanhelleputte has engineering and management experience that spans over 25 years, with a significant portion of his career spent in the management of telecommunication networks on the African continent. [1] [7]

His first job was as an associate engineer, based in the Czech Republic, at the European division of Westinghouse Energy Systems. He then transferred to Siemens Atea, an IT company as a project engineer in Zimbabwe, before relocating to Gabon as a residential project manager. He has held senior leadership roles in various other companies including as CEO at Sentel GSM in Senegal, as managing director of TchadMobile in Chad and as general manager at Telcel in Gabon. [1] [7]

Between 2009 and 2015, he served as the CEO for MTN Côte d'Ivoire. He then served as the regional director for Francophone Africa at Airtel Africa and then as cluster CEO for Airtel Congo Kinshasa and Airtel Congo Brazzaville. [1] [7]

He then served a six-year stint as the CEO of MTN Uganda, from 2016 until 2022. During his tenure, he oversaw the renewal of the telco transmission license, the separation of the company's financial services subsidiary into a separate entity and the successful listing of the shares of the company on the Uganda Securities Exchange in an initial public offering (IPO). He was replaced at MTN Uganda by Sylvia Wairimu Mulinge a former executive at Safaricom Plc. and the first female CEO at the Ugandan company. [8]

Safaricom Ethiopia

Vanhelleputte was selected by the board of Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia Plc, to replace Anwar Soussa, the founding managing director, whose two-year secondment from Vodacom had come to an end. [1] [7]

Other considerations

Three achievements stand out during his six-year tenure at MTN Uganda.

  1. Under his leadership, network subscribers to MTN Uganda increased from 8.5 million to 16 million. [9]
  2. During those six years, net annual profits increased from UGX:96 billion (approx. US$25.7 million) to UGX:340 billion (approx. US$91.2 million), a growth of 254 percent. [10]
  3. In December 2021, under his leadership, MTN Uganda floated 20 percent of its stock and listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The IPO raised UGX:535.9 billion (US$151 million). [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

Safaricom PLC is a listed Kenyan mobile network operator headquartered at Safaricom House in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the largest telecommunications provider in Kenya, and one of the most profitable companies in the East and Central Africa region. The company offers mobile telephony, mobile money transfer, consumer electronics, ecommerce, cloud computing, data, music streaming, and fibre optic services. It is most renowned as the home of M-PESA, a mobile banking SMS-based service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Social Security Fund (Uganda)</span> Quasi-government agency

The National Social Security Fund (NSSF), is a quasi-government agency responsible for the collection, safekeeping, responsible investment, and distribution of retirement funds from employees of the private sector in Uganda who are not covered by the Government Retirement Scheme. Participation for both employers and employees is compulsory. The Uganda National Social Security Fund is the largest pension fund in the countries of the East African Community, with total assets of USh18.58 trillion, as of June 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equity Bank Uganda Limited</span> Bank in Uganda

Equity Bank Uganda Limited (EBUL), is a commercial bank in Uganda. It is licensed by the Bank of Uganda, the central bank and national banking regulator. EBUL is a subsidiary of Equity Group Holdings Limited, a financial service conglomerate with headquarters in Kenya and subsidiaries in six countries of the African Great Lakes Region.

Uganda Telecommunications Corporation Limited (UTCL), also (UTel), is an information and communication technology network company in Uganda owned by the government of Uganda. UTel acquired the assets and some of the liabilities of the defunct Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL) which was also owned by the Ugandan government. UTL was previously in receivership which it entered after the Libyan company that owned about 69 percent shares abandoned the investment in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exim Bank (Uganda)</span> Bank in Uganda

Exim Bank (Uganda) (EBU), commonly known as Exim Bank, is a commercial bank in Uganda. It is one of the commercial banks licensed by the Bank of Uganda (BOU), the central bank and national banking regulator. EBU is a member of the Exim Bank Group (East Africa), a large financial services conglomerate with subsidiaries in Tanzania, Comoros, Uganda and Djibouti. The group also maintains a representative office in Ethiopia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MTN Rwanda</span> Rwandan telecommunications company

MTN Rwandacell Plc, commonly referred to as MTN Rwanda, is the largest telecommunications company in Rwanda, with an estimated 7 million subscribers, accounting for 62 percent market share, as of 30 July 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MTN Uganda</span> Largest telecom company in Uganda

MTN Uganda is the largest telecom company in Uganda, with 11.2 million subscribers, accounting for 55 percent market share, as of 30 June 2017. By 31 December 2019, its customer base had increased to 12.6 million customers. In March 2021, the Uganda Communications Commission estimated the number of MTN customers in Uganda at 15 million, out of 28.3 million mobile network subscribers, thereby attaining a 53 percent market share. In May 2024, MTNU registered her 20 millionth customer in the country.

NCBA Bank Uganda Limited, is a commercial bank in Uganda. It is one of the commercial banks licensed by the Bank of Uganda, the country's central bank and national banking regulator.

This page details the process of qualifying for the 1965 African Cup of Nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sebalu & Lule</span>

S&L Advocates is a Ugandan law firm headquartered in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. It is a leading business law firm that was founded in 1980 by Paulo Sebalu and Godfrey Serunkuma Lule. The firm is a member of DLA Piper and the DLA Piper Africa Group. The firm's advocates are members of various professional bodies, including the International Bar Association, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, the East African Law Society and the Uganda Law Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airtel Uganda</span> Ugandan telecommunications company

Airtel Uganda Limited is a mobile communications and information technology services provider in Uganda. The company also offers mobile funds transfer and banking services known as Airtel Payments Bank. Airtel Uganda Limited is a subsidiary of Airtel Africa PLC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvia Mulinge</span> Kenyan businesswoman and corporate executive

Sylvia Wairimu Mulinge, is a Kenyan businesswoman and corporate executive. Since 1 October 2022, she has served as the chief executive officer of MTN Uganda, replacing Wim Vanhelleputte, who was promoted to regional executive responsible for operations in Congo-Brazzaville, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry and Liberia.

The Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP), is a collaborative effort by eleven countries in Eastern Africa to interconnect their electricity grids and take advantage of excess capacity within the network and facilitate trade of electric power between the members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia</span> Ethiopian mobile network operator

Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia P.L.C. (STE), previously known as Global Partnership for Ethiopia BV (GPE), is a subsidiary of the Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom in Ethiopia, licensed with fee of US$850 million on 9 July 2021. This fee made it the single largest foreign direct investment into Ethiopia. The firm roll out telephony services from 2022.

Anwar Soussa is a Greek businessman and corporate executive who serves as the Regional Director for Francophone Africa at Airtel Africa. He previously served as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia, the Ethiopian subsidiary of the telecommunications and financial multinational Safaricom, based in Nairobi Kenya. Before that, from September 2017 until June 2021, he was the CEO of Vodacom Congo DRC SA, based in Kinshasa and chairman of Vodacash.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kabui Mwangi (27 June 2023). "Safaricom picks new Ethiopia chief executive on Soussa exit". Business Daily Africa . Nairobi, Kenya. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  2. ↑ Sakwa Kombo (17 September 2023). "Wim Vanhelleputte: A Brief Profile on Safaricom Ethiopia's New CEO". Techweez.com. Nairobi, Kenya. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  3. ↑ Matshepo Sehloho (28 June 2023). "Safaricom Ethiopia Appoints Wim Vanhelleputte As New CEO". Connectingafrica.com. Location=London, United Kingdom. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  4. ↑ Addis Standard (18 August 2023). "Former MTN Uganda CEO joins Safaricom Ethiopia as new CEO". Addis Ababa Standard . Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  5. ↑ Job Bwire (30 June 2022). "Safaricom's Sylvia Mulinge replaces Wim Vanhelleputte as MTN-Uganda boss". Daily Monitor . Kampala, Uganda. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  6. ↑ Michael Wakabi (1 July 2023). "Wim's turn at the wheel at Ethiopian telco". The EastAfrican . Nairobi, Kenya. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Ethiopian Monitor (27 June 2023). "Safaricom Ethiopia Onboards Wim Vanhelleputte as New CEO". Ethiopian Monitor. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  8. ↑ Aloysius Kasoma (1 July 2022). "Wim Vanhelleputte Leaves MTN Uganda". New Vision . Kampala. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  9. ↑ The Independent Uganda (2 August 2022). "Wim Vanhelleputte bows out after 6-year stint at MTN Uganda". The Independent (Uganda) . Kampala, Uganda. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  10. ↑ TNU (30 June 2022). "Wim Vanhelleputte quits MTN Uganda as CEO". Trumpet News Uganda (TNU). Kampala, Uganda. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  11. ↑ Martin Luther Oketch (24 October 2023). "Delight as MTN Uganda lists on stock market". Daily Monitor . Kampala, Uganda. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.