Sylvia Mulinge has been appointed the MTN Uganda CEO, ending her 16-year reign at Safaricom.
She will start from September 1st, finally landing the CEO role after a previous move to Vodacom Tanzania was vetoed by the Tanzanian government.
Announcing her exit from Safaricom, CEO Peter Ndegwa that she has been an Executive Committee member (EXCO) for the last nine years, where she has offered leadership and been part of many of Safaricom’s successes. He added that more recently, she has been instrumental in steering the agile transformation of the commercial units.
Sylvia joined Safaricom in 2006 and has held various senior roles including General Manager Enterprise Business Unit and Director Consumer Business Unit, before assuming the role of Chief Customer Officer in 2018. In July 2021, she took up the role of Chief Consumer Business Officer.
“She is instrumental in setting up two key businesses in Safaricom; Enterprise and Fixed Data. A champion of Digital Transformation, Sylvia is a purpose-led and impact-driven business leader. She has lived the Safaricom Purpose of Transforming Lives of our customers using technology as an enabler of positive change”, stated Mr. Ndegwa.
MTN Uganda launched their commercial services in Uganda in October 1998, almost similar time that Safaricom started in Kenya, then as a branch of Telkom.
MTN Uganda controls slightly over half of the telecommunications market in Uganda meaning that Sylvia is heading to a familiar territory in terms of working in market leaders.
Among her first tasks will be breathing life into the company’s Ambition 2025 strategy, which includes strategically repositioning its financial technology and infrastructure assets and platforms (such as the recent separation of the Company’s financial technology platform into a new wholly owned subsidiary) from its core telecommunications business to reveal the value for the Company’s shareholders.
