Consultancy | CCO | CMO | Digital & Financial Services
Independent
Total years of experience :24 years, 1 Months
Advisory and Lead on Commercial and transformation programs with key focus expertise on Growth Strategy, Digital, Data and Mobile Financial Services. Developed strategy and operations plans for commercial growth and operational improvement for telco operators across 5 emerging markets (combined USD 1.4b annual revenues)
11m customers, USD 400m revenues. Managed team of 384 with 9 direct reports.
● Led strategic planning function developing and presentation to the board, business strategy, 5Y investor plan and revised performance KPI’s; monetization plans for excess capacity on GPON fiber optic cable infrastructure, Wi-Fi and 11 data centers. Led Project Management Office (PMO) with 120 key cross-functional projects within 8 months.
● Introduced commercial initiatives across products, distribution and regional expansion achieving 13% revenue YOY and record 500k average sales per month.
● Achieved higher-than-market average growth in Data with 34% increase in data usage, 90% data adoption and 70% smartphone penetration through simplified packages, no-expiry data bundles and smartphone collaboration with Samsung Africa.
● Expanded distribution for GSM and Mobile Financial Services, growing POS from 75k to 160k, MFS agents from 30k to 75k and retail from 29 to 142 franchise centers.
● Headed Mobile Financial Services as independent EMI license achieving 77% YOY growth with 5m customers, USD 1.5b annual transaction value. Launched Digital Payment Partnerships with Mastercard (QR Payments), Western Union, World Remit and Money Gram. Introduced Digital Transformation with Digital Channels (app, portal, live chat) and Digital partnerships with Jumia (e-commerce), Iflix (SVOD), Kwese mobile (Football, Music), 3.5m micro-insurance customers with BIMA (M-Health).
● Introduced new digital identity and positioning, launching campaigns that received awards for Digital Marketing Campaign, Most Innovative Product, Marketing Campaign and Most Social Media Engaged Brand of The Year.
● Optimized costs with USD 15m in annual savings through re-negotiated international business and call center BPO outsource agreements, streamling resources from 1200 to 384 and revamping retail P&L from negative to 55% positive margins. Re-directed commercial initiatives to 22% higher sales ARPU with 18% reduction in acquisition cost and increasing own network traffic from 37% to 58% resulting in higher EBITDA.
● Seconded to regional group, overseeing business with 1200 team, USD 1b in revenue and 26m customers.
Reported to CEO. Managed team of 400 + with 9 direct reports. Led customer acquisition, customer experience and revenue generation of sales, customer care and service delivery functions across B2C, B2B and Digital channels. 0.9m customers, USD 300m revenue.
Managed wide-spread operations of the largest department overseeing consumer and business sales, customer care, digital, on-line payments, analytics, project management, pre-sales and service delivery. Promoted twice within 24 months, taking on expanded roles earlier managed by 4 Directors and leading a team that represented 75% of company staff.
Transformed payments structure increasing non-cash, digital and on-line to 70% of transactional value. Piloted NFC and e-government payments, launched comprehensive on-line payment service with 14 banks through BENEFIT and digital payments with 2 leading financial aggregators.
Launched B2B vertical, with expanded product portfolio (dedicated high-speed internet, P2P, GMPLS, Data Centers, Cloud, M2M and Managed Services) and re-focused business teams towards key revenue segments. Successfully negotiated and awarded multi-million USD contracts. Achieved 5x revenue growth over 2-year period.
Introduced Digital Omni-Channel program, introducing digital channels (mobile app, portal, live chat, tele-sales and home delivery, self-service kiosks). Transformed UI and UX across all channels, converting 80% of all customer interactions towards digital, 233% increase in digital and on-line sales, with a market leading 60% NPS.
Pioneered Customer Experience program which became best practice model across other operations. Awarded Best Customer Experience Program and Best Customer Experience Brand, Best Voice of Customer Program and Best-in-Class Customer Experience Program Across All Channels
Revamped retail experience footprint across 24 centers, with 50% market leading NPS. Introduced channel engagement initiatives achieving 200% increase in prepaid sales
Reporting to CEO. Overseeing 100+ cross-functional commercial team. Interim consultancy management including a complete restructure of the commercial program and introduce key business transformation initiatives for broadband investments in the Middle East and GSM operations in Africa.
♣ Achieved 34% increase in average monthly revenue over a seven-month period from launching new commercial initiatives. Despite multi-player competition in broadband data and fixed wireless voice, the company grew its broadband subscribers by 37% and turned-around a declining voice customer base towards positive growth.
♣ Achieved EBITDA positive nine months before budget target.
Reporting to Group COO. Was responsible for group-wide commercial P&L performance to board, including direct commercial management of operations in Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, Central African Republic and Somaliland. Managed 250+ commercial teams in Bahrain & Beirut HQ and in African operations.
♣ Developed the group and commercial competencies from scratch, grew group portfolio to five telecom operations including three GSM start-ups within 18 months. 6-fold increase in subscribers and 8-fold increase in revenues within a twenty-four month period.
♣ Introduced the “Azur” global brand across all operations via an integrated communication platform under a regional, French positioning “toujours a l’ecoute”. Achieved 80%+ Brand Recall.
♣ Led group wide initiative programs across all operations for mobile money, airtime remittance (P2P, A2P), electronic voucher distribution, RBT/portals, prepaid hybrid, converged billing/self-care and IP-Call Centers.
♣ Managed $20m group handset program. Initiated first-to-market handset promotions across all market including Ultra Low Cost Handsets (ULCH) and Dual-SIM, achieving 50% increase in gross additions. Additional proposition(s) included pre-loaded push email, IM and social media applications.
Reporting to CEO. Business leading position, tasked to turn around company with declining subscriber and revenue base
♣ Complete over-haul of the marketing program, with a strong focus on independent region growth and alignment of value offers towards higher revenue generating profit segments.
♣ 800k additional customers (2.8m subs) through management of three independent business units. Grew revenue base to $300m+ per year.
♣ Launched MTN FIFA 2010 sponsorship activation & new Arabic regional positioning “Akeed”
Reporting to CEO & Group CCO. Initially appointed as Commercial Director for Suriname in South America. Promoted subsequently to group role leading re-brand of Digicel El Salvador (acquisition), supporting business development for new license opportunities in Central America and marketing re-structure of Digicel in Trinidad & Tobago.
♣ Developed go-to-market commercial launch plans for start-up in Suriname (start-up) and re-brand in El-Salvador.
♣ Presented commercial business plans for potential license opportunities in Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama and Guatemala to the group and board.
Achieved a record breaking 150k new postpaid customers over a two-month acquisition drive in El Salvador prior to re-brand
Head of Residential Market, Sudan “Canar”
Reporting to CEO. Member of launch team to start up first 3G broadband network in country. Full commercial management of the SME & Residential segment, with fixed wireless voice, broadband and international services.
♣ Acquired 17% of fixed voice & 25% of broadband market share within first year of start up.
♣ Delivered ARPU on fixed voice 40% higher than market benchmark on prepaid.
General Manager Marketing, Pakistan “Ufone”
Reporting to CEO. Appointed to over-haul commercial operations and increase growth in the wake of aggressive dual SIM competition and entry to two new GSM entrants in the market.
♣ Achieved 3 million new customers, increased annual revenues to US$ 400 million through commercial initiatives.
♣ Complete re-brand of the Ufone brand, with a multi-segment positioning “Its all About U”, achieved 75%+ on brand recall within 60 days.
Reporting to CEO & VP Asia. Responsible for commercial P&L targets, business strategy and market planning.
♣ Maintained 50% EBITDA margins consistently over a three-year period. Best top line quarter performance among all MIC operations in Q4 2003.
♣ Initiated multiple re-branding activities that maintained a consistent 70%+ brand recall.
♣ Provided additional support on marketing best practices to MIC operations in Tanzania, Sri Lanka & Mauritius.
MBA