Meet Sylvia Mulinge, MTN Uganda’s new & first female CEO
LADY OF THE WEEK: Sylvia Mulinge, MTN Uganda’s first female CEO who began her term in office this month
Ms Sylvia Wairimu Mulinge is the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of MTN Uganda, replacing Mr Wim Vanhelleputte who has been promoted to a regional role as operating executive for the WECA Markets of Liberia, Guinea-Conakry, Guinea-Bissau, and Congo-Brazzaville within the MTN Group.
Sylvia has been the Chief Consumer Business Officer at
telecom giant Safaricom Plc Kenya.
Mr. Charles Mbiire the Chairman of the Board of Directors MTN Uganda, said: “I would like to welcome Sylvia Mulinge to MTN Uganda. I believe
that her experience will be beneficial to MTN, particularly given her alignment
to our strategic intent of leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress. The
Board is confident that Ms. Mulinge will continue the work of growing the
Company as a leading provider of telecommunications and digital solutions.”
This week on #RystarLadies we focus on her career as a
top telecom executive in East Africa.
So, who is Sylvia Mulinge?
She was born in Kenya and attended St. Xaviers Primary
School (1983-1990) in the town of Nakuru, and Mary Mount Secondary School
(1991-1994) for her elementary and secondary education. She studied at the
University of Nairobi, graduating in 2000 with a Bachelor of Science degree in
Food Science and Technology.
She began her career in August 2004, at Unilever, the
European consumer products conglomerate, working as the Assistant Regional
Brand Manager in the laundry division, based in Durban, South Africa. After
nine months in South Africa, she was transferred to Kenya, as the brand manager
for Sunlight, a Unilever brand. She worked there for another nine months, from
May 2005 until January 2006, based in Nairobi.
In February 2006 she was hired by Safaricom Limited as
the Manager responsible for the company’s pre-pay product, working in that
capacity until November 2007, when she was promoted to the rank of Head of
Retail, in which position she served until August 2009.
For the 21 months, from August 2009 until April 2011, she
worked as the Head of Safaricom Business, responsible for sales. In May 2011,
she was promoted to General Manager for Enterprise Business, working in that
capacity for the next four years. In May 2015, she was promoted to the position
of Director of Consumer Business at Safaricom. At Safaricom, she rose through
the ranks to become a member of the senior management team at the company.
In 2014, Sylvia Wairimu Mulinge was named among the “Top
40 Women under 40 in Kenya 2014” by Business Daily Africa, a daily business newspaper
published by the Nation Media Group.
In April 2018, Sylvia Mulinge was named the chief
executive officer-designate at Vodacom Tanzania, replacing Ian Ferrao. The
position is based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The appointment was effective 1
June 2018.
In September 2018, Vodacom Tanzania announced that the
Tanzanian authorities had declined to issue Sylvia Mulinge with a working
permit. The company said at the time that it would seek another individual for
the position.
From 1st October 2018 she was reallocated as the Director
of Special Projects at Safaricom, reporting directly to the telecom’s CEO.
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