One of the most striking characteristics of Zain Nigeria, is its belief that change is the only constant thing in life. As such, if the company is not changing corporate names through new acquisitions, it is changing its leadership.
Weeks after it became clear that it could no longer give the excuse of an indisposed chief executive, Zain in a press statement on Friday, announced the appointment of Alain Sainte-Marie, as its new Chief Executive Officer.
Past chief executives
Zachary Wazara started as the chief executive with the telecoms company, Econet, which became Nigeria’s first GSM operator in 2001. He was succeeded by Williem Swart in 2003. After them, Boye Olusanya, became the acting chief executive for V-mobile; Adebayo Ligali transited from being chief executive under the Celtel brand name to Zain, while Khaled Khorshid acted as the chief executive until Mr. Sainte-Marie’s appointment.
What became of Adebayo Ligali?
No one really knows what became of Adebayo Ligali, the immediate past CEO, who was removed in August. At first, no one in Zain wanted to admit that Mr. Ligali had been removed, except Gamaliel Onosode, the company’s chairman, who told NEXT that “Mr. Khaled Khorshid, was appointed as the acting chief executive officer because Mr. Bayo Ligali, the incumbent chief executive officer had been indisposed for a period of two weeks.”
However, a company source on Tuesday, told NEXT on the telephone that “Mr. Bayo Ligali never resumed after the two-week period; he exited the company last month.”
Spokespersons for Zain, Emeka Opara and Emmanuel Otokhine, refused to pick their calls, though the Zain statement confirmed that Mr. Ligali “has moved on to pursue other interests after a three-year stint as CEO of the telecommunications company.”
Re-named five times
Zain Nigeria has changed its brand name five times since its debut in the country in 2001.
The firm started as Econet Wireless Nigeria (2001); Vodacom Nigeria (2004); and the same year to V-Mobile Nigeria; Celtel Nigeria (2006); to its current name Zain which it inherited in 2008.
Sainte-Marie, the new head
Mr. Saint-Marie, the new helmsman at Zain Nigeria has 24 years experience in the Information Technology sector.
Apparently to prepare him for the job, Mr. Saint-Marie worked as the Special Adviser to Mr. Ligali between November 2008 and February 2009, assisting him “to implement business transformation process, including culture change, a key requirement for a successful turnaround of the operation.”
While in Zain, his job is to oversee the company’s continuing market expansion and quest for industry leadership.
He came from Zain Gabon, where he took over as chief executive in March 2009.
Possible name change
Already, Zain might be on the verge of another name change since the Kuwait-based Zain, signed a $14 billion deal, selling 46 per cent ownership of the company to an Indian/Malaysian telecoms consortium. The sale will affect Zain Africa which includes Nigeria.
Indeed, disagreements on equity holding among shareholders have been at the root of the series of name change in Zain. Initial disagreements on this led to the divestment of interests by the three states - Lagos, Delta and Akwa-Ibom, which originally held shares in the company and the eventual exit of the South Africans Mr Wazara and Mr Swart, which started the company. Ever since, the company has transferred from one owner to another, some of them under controversial circumstances.
Even under Zain Nigeria, the company was still unable to meet targets, which led to a recent restructuring that saw the sacking of over 300 workers with 450 others outsourced to Ericsson, one of the world’s leading provider of technology and services to telecom operators, to run its network in Nigeria
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