The Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Etisalat Nigeria, Matthew
Charles Willsher has been confirmed by Board of Directors of the company as its
new Chief Executive Officer. Willsher previously held the position of chief
commercial officer and acting chief executive officer replacing previous CEO,
Steven Evans in August 2013. In one year of his leadership Etisalat has
recorded over 20% growth in its customer base, increase in spend per customer,
significant strengthening of margins, and has maintained the No. 1 position on
Customer Satisfaction.
Matthew Willsher, a physics graduate from the prestigious University
of Oxford with a Masters in Management from McGill, started his career in brand
management at Procter & Gamble. He joins Etisalat Nigeria with over 20
years in telecommunications.
Prior to Etisalat Nigeria, he was Executive Vice President,
Marketing at Etisalat Group from 2011 to 2013.
He also served as chief marketing officer and head of the
Consumer Business from 2008 to 2011 at Maxis, the leading telecommunications
operator in Malaysia, an innovative operator that overtook the incumbent operator
in Malaysia to become number one.
From to 2005 to 2008, he was Chief Operating Officer in CSL
Limited, the largest mobile operator in Hong Kong; and before this, he spent 4
years at Telstra Australia where he occupied a number of leadership positions.
Willsher’s blue-chip career also includes managing a range
of consumer products for BT in the UK, leading marketing for BT’s mobile
operator joint venture with LG Telecom in South Korea.
Mr. Hakeem Belo-Osagie, chairman of Etisalat Nigeria said,
“Matthew’s creativity and deep understanding of emerging markets has played a
pivotal role in Etisalat’s strengthened
market position in the highly competitive telecommunications industry. He
brings with him the vision, passion and years of experience from diverse
environments which have sustained the execution of our priorities providing
superior customer experience, sustained network quality and increase in our
operational excellence. We look forward to the continued leadership that he has
brought to the company”.
Since joining the company in 2013 as acting chief executive
officer, Etisalat Nigeria’s market position has been reinforced with an
increased focus on sales channels, customer service, segment marketing and new
self service-channels increasing operational efficiency.
Willsher’s leadership has also realized a wide variety of
innovative programs including the first loyalty proposition in the Nigerian
telecommunication industry, Etisalat GEM; the first of its kind educational
tool in the youth market, Cliqlite; as well as the launch of the new state of
the art gold series flagship experience centres, a revolutionary retail
experience driven by the essence of the Etisalat brand.
The operational performance of Etisalat Nigeria has also
been substantiated with transformation of its IT operations being accredited
with the ISO Quality Standard and continuous recognition as offering the best
quality.
The sustained investment in quality of service is evident in
the sole exemption of Etisalat from the recent NCC ban on other
telecommunication providers.
Etisalat Nigeria has continued to be a leading contributor
to Nigerian culture and content promoting Music with platforms such as Etisalat
Cloudnine and Nigerian Idol, Arts & Culture with Africa’s first pan-African
prize for debut fiction the Etisalat Prize for Literature, and a focus on
sustainable development joining the recently inaugurated Nigerian Regional
Network of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
0 Comments