MTN GlobalConnect has announced two Managing Director appointments for its operations in Nigeria and Uganda.

Josephine Sarouk will assume the role of Managing Director, MTN GlobalConnect Nigeria, effective 1 March 2023, while Juliet Nsubuga will lead as Managing Director, of MTN GlobalConnect Uganda, effective 1 April 2023.

“I look forward to working closely with our newly appointed business leaders as we continue to build our business in Africa,” shares Frédéric Schepens, MTN GlobalConnect CEO.

“We welcome Juliet and Josephine into the MTN GlobalConnect family and look forward to learning from their knowledge and rich experience in the Telecommunications sector.”

Josephine has more than 14 years of experience in the Telecommunications sector, specialising in ICT, Digital, Wholesale, Enterprise Sales & Marketing.

She joins from MTN Nigeria, where she was General Manager, Regional Operations Lagos and Southwest, a position she has occupied since 2017.

She holds a BA Hons in Journalism and Law from the University of West London and a postgraduate certificate in Business Administration and Management from the University of Wales.

On the other hand, Juliet brings over 20 years of experience in the Telecommunications sector, with her most recent role being General Manager of Wholesale and Carrier Services for MTN Uganda.

She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master’s in Economic Policy and Planning from Makerere University.

Juliet is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the United Kingdom.

These appointments make further inroads into MTN GlobalConnect’s transformation journey, which recently welcomed Sylvia Anampiu as Managing Director for its Kenya operations and Lillian Mutwalo as Managing Director of its Zambia Operations.

As MTN GlobalConnect looks to increase fixed connectivity, and international mobile services through wholesale opportunities, Juliet and Josephine’s addition to the company’s strong female leadership bench will ensure that through its #GrowAfrica strategy, MTN GlobalConnect is well positioned to meet the anticipated exponential growth in data traffic in Africa thereby accelerating the continent’s digital economy.

A veteran of the payments technology sector, Olaseni Alabede has joined Global Technology Partners (GTP), an MFS Africa company, as Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Acquired by MFS Africa in June 2022, the US-based GTP is the largest processor of prepaid cards in Africa, with more than 80 banks – including UBA, Ecobank, BIA, Stanbic, Coris, NSIA and Zenith Bank – using its platform.

Prior to joining the GTP executive team, Alabede was the Vice President of Product Development in MasterCard’s Installments business.

In this New York-based role, he was responsible for the design and development of Buy-Now-Pay-later products on the Mastercard network.

His history in the payments sector, however, dates back to the beginning of his career in 2003, when he started working as a web designer at the now-defunct City Express Bank in Nigeria.

After that, he spent nearly a decade at Interswitch, growing from a project engineer to head of enterprise service management.

“We are thrilled to have Olaseni come on board as the new CTO for GTP,” said GTP CEO, Christian Bwakira.

“His extensive experience in both the African and international payments spaces and his clear passion for technology’s ability to improve people’s lives and help build better futures makes him the ideal person to drive us forward technologically.”

Alabede said that he is looking forward to taking charge not just of GTP’s technology stack, but the entire technology initiative behind the company and driving a strategy that enhances the company’s already strong positioning.

“Right now, GTP provides a quality service that customers know and love it for,” he said. “But can we take that to the next level?”

He said the decision to join GTP was made primarily on the basis of the impact he believes the company, particularly under MFS Africa’s ownership, can have.

“When you think about what MFS Africa and GTP have done in the African market, that impact is significant,” he says.

“I want to be part of taking that further, helping more and more markets replace the need for cash by using seamless technology that integrates our various offerings.”

In helping GTP achieve that impact, Alabede plans to focus on seamless customer experiences as he considers the elimination of friction in payments particularly critical.

“The more friction you remove from the consumer, the more they get out of their payments,” he said.

More particularly, he believes that there will be significant innovation around bringing these technological trends together and that African companies and consumers will benefit from them.

“I think that last mile delivery of frictionless payments and experiences is really going to translate into success,” he said. “As such, we can expect to see a lot of innovation and technological convergence happening in building those frictionless experiences.”

Outside of work, Alabede is passionate about promoting health in underserved communities.

He serves on the Board of the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health which provides health education and health equality in the Brooklyn Community and other parts of New York City.