Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Balachandran is Visafone's New CEO

Visafone, Nigeria's fourth largest mobile operator is repositioning its management and operations to meet the challenges of a vibrant and constantly evolving telecom industry. In this light, the company has appointed a new CEO and CFO. They are Mr. Ramachandran Balachandran and Mr. Ross Clewley. The new CEO replaces Mr. Ninan Thomas, the pioneer CEO who is leaving the services of Visafone after successfully completing his 2-year contract. Thomas, a thoroughbred professional returns to his Chicago, USA base to continue his career.

The new CEO brings to Visafone a wealth of experience of over 27 years in top-notch telecom firms like Reliance, which is one of the most successful mobile phone companies in India and the World, and Suntel in Sri Lanka.

Balachandran comes to Visafone after his stint as President of Reliance Retail, India's largest green-field retail venture, and one of the biggest start ups in the world. With 27 years post-MBA experience, Balachandran's impressive career has seen him hold sway at different times as CEO/President/COO/CMO/Director. He has held extensive roles in operations, project management, marketing and sales, products and service development, customer service delivery and overall strategy planning.

He is expected to lead Visafone into a new era of growth and profitability. His excellent management pedigree bears eloquent testimony to the feats he is expected to perform at Visafone.

The new Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Ross Clewley is no stranger to Nigeria, having acted in the same capacity at Econet, where he held sway from 2002 to 2004. A chartered accountant, Clewley holds an MBA from Herriot Watt University of Edinburgh, Scotland and has had extensive management experience at Chief Finance Officer/Finance Director and Board levels with international experiences in 14 countries, spanning the Europe, Asia, Middle East, Australia and Africa.

Ross Clewley has multidisciplinary experience in telecoms (Mobile/GSM), media/advertising, financial information services, IT consulting/engineering, amongst others.

The two key appointments are expected to help Visafone actualise its dreams of becoming one of the top 3-telecom companies in Nigeria, and spreading the joy of communications across Nigeria.

The company, which commenced commercial operations on February 22, 2009, has notched up an impressive number of industry firsts and awards, including Telecom Company of the Year at the 2009 edition of the Thisday awards.

As the company gears up to step into its second year of operations, it is promising its current and potential subscribers a new era of excellent quality service, superb clarity and wide coverage across the 36 states of the federation.

Visafone which recently launched a partnership deal with globally renowned phone makers, Nokia is set to continue its aggressive expansion drive across Nigeria while introducing a new range of value added services and innovative products to delight its numerous customers, and provide them a passport to reach the world.

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