Michele Gamberini, CTO of MTN South Africa, has quit. According to MyBroadband, Michele’s managerial term ended in late July.
“MTN SA can confirm that Chief Technology and Information Officer Michele Gamberini has resigned. He left MTN to take a job closer to his family in Italy,” said Jacqui O’Sullivan, head of sustainability and corporate affairs.
Along with Gamberini, other MTN leaders have left this year. In April, Megan Nicholas quit her job as managing director of Supersonic without giving any notice. MTN hired the two on January 12, 2022. After Gamberini left, the CTIO job at MTN South Africa was split into two.
Read also: MTN launches 5G network in Uganda ahead of Airtel
Learn about MTN South Africa’s new CTO
Rami Farah has taken over as CTO of MTN South Africa, replacing Michele Gamberini. MTN South Africa’s top sustainability and corporate affairs officer, Jacqui O’Sullivan, says that Rami has been with the Group since 2001 and has worked as CTO in MTN Liberia, Rwanda, Uganda, and Iran, where he was in charge of more than 16,000 sites.
“We are thrilled to have Rami Farah, a long-time MTN employee, join us in South Africa as our new Chief Technology Officer,” O’Sullivan said.
O’Sullivan said Farah had led MTN SA’s power resilience initiative for eight months. He worked in technology at Spacetel Syria-94, Inteltec S.A.R.L., and Lonestar Communications Corporation before joining MTN. Aristotle University awarded Farah a master’s in communications.
Information technology leader Nomthi Nelwamondo joined MTN South Africa on May 1, 2023.
O’Sullivan remarked, “Nomthi comes to us from Assupol Holdings Limited, where she was Chief Information Officer.”
The University of Pretoria awarded Nelwamondo a Master’s in Information Technology and Malaysia an international honours degree in Software Engineering. He got an MBL from the University of South Africa.
Starting with Telkom, she held several leadership positions that helped her advance. She was Senior Manager ISP, Executive Core Network Operations, and Executive Wholesale Services at Telkom. She eventually became the group IT managing executive.
Nelwamondo was Liquid Telecom South Africa’s CIO. In a February 21, 2023, news release, MTN announced her appointment as IT executive. The news announcement referenced Farah. MTN reported he had been an “executive for the network” since January 1, 2023.
A storyline twist beyond MTN is that top executives are leaving without a business announcement. Andre Ittman and Lerato Pule, Cell C’s COO and CFO, abruptly departed their roles without telling the company until the media reported on them.
Some major MTN South Africa actions
MTN announced it would raise pricing in South Africa and other African regions weeks ago. According to its first-quarter 2023 report, inflation climbed from 11.5% last year to 18.5%. This action is meant to alleviate the effect.
The corporation wants to sell its Liberian, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea operations. The transaction helps MTN streamline operations and focus on its core markets. For years, the corporation has been simplifying its portfolio, which would help it consolidate in critical regions like Nigeria and South Africa.