Seacom has appointed Standard Bank’s former head of IT, Alpheus Mangale, as its new group CEO.

Telecom services provider today notified the markets of Mangale’s appointment in a statement, saying he will work alongside outgoing CEO, Oliver Fortuin, for a three-month period, to ensure a smooth leadership transition.

Mangale is a seasoned business leader with over 25 years’ experience across the enterprise, telecoms, financial services and technology markets across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Prior to the Seacom appointment, Mangale was Standard Bank’s chief engineering officer, a position he resigned in June last year, as a result of the bank’s IT outages.

Mangale previously spent 16 years at Dimension Data Group (now NTT), where he held various senior leadership roles, including chief technology officer, chief operating officer and client experience director across Africa and the Middle East.

He also held the roles of MD for Cisco Systems South Africa and Chief Enterprise officer for MTN Business in South Africa.

Announcing Mangale’s new assignment today, Pieter Uys, chair of the Seacom board, said: “The board and I are delighted that Alpheus has agreed to join us and lead our strategy of African expansion.

“We are confident, given Alpheus's track record, knowledge and experience in this operating environment, that Alpheus is precisely the right person to lead the business at this juncture. The board and I look forward to working with him to achieve our strategic objectives.

“We would like to thank Oliver for his effective leadership and commitment and for redefining how we do business across the continent.”

Mangale said: “I look forward to continuing to drive the strategy that has set the company on becoming a Pan-African converged telecommunications organisation. Much has been achieved in the past two years, and I am excited to be part of a truly African business as we expand our services and geographic footprint further.”