Pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom, a subsidiary of Econet Global, has appointed Raj Jandu as Neotel CFO, while Michael Allschwang has been appointed Neotel's Chief Sales and Marketing Officer.
In early February the much anticipated R6.55bn acquisition of Neotel by Liquid Telecom (which had been anticipated since June 2016) officially went through, after parties had secured unconditional approval from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) in mid-December 2016.
According to a statement issued by Liquid Telecom, the two newly appointed executives form part of a new leadership team that will oversee major investment in Neotel's networks and services after the company officially joined the Liquid Telecom Group in February.
Jandu joins Neotel from Liquid Telecom where he has been CFO for the east Africa region since 2013, overseeing the financial management and growth of the company's operations in several key markets.
Previously serving as CFO of Altech Technologies in east Africa for five years, he made the switch to Liquid Telecom after it acquired Altech's networks assets, which included operations in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC.
Prior to that, he served as Finance Manager for Sameer Investments, as well as senior manager for Budgeting and Budget Control at du in Dubai.
"I am delighted to be joining the Neotel management team as we look to strengthen the company's finances and significantly grow its market share across South Africa," said Jandu.
The companies say Allschwang brings deep local and regional market expertise to the Neotel management team, having previously worked for African mobile network operator Vodacom.
During his 13 years with Vodacom, Michael held the position of Corporate Sales Director for the Group, as well as serving as Managing Executive for Vodacom Business. Over the last two years, he has worked as Group CEO for South African sustainable solutions provider The Green-Co.
"I'm looking forward to working with Neotel's growing base of corporate and enterprise customers over the coming months, which are set to see some big changes to our service portfolio, network reach, and customer service," said Allschwang.
According to Group CEO Nic Rudnick the deal, through which Liquid Telecom's partner and South African investment group Royal Bafokeng Holdings (RBH) will own a 30% stake in Neotel, signalled a new beginning for Neotel and would also bolster Liquid Telecom's footprint in Africa - underpinned by its extensive fibre network.
In November 2016, Rudnick said the key thing about the transaction is to have one network and many countries, which makes it easier to connect multiple branches, enterprises in multiple countries.
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