Press Release: Telecel announces appointment of new chief executive

Telecel Zimbabwe has announced the appointment of Francis Mawindi as the new chief executive of Telecel Zimbabwe with effect from 01 July 2012.

He replaces Mr John Swaim, a member of the Telecel Zimbabwe board of directors, who has been managing the company since December last year, while the board was in the process of recruiting a substantive chief executive officer.

Mr Mawindi, who did his secondary school education at St Ignatius College and attended the University of Zimbabwe between 1986 and 1990, was previously France Telecom Orange head of business operations for global services in the Americas based in New York, in the United States.

He has more than 20 years experience in the telecommunications industry. This experience includes strategic planning, global business development and operations, project management, financial analysis and planning and supply chain management, including budgeting and forecasting.

At France Telecom Orange he led development efforts and the coordination and management of the business and strategic planning process for the Americas region, encompassing North America and Latin America, for Unified Communications and Collaboration Services and broadband communications for the multinational business enterprise and institutional markets.

He also worked for Verizon, a major United States telecommunications giant, where he supported  regional business development for operations in North America, Latin America, Europe and Africa.

Prior to joining Verizon, Francis worked for Sprint, the third largest mobile operator in the United States, where he was part of the regional baseline strategic planning team for the development and implementation of a nationwide project for the provision of mobile broadband telecommunications services.

Mr Mawindi started his telecommunications career at the Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, now Tel-One, and Brightpoint, an outsourcing company operating within the supply chain of the Zimbabwean telecommunications industry.

He holds a BS Engineering (Honours) degree in electrical engineering from the University of Zimbabwe, a Graduate Diploma in Marketing and Marketing Management from the European Marketing Confederation and an MBA in finance from Howard University in the United States.