Balachandran replaces Thomas @ Visafone

Visafone Communications Limited has announced the appointment of two new key officers including the chief executive officer.

The two new appointees are the chief financial officer (CFO), Mr. Ross Clewley and CEO, Mr. Ramachandran Balachandran.

The fourth largest mobile operator, made this disclosure through its new Corporate Communications officer, Mr. Kingsley Mordi, Friday in Lagos, at a media parley.

This development, he said, was necessitated by the expiration of contract of the outgoing chief executive officer, Mr. Ninan Thomas, which is expected to elapse on August 15, when he is billed to handover officially.

Equally, the appointment was facilitated because Thomas had expressed no intension in renewing the deal, just as Mr. Balachandran has since arrived in the country and was hosted to a reception last weekend in Lagos.

As said by him, the repositioning in its management and operations was in effort to meet the challenges of a vibrant and constantly evolving telecoms industry, while Mr. Thomas, is returning to his Chicago USA base to continue his career.

Mordi explained in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online that the new CEO brings to Visafone a combined 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.

Before his latest appointment, Balachandran was the President, Reliance Retail in India with 27 years post-MBA experience. His impressive career has seen him holding very important top management positions including CEO/President/COO/CMO/Director.

Mr. Balachandran is expected to lead Visafone into a new era of growth and profitability anchored on excellent management pedigree and eloquent testimony.

On the other hand, 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 as Chief Finance Officer/Finance Director and Board levels with international experiences in 14 countries spanning the UK, 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 actualize its dreams of becoming one of the top 3 telecom companies in Nigeria and spreading the joy of communications across Nigeria.

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