Liquid Appoints New Chief Business Development Officer

Pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom, a subsidiary of Econet Global, has appointed Willem Marais as Chief Business Development Officer, a role created by the company in light of expansion plans into new markets.

In the newly created role, Willem will continue to lead the wholesale data business where his focus includes sales and product management for mobile and fixed line operators, global carriers, services providers and OTTs.

“As Liquid Telecom expands its offering across Africa, we are finding new opportunities to become closer to our customers and support them through their digital journey with more value-added services. In his new role, Willem will help us to identify and target those opportunities where we can add the most value,” said Nic Rudnick, Group CEO, Liquid Telecom.

His responsibilities will expand to include group business development focussing on new market growth, strategic partnerships, large infrastructure projects and acquisitive growth.

This will provide additional management support as Liquid Telecom invests in and further leverages its extensive fibre footprint, which stretches over 50,000km. Through the provision of more value-added services, Liquid Telecom is delivering on its vision of building Africa’s digital future.

Willem first joined Liquid Telecom in May 2015 as CEO for South Africa, having previously served as CCO at SEACOM where he led the sales, product, marketing and commercial teams.

“In my new role, I’m looking forward to building on our current capabilities, finding new ways to collaborate with the wider technology and telecoms ecosystem to bring about further digital transformation and providing focussed and value-added services to our customers,” said Willem Marais, Group Chief Business Development Officer, Liquid Telecom.

He also previously held numerous senior management positions in the ICT, media and telecoms industries, including the Siemens Group of companies.

Meanwhile, the company hoarded three awards at the Capacity Africa conference.

Liquid Telecom picked up awards in the Best Terrestrial Rural Connectivity Project for its ongoing work to Connect The Unconnected across Africa, Best infrastructure Sharing initiative for building new national long distance routes in South Africa and Best African Wholesale Carrier. This recognises Liquid Telecom’s continued investment in – and expansion – of its wholesale business.

Glenn Maule, Head of Wholesale Sales, who received the awards said “To win in three categories is really something special and recognises the hard work and dedication of the entire Liquid Telecom team. Everything we do is driven by a simple yet powerful belief that everyone in Africa has the right to be connected. Over the last decade, this vision has helped us change the face of communications in Africa.”