SA's Cell C appoints Jorge Mendes as new CEO

South African mobile operator Cell C has appointed Jorge Mendes as its new CEO.

Mendes is a former Vodacom exec and has close to 30 years' experience in the telecommunications industry.

The announcement was made by Cell C's major shareholder, Blue Label Telecoms, and Mendes will take up the role on July 1, 2023.

He comes in as a permanent replacement for Douglas Craigie Stevenson who resigned in March 2023.

Chief Restructuring Officer Brett Copans was interim CEO after Craigie Stevenson's exit.

Stevenson was appointed permanent CEO of Cell C in August 2019, after acting as CEO from March 2019 following the exit of former CEO Jose Dos Santos.

Former Cell C CEO Douglas Craigie Stevenson left the telco in March 2023. (Source: Cell C)

Mendes' track record

As the former chief consumer business officer at Vodacom South Africa, Mendes played a pivotal role in the company's success by spearheading strategic initiatives, implementing innovative solutions and enhancing the overall customer experience, Cell C and Blue Label said in a statement.

Cell C believes that Mendes brings a wealth of expertise in areas like market expansion, digital transformation, customer-centric strategies and operational excellence.

He also previously held various leadership positions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Tanzania.

"With his deep industry knowledge and proven leadership capabilities, Mendes is poised to steer Cell C towards new heights of success," the Cell C board said.

Last week Cell C also appointed former MTN South Africa CEO Godfrey Motsa and former Vodacom Chief Officer for Corporate Affairs Maya Makanjee to its board.

In September 2022, Cell C CFO Zaf Mahomed also resigned and was replaced by Lerato Pule who was previously the CFO of Telkom South Africa's SME segment.

Turnaround and stabilization strategy

Cell C has for a number of years been focusing on a turnaround strategy of improving operational efficiencies, reducing operational expenditure and optimizing traffic.

One of its strategies was a move away from spending money on infrastructure and what it called "a capital-intensive build-and-own network model" to an infrastructure-sharing model.

This meant selling infrastructure like towers and rather migrating its customers to roam on other networks such as MTN and Vodacom thorough partner deals.

In August 2017, Blue Label bought a 45% stake in Cell C for R5.5 billion (US$375 million at the time). But, by the end of 2019, it had to write down the value of its entire investment in Cell C to zero.

Blue Label's investment was part of Cell C's first recapitalization. But the telco has faced serious financial challenges and spent about four years working on the second recapitalization as a way to reduce its debt and help stabilize the company.

The second recapitalization deal was concluded in September 2022.

After the September recapitalization's completion Blue Label subsidiary The Prepaid Company now holds a 49.53% stake in Cell C.

Johannesburg-listed Blue Label Telecoms said in February 2023 that it planned to take control of Cell C in the coming months.

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*Top image is of former Vodacom exec Jorge Mendes who joins Cell C as the new CEO on July 1, 2023. (Source: Vodacom).

— Paula Gilbert, Editor, Connecting Africa