Huawei announced today that the company has appointed Steven Wu as the new CEO for its South African operation.
Steven will be responsible for the company’s day-to-day business operations, ensuring that Huawei meets its commitment to deliver the most innovative ICT products and solutions to telecom operators, enterprise customers and mobile phone consumers in South Africa.
“South Africa’s ICT industry is poised for strong growth, it is therefore an exciting time to be in South Africa and lead our business there,” Steven said during a media meeting at World Economic Forum in Cape Town. “As the second largest economy in Africa, South Africa is an important market for Huawei. Currently we have around 1000 employees in South Africa. In the next 5 years, we will increase the staff in South Africa by 50% to support our fast-growing operations.”
When talking about future business strategies, Steven said, ”Huawei will continue to improve network coverage and quality for South African telecom operators, and will continue to work closely with all stakeholders to support the deployment of the National Broadband Network in South Africa. For enterprise customers, Huawei will focus on providing customized products and solutions to fit in the specific needs of vertical industries, such as government and public sector, finance, transportation, and energy.”
Steven also mentioned Huawei’s consumer devices , saying that ”a recent consumer survey report from IPSOS, which covered 32 countries, found that Huawei’s brand awareness in South Africa rose from 26% in 2013 to 86% in 2014. Last year, Huawei shipped around 1 million smartphones in South Africa, and in 2015, we plan to double the figure. Huawei will continue to bring the most innovative smart devices to South African consumers.”
Steven joined Huawei in 1999 and has held a number of senior management positions with the company, including CEO of Huawei Technologies Africa (Pty) Ltd, and Board Director of Huawei European Subsidiary.
