By Prince Osuagwu
AFTER a three year stint  as the Chief Executive Officer of Celtel Nigeria turned Zain, Nigeria’s Bayo Ligali has decided to pitch his tent elsewhere, as the Africa and Middle East Operator appoints Lebanese Allain Sainte Marie to take his place.

Sainte Marie, a French-Lebanese citizen, according to Zain, is coming, armed with a 24 years of experience in Information Technology sector internationally, garnered from top positions in many countries of the world.

Prior to his appointment as CEO of Zain Nigeria, weekend, Sainte-Marie was the Managing Director of Zain Gabon, where he was said to within March 2009 when he took the position, helped to sustain the company’s market leadership position and maintain its streak as the operation with the highest ARPU amongst ZAIN Africa operations despite the entry of a fourth mobile operator and rise in the tide of competition in the African country.

However, he was said to have also worked in Nigeria between November 2008 and February 2009 as Special Adviser to Ligali, assisting him to implement a business transformation process including culture change, which the company describes as a key requirement for a successful turnaround of the operation.

Sainte-Marie will immediately assume leadership of Zain Nigeria, overseeing the company’s continuing market expansion and quest for industry leadership, from where Ligali stopped.

As if regretting his exit, the company recalled the fervent contributions of Ligali to the growth of its operations, saying “Bayo Ligali, has been instrumental to the transformation of the company in the past three years. During his tenure, the business also attracted over $1 billion in investment from the Zain Group for network upgrade leading to significant gains in capacity, coverage and quality.

In 2007, the company signed a $100 million agreement with Nokia-Siemens for the construction of a 4,000 km Fibre Optic Backbone (the longest/widest in Nigeria) and another $50 million to expand its Microwave backbone from 3000km to 5,000 km”.

“He also ensured that Zain took proactive initiatives to manage the power generation challenges facing the industry, which include swapping of old generators with brand new, purpose-built sets and dualization of generating sets at its cell sites.

He further completed a National Network Monitoring Centre valued at $10 million, this year with World class facilities to proactively monitor and intervene in network issues”. Adding that “a major significance of Mr. Ligali’s appointment was the fact that he was the first Chief Executive Officer of the business from inception till date, to be appointed to the Board”.

However, Sainte-Marie was said to have also previously occupied other strategic management positions within Zain including Director of Operations, Middle East and previously as CEO of IRAQNA, a Zain Group acquired operation in Iraq. A position he held until June 2008.

He also  held several senior positions in other leading telecom companies including the position of Chief Financial Officer of ORASCOM Telecom, Tunisia SA (OTT); Chief Financial Officer, ORASCOM Telecom Holding S.A.E, Head of Budgeting Controlling and Planning Department, France Telecom Mobile, Lebanon, S.A.L (FTML), and Deputy Chief Financial Officer, France Telecom Mobile, Lebanon, S.A.L (FTML).

Ligali joined Zain, formerly Celtel Nigeria, in October 2006 after a long quitting Unilever Group in East Africa, as CEO
During his three year stay at Zain Nigeria, Ligali re-invigorated the once subdued telecommunications company and galvanized the workforce into committing to reclaiming the top position in the telecommunications industry.

Between May 2006, when Vee Networks Limited changed to Celtel Nigeria Limited, and end of August 2008, the company, under Ligali’s watch, more than tripled its subscriber base.

Ligali won several awards and honours in recognition of his astute leadership and outstanding contributions to the growth of Zain Nigeria, and development of telecommunications in Nigeria, as well as for being the face of the industry within a short time of coming into the telecommunications business.