Recently we welcomed Joshua Odoteye as the newest member of the RoamsysNext family. Joshua will work as a business consultant with a strong focus on the growing African market. He brings in multifaceted experiences beyond telecommunications and we talked with him about his backgrounds, tasks and goals.
Joshua, thank you for joining the RoamsysNext family. We are happy to have you on board! When did you first think of RoamsysNext as your prospective employer? What’s your professional background?
My professional background spans across telecommunications, project management, business development and strategy from mainly Africa and Europe. I started my career in Ghana working with Millicom and Airtel Ghana in various capacities within the core network and radio departments. I later moved to France where I consulted on different telecom vendor projects for several years whilst working with the various French mobile operators. With a desire to help organisations grow, I have often offered consulting services to firms that particularly want to establish or grow in Africa especially in the telecom and ICT sectors. I regularly engage and work with other experts within the industry in pushing the continent’s developmental agenda forward. I also serve in advisory roles (both in technical and management capacities) for some organisations in Africa and Europe.
Over the years, I have known RoamsysNext via its collaboration with the GSMA in providing useful tools for GSMA members. After an introduction by a network contact to the Head of Business Development and CEO of RoamsysNext and through subsequent discussions held with some members of the board, I found RoamsysNext’s strategic vision for Africa quite inspiring. With my experience, I considered that I could help the company achieve its vision in Africa and expand its business in the region.
You will be bringing a lot of knowledge in our company. To which tasks will you dedicate yourself at first?
First of all, as I will be responsible for the business development in the African region and given the nature of how business work in Africa, my first task will be, establishing a closer relationship with prospective clients. Building and nurturing a good rapport with clients is essential in achieving success when doing business in Africa and I believe that this is an initial step that cannot be overlooked. Also, I hope to get to critical insights into my clients’ challenges, advise them based on my knowledge and experience over the years, whilst making the case about how RoamsysNext can support their businesses with efficient and cost-effective solutions.
We at RoamsysNext act globally with multiple customers on every continent. How would you describe the situation of the industry in Africa and how can we support local operators with our “driving connectivity” approach?
The telecommunication market in Africa is currently seeing a tremendous growth with the deployment of 4G networks in almost every country on the continent. Fibre Broadband services are gradually becoming available and more importantly, more affordable. There has never been a better time for service providers, be they mobile network providers, software providers or content providers to take advantage of this growth in offering their services to customers. For RoamsysNext, I see this as a timely opportunity for us to contribute to the growth of this market. Our mission of driving global connectivity is particularly more relevant in Africa where more remains to be done in bringing connectivity to a majority of the population. I see many areas of collaboration where we can provide simple customized software solutions not only to mobile operators but also to other service providers, with the aim of optimizing their operations and improving profitability.
