From scientist to sales whiz to CEO: The whirlwind story of MTN Uganda CEO, Sylvia Mulinge

 A Kenyan by nationality, Mulinge has been MTN Uganda CEO for a year now, a challenge she wears remarkably well given the pressure expected in that position. But the seeming ease with which she handles the role is born of decades of dedicated effort, and an inner motivation to succeed that’s rooted in her personal history.

 She sat down with Hakiim Wampamba to tell the story of her life journey that got her to where she is – at the helm of one of Africa’s most successful telecom companies.

 NP: How did you get to the top office of Uganda’s leading telecom company? Did you just wake up and, boom!, you were here?

SM: So, for me the journey to MTN has been many years in the making. I've been in the commercial space for about 22 years: five of them in Unilever, 16 of them in Safaricom, one now in MTN.

I joined Unilever as a graduate trainee, and although I was trained as a scientist, they took me into sales and marketing. That's why I started off my role driving pickups going from one point of the country (Kenya) to the other. So, I really understand a lot about sales, but I learned it on the job.

I then moved to South Africa, where I was trained in brand marketing as well as customer marketing in terms of trade marketing. So, did that for a period.

NP: And how do you end up at SafariCom?

SM: Well South Africa was good. I had an opportunity to do a regional job; but I was about 28 -29 years old, I had just gotten married and was trying to have kids. You can't have kids and your husband stays on the other side of the of the continent, so I had to come back.

When I came back in my second stint, that's when now Safaricom approached me. They had just set up shop. They were looking to recruit and they realized that to be able to grow, they needed to adopt a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) kind of model in order to democratize access to telecommunications. I think that's how we were able to grow the brand so rapidly.

So, I moved over. I was also very anxious then because I didn't know anything about telecommunications. I thought you needed to be an engineer to sell anything technology-related, but within no time I discovered that at the end of the day, you're selling to the same customers. The person who's buying Sunlight washing powder, or OMO – which I was working on in the laundry category – is the same person buying airtime. So, I just got on with the job.

Just two months after signing my contract, I found out I was pregnant! (Laughs). The ladies here would understand. I was very anxious… I had just joined a new company, learning a new industry to industry that I didn't know anything about, and I’m pregnant!

But as I said that edge always keeps you working, learning and growing.

My career in Safaricom was just moving from one exerting challenge to the other. Within 3-5 years, I become Director under the leadership of the late Bob Collymore, then moved into Enterprise. After that, I started running our consumer business unit, became Chief Commercial Officer, and then Chief Operations Officer.

One thing I'm grateful to Safaricom for is that I used to move jobs every two, three years. So, it was always a new challenge and that kept me on the edge.

NP: Moving to MTN

SM: But eventually I got to the place where I wanted to do something else, and I was looking for a brand that is Pan African in outlook, and MTN has that. I also like the vibe of the brand, the feeling of energy and sunshine… So when they came calling, we had a conversation.

When they told me Uganda, I was like oh! okay, at least is not far. Uganda is very much part of the East African fabric. But then I had heard so many things about Uganda. I wasn't sure if I wanted to come; but the thing about me I that I always live my life forwards and understand it backwards. So, as soon as I felt at peace within myself, I was ready to come through. So yes, it was a Boom! I arrived here on the 3^rd day of October 2022 and it has been fun since.

NP: What shaped you into the leader that you are today?

SM: I'm a first born in a family of five, with two brothers and two sisters. My dad was an engineer – he passed on a year and a half ago. My mom was a secretary, now retired.

What my dad gave is inspiration. He was a hardworking man and instilled a sense of discipline in me. I was a little bit rebellious, being a firstborn, although not in a bad way. I've never been averse to risks, right? I'm not reckless, but I don't shy away from taking risk, especially when I can see the benefit around it. So, he kind of built some level of discipline for me around that.

He also told me that he probably would not be able to support all my siblings through school; because of that, I had to work harder to support my younger brother and sister.

Another notable thing that shaped me into the person I am today is my education. I went to a Catholic Convent School called Mary Mount, in Molo, for my secondary education. It was my first time to go to boarding school. It was a disciplinarian kind of ecosystem. We had to wake up early, we were not allowed to carry food to school, and we had to go for Mass in the morning and in the evening.

You can imagine for a young, growing girl who was also very spontaneous, and likes to kind of go at everything in life, this kind of built a programmatic way of approaching life that helped to help me to manage my energy around driving certain outcomes.

My dad also went to work overseas and he was away for a long period of time. And for my mom raising us children, it was very overwhelming. As a firstborn, I had to learn how to be a grown up when I was a young adult, and live up to the expectations of my dad who I didn't want to let down.

I also learned how to fight for myself (I remember chasing boys because they had stolen things from me. (Laughs), and for my siblings, especially when they were being bullied, so I've always had a sense of justice…

END OF PART ONE

 In the second and final part of this series, Mrs Mulinge shares her leadership ethos and how she juggles parenting with the exacting demands of a job at the top of the corporate world.