Safaricom’s Sylvia Mulinge is the new director in charge of special projects at Safaricom. This comes months after her appointment as the Managing Director of Vodacom Tanzania failed to take off.
Before her appointment to the big position in Tanzania, she was the director for Safaricom’s consumer business unit.
She joined Safaricom from Unilever in February 2006 and rose to the position of Director, Consumer Business. She is credited with, among other achievements, overseeing the growth of the telco’s enterprise business, spearheading regionalisation strategy and leveraging industry trends to deliver customer-focused products and services.
Sylvia Mulinge was named Vodacom Tanzania MD five months ago after the position was left vacant following the exit of Ian Ferrao, a Briton who saw the telco listed in the country’s stock exchange in 2017.
However, the government of Tanzania dragged in clearing her work permit in what was believed to be a non-issue by the Immigration department. She will now be the Safaricom’s director of special projects as her re-appointment begins next week (October 1) and will be reporting directly to CEO Bob Collymore.
Information available on Tanzania High Commission website states that a class B residence permit is the one usually issued to foreigners employed by companies or institutions.
However, it is not allowed for an expatriate to be in the country when Residence Permit Class B is being applied until the same is granted. This made it impossible for Ms Mulinge to report to office before the process is completed.
“ Residence permit Class B is issued to foreign expatriates with rare profession to obtain in the country to work for the companies in the country,” states the website further.
“This curious case mirrors the frustrations that await thousands of professionals across the region as a result of national interests that favour localisation of jobs, sacrificing the regional protocols that promise free movement of labour,” says a local daily.
