Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub has won the prestigious 2023 MyBroadband Telecoms CEO of the Year award.

Joosub was selected as the winner thanks to his excellent leadership at Vodacom and the top results the company has produced with him at the helm.

Candidates for the 2023 MyBroadband Telecoms CEO of the Year award were selected based on their prominence in the telecommunications market and the impact they make not only within their businesses, but across the entire sector.

Joosub stood above his peers in this regard, growing Vodacom’s revenue while navigating major hurdles like widespread load-shedding and spectrum availability.

Joosub has also overseen Vodacom expanding its service offerings beyond broadband connectivity, with Vodacom’s financial services – including insurance and payment solutions – showing strong growth in recent years.

A Vodacom legend

Joosub started his career at Vodacom in 1994, and quickly moved up to a management position.

Before taking over as CEO of Vodacom, Joosub held multiple important positions within the business.

This included the role of Managing Director in several Vodacom companies, and leading Vodacom South Africa.

Joosub also boasts international experience within the larger Vodafone group, and headed up Vodafone Spain as CEO for two years.

Following his work in Europe, Joosub returned to South Africa to take over as Vodacom CEO in 2012.

His leadership at Vodacom was key to a number of industry-firsts in South Africa – with standout highlights being the launch of the country’s first commercial LTE network and the first 5G mobile network.

Joosub has also ensured that Vodacom continues to invest in its business while overcoming spectrum-availability constraints and continuous load-shedding – which places a huge strain on all mobile networks in the country.

This progressive attitude was succinctly summarised in a statement from Joosub in Vodacom’s recent financial results announcement.

“Looking ahead, the operating environment that we face requires an unwavering focus to deliver our strategy, to meet our business objectives, and to serve our customers. We continue to ensure that we have the right measures in place.” DM