Thapelo Lippe to head BTC?

WANETSHA MOSINYI
Staff Writer | Tuesday August 26, 2008 00:00

 

Sources said yesterday that Lippe, who is currently CEO of Microsoft in Kenya is likely to land the BTC top job that has been vacant ever since V.T Seretse left.

BTC board chairman, Len Makwinja, said yesterday that Lippe is one of the two candidates short-listed and recommended by recruiting agency HRMC in the hunt for new BTC CEO. However, he denied that he is the favourite. 

'We have not appointed anyone as yet but we are in the process of appointing someone soon and my hope is that we finalise everything before the end of this week,' Makwinja said.

He hopes that the appointment is made as soon as possible because the post has been vacant for a while.

He said the vacancy at BTC has delayed the appointment of the CEO of Be Mobile, the corporation's newly launched cellular phone service provider. Makwinja said the appointment of Be Mobile CEO will be made with the input of the incoming BTC CEO.

Lippe left Orange last year to join Microsoft in Kenya as country manager, covering both East and Central Africa. When the then relatively unknown Lippe was appointed Orange CEO many people doubted him. But after a year at the helm, the company's profit margins increased by 250 percent.

In 2005, the company had a paltry P800,000 in the bank. However, a year later, its balance sheet reflected a whopping P15 million.Lippe worked for an IT company in the United States before joining BTC briefly.  He later joined Orange as IT chief before he was appointed to the top position.

Meanwhile, Business Today has been reliably informed that Seretse will be appointed the new managing director of a BSE listed company.