In accepting the offer of the top post at Orange Botswana, Chief Executive Officer, Elisabeth Medou-Badang, says her main priorities were to leverage the company’s past success, consolidate and position it in an ever-changing market.
In an interview with Sunday Standard, Bedang said, with a market of such a high penetration rate on the mobile not far from 150 percent, one of the highest in Africa, the need to optimize operation is key to providing the company with the resources needed in order to continue to innovate as a way to differentiate oneself; as well as providing the customer with the best experience in the market.
She pointed out that the company’s ambition is to excel in customer experience on several things, like the value proposition, which offers tariffs and tailored innovation to meet the customers’ needs. She added that good customer service in all contact points as well as coverage, be it on mobiles services, or internet services, are key points. Bedang said that positioning themselves as a responsible company contributing to the development of the company and giving back to the community is also another point to focus on.
“As we know that the needs are different, we made sure to consider the changing trend and the increasing trend of mobile broadband usage either for leisure activities or for business,” said Bedang.
She pointed out that on the prepaid, the company has increased the market share of the virtual top up, have introduced competitive data bundles to promote internet usage at a more affordable price. She added that they have increased the generosity with innovative incentive as e-recharge and win.
“E-Recharge and Win is an opportunity offered to every prepaid customer to get special gifts when they electronically top-up their accounts,” she said.
Bedang further pointed out that another success that they are proud of is the introduction of Mpharanyetse, whose aim is to make the service available when customers have a need to use it but are short on cash. She added that with this service, they wanted to show the customers that they are here for them and trust them enough to allow them to borrow airtime and pay later.
“Orange Money is another innovation that we introduced as a way to make our customer life easier. Today you can pay your DSTV bill sitting on your Sofa in your house, and the service will be instantly reconnected,” said Bedang.
On the challenges, the CEO said the major issues are industry maturity and increasing competition, the country’s geographical characteristic and location as well as time to market for some initiative such as new site building.
“The market is almost mature, we need to transform our business model and find new revenue streams. We are focusing on increasing the internet usage as a way to mitigate the impact on the traditional services and contribute to the country ambition,” said Bedang.
She also said that content development, ICT development oriented initiatives around the sectors are what matters the most and would help the country to achieve its ambition.
Bedang revealed that when she got Orange Botswana top post she felt pressure of expectations, from stakeholders, pressure from the market, and pressure from herself.
“This is part of the rules of the game. I have to play the game from the first minutes to the last minutes. And I should say that the satisfaction and the joys are there to keep me running,” she said.
