Vodacom South Africa MD Balesh Sharma has decided to leave the Vodafone and Vodacom after two decades, the cellular giant said on Thursday, noting that Sharma will be pursuing an external opportunity in Europe.
In order to ensure a smooth transition, Balesh will remain in his role for the next three months. He has held his current role as MD of Vodacom South Africa since September 2020, after he was appointed to carve out a new stand-alone Vodacom South Africa entity.
Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub offered his deepest gratitude to Balesh for his “invaluable contribution” in the establishment of Vodacom South Africa.
Shared Joosub: “During this time, he led the improvements in market share, net promoter scores, network, churn improvement, TOBI, Vodacom Business performance and also drove the winning back of data market share.
“Balesh was a strong support for various critical Vodacom projects such as the recent spectrum auction, which saw Vodacom successfully acquire a total of 110MHz high-demand spectrum. We wish Balesh the very best for the next chapter of his career and [we] will announce his successor in due course.”
Prior to his tenure as Vodacom South Africa MD, Balesh had worked for Vodafone Group in India from March 2003, where he held various senior leadership roles before moving to international assignments as CEO Vodafone Malta, and then CEO Vodafone Czech Republic, driving successful turnarounds in both roles.
He returned to India to help the company fight one of the industry’s most competitive environments. In his capacity as the founding CEO of Vodafone Idea, Balesh managed the integration of Vodafone and Idea, delivering substantial synergies within the first-year post merger, and successfully completing a rights issue of $3.5-billion (R51-billion) for the merged entity.
Sharma said: “This is the end of a momentous chapter in my career and I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to my Vodafone and Vodacom families for the extraordinary opportunities afforded to me over the last 20 years.
“It has been wonderful to be part of a purpose-led organisation which has allowed me to work all over the world, and to forge friendships with so many diverse communities and people.”
Balesh is an alumni of the Harvard Business School and Mayo College, and holds a degree in mechanical engineering from Engineering College, Kota, and an MBA from Podar Institute of Management in Jaipur, India.
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