Gateway Communications opens an office in Senegal as Papa Gana Mbengue and Nikki Popoola join team

05 June 2006, London and Johannesburg: Gateway Communications has made two senior appointments: Papa Gana Mbengue from Sonatel, and Nikki Popoola from Cable & Wireless.

Papa Gana Mbengue joins Gateway as Regional Director in the Service Provider division and will be responsible for the opening of a representative office in Dakar. Papa Gana carries with him vast experience of the African ICT markets which will be invaluable to Gateway as they help newly created GSM operators, as well as established players, achieve their business goals. Before joining Gateway, Papa Gana, a professional engineer, spent 26 years with Sonatel in executive roles, latterly as Director of International and Commercial.

Nikki Popoola joins Gateway’s Service Provider Global Sales Team as Regional Manager. Nikki has been an International Account Manager at Cable & Wireless since 1999 where she was responsible for building and developing Cable & Wireless’ business in Africa and the Middle East. Nikki has nearly twenty years’ experience in sales and marketing, seven of these in the telecoms sector. Nikki will be based in Gateway’s London headquarters.

Papa Gana and Nikki will work exclusively in the African carrier market focusing on helping African mobile and fixed line carriers improve quality and network efficiency through network outsourcing, regional networking and international interconnection. Gateway delivers over 20% of the conversation minutes into sub Saharan Africa using innovative, professional and commercially focused solutions. All are designed to meet the specific needs of African operators.

Papa Gana and Nikki’s passion for doing business in Africa allied to their vast experience of telecoms operations on the continent fits perfectly with Gateway’s pan-African reach and operations.

Peter Gbedemah, Chief Executive of Gateway Communications commented:

“We are thrilled to welcome Papa Gana and Nikki to Gateway. They further strengthen our team, bringing a wealth of experience and expertise in the African telecoms market. I believe that Papa Gana’s experience in the Senegalese and West African telecoms arena is unparalleled and the opening of a Dakar office is an important step towards developing Gateway’s presence in the region. Nikki has a compelling record of success in Africa working within the carrier community. We know that with Gateway’s product set and her unique experience, Nikki will allow operators across Africa to achieve their business objectives."