Ikopit appointed UTCL CEO

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Paul Patrick Ikopit has been appointed as the new chief executive officer of the Uganda Telecommunications Corporation Limited (UTCL).

Ikopit was appointed during UTCL’s first board meeting held at Telecom House in Kampala last week, according to a statement released by the telecom company.

The statement also announced the appointment of David Kakembo and Maggie Lutwama Mukiibi as chief technology and information officer and chief operations officer respectively. Mukiibi has been temporarily overseeing the running of the company.

In October last year, the Government of Uganda signed an agreement with Rowad Capital Commercial, a United Arab Emirates-based firm, to revamp UTCL in an arrangement that would see the UAE firm acquire 60% shareholding and invest up to $225m (about sh836.5b) into the company.

Ugandan government retained a 40% sharing holding split between Ministry of Finance, Planning & Economic Development and Ministry of ICT & National Guidance who hold 26% and 14% respectively.

According to the statement, new management is expected to focus on taking over the management, commercialisation and integration of operations of the National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) and electronic government infrastructure into UTCL.

 “…over the next few months, we look forward to working with the management and staff of UTCL, and all their partners to ensure a seamless transition,” Eng. Dennis Mugwanya the UTCL board chairman said in the statement.

About Ikopit

Ikopit describes himself as a well-rounded business executive with over 35 years’ experience in telecommunications, oil and gas, and fintech sectors, having spent 18 of those years out of the country within Africa and the Middle East.

At the time of the appointment, he was serving as the country director of Onafriq Uganda, a fintech that deals in cross-border remittances.

He previously served as head of corporate performance management for MTN Group between 2007 and 2009 across the company’s then-22 subsidiaries.

He holds a Master of Business Administration MBA from Edinburgh Business School, is a Certified Public Accountant registered with CPA (Kenya) and holds a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Accounting from Makerere University.