The CEO Awards also spotlight the outstanding achievements and successes of the best teams of the year. These high-performing teams have set new benchmarks for excellence and collaboration over the past year.

Best Teams

Cable Break Critical Restoration Team, Group Technology – Following multiple submarine cable breaks across our markets, causing a near total blackout of internet services and international connectivity, this team solved the problem within nine hours, containing hundreds of millions in lost revenue.

Central Region VB Public Sector Team, South Africa – Under the strategic pillar of “Beyond Mobile”, the team implemented a telemedicine solution for the Free State Department of Health, revolutionising healthcare in the region.

Taxation Team, DRC – Over the past four years, the tax team has worked tirelessly with the tax authorities to resolve an ongoing dispute. Through determination and a can-do attitude, the team eventually had the amount reduced by 92%.

Immersion Cooling for Data Centres Team, Egypt – With the significant energy demands from our data centres, particularly around cooling, this team came up with an innovative solution of immersing equipment in a special fluid that removes heat more effectively than traditional systems.

Safaricom Device Assembly Team, Kenya – This team launched a state-of-the-art device assembly plant to produce high-quality, affordable smartphones and other internet-enabled devices. The initiative has reduced the cost of an entry-level smartphone by 30%.

Group Digital & CX Team, Group Commercial – The team supports our eight markets to operate more efficiently through a “build once, use many times” concept. By standardising the way we work and establishing a 90-point KPI monitoring system, we can now gain quicker insights required for quicker action by the local teams.

Eskom Coal Automation Solution Team, South Africa – The team successfully implemented a comprehensive coal supply chain automation project for Eskom, South Africa’s primary electricity supplier. The project has achieved a 25% reduction in coal handling times and a 20% decrease in transportation costs.

Core Network Recovery Team, Lesotho – The team launched a programme to address inefficiencies in the network. However, due to the long lead times proposed by the suppliers, many of the deliverables were moved in-house to Vodacom staff, reducing the timelines from 18 months to seven months.

International Money Transfer Team, M-PESA Africa – This team developed a single hub for all remittances across all markets. The initiative reduced manpower and costs, improved user experience, and created a single point of integration across all markets.

B-BBEE & Transformation Team, Group M&A & Business Development – In the absence of their team lead, this team ensured that Vodacom maintained its Level 1 B-BBEE status. Their efforts led to improvements on a number of measures and better scores across a number of our subsidiary companies.

Pouko-Pouko Device Financing Team, Mozambique – This team has worked non-stop to deliver a product that addresses the needs of many customers who were previously unable to own a smartphone. The device financing solution was designed and deployed in under two months.

Programme Thoran Team, South Africa – Programme Thoran was launched to reduce fraudulent activity and enhance security in our CRM systems. More than 8 000 users have been enrolled with a near 100% reduction in the number of compromised users.

Tech-Powered Care Team, Egypt – With complex technical complaints taking long to resolve, the team identified synergies to solve the problem. A first call resolution was established that has resulted in a 38% reduction in technical complaints and a 16% reduction in calls to the call centre.

Fraud & Anti-Money Laundering Team, Kenya – This team is leveraging AI and machine learning to address the challenges of fraud and money laundering. Their AI models have resulted in a 39% decrease in fraud loss cases and a 30% decrease in identity theft cases.

Group Treasury & Funding Team, Group Finance – In another first for Vodacom, the team embarked on an initiative to craft a sustainable finance framework to support our approach to accessing sustainably linked financing in the present and the future.

National Property & Facilities Sustainability Team, South Africa – The team has delivered multiple projects aimed at getting us to our net zero targets, achieving amazing results through the Midrand campus solar project, a proper waste and water management programme, and more.

Cross-Functional Acquisition Team, Tanzania – The team developed a 360-degree campaign to aggressively drive new customer acquisitions, delivering 100% year-on-year growth in net customer additions and 25% year-on-year growth in our M-PESA subscriber base.

Tigray Launch Team, Ethiopia – The network team devised a plan to provide 4G services in this critical region, allowing us to get materials into the area to build 95 sites. Additionally, we established seven branded shops and activated more than 650 M-PESA agents.

Navigating the Storm Team, Egypt – The team was proactive in mitigating a foreign exchange exposure of around €220 million, while activating more than 10 relationship banks to secure FX liquidity of €300 million, and in the process saving around €23 million in FX losses.

VFS Sales & Distribution Team, Financial Services – This team has had an exceptional year. Through the expansion of their sales presence, the insurance suite of products has achieved a significant increase in attachment rates across all channels.

Vodacom Top Employer Team, Group HR – Through our unwavering focus on our employees’ well-being, Vodacom was ranked as the number one top employer on the continent. This recognition is a testament to the great strides we have made in putting our employees at the heart of everything that we do.

Best Region

Limpopo, South Africa – The Best Region award, dating back 21 years, is one of the most hotly contested CEO Awards between the seven regions in South Africa, giving the winner serious bragging rights for the next 12 months.

Volunteer Awards

Team Purpose, Group & South Africa – The National Property and Facilities team collaborated with Vodacom Foundation in a CSI initiative at two schools in Johannesburg and Cape Town. In learning about the importance of recycling, children gain valuable knowledge to take back into their communities.

Flood Response Team, Kenya – When floods devastated many areas of Kenya earlier this year, the team acted with agility to put to use the funds approved by M-PESA Foundation to help reach more than 50 000 affected households.

Innovator Award

Second place: 

e-KYC Solution Team, DRC – The e-KYC tool is a revolutionary and innovative M-PESA acquisition tool, utilising optical character recognition logic to facilitate customer registration. The simplification has resulted in more than 10 000 customers already registering, with a total inflow of over $200 000.

First place:

Energy Optimisation System Team, South Africa, Egypt & IOT.Nxt – The team built a system using AI, IoT and Gen AI technologies to save up to 60% of consumed power, achieve an 8 to 10% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and save around R100 million in OpEx costs per year once implemented at all 15 000 sites in South Africa.