Face Off: Let The Mobile Wars Begin
A new ball game
Zain is seeking to replicate its success in other destinations it operates in, to become the preferred cellular experience, as it gets set to deploy in Ghana.

What we are looking to do; is setting up the model for a telecommunications company, Philip Sowah, Country Director of Zain speaks of his company's vision for Ghana. Last month, Zain's subsidiary Celtel won the award for the Best Telecoms Operator in Africa at the Business in Africa Awards in London. Again, Zain hit the 50.74 million active subscription mark in June as it works towards its target of becoming one of the 10 top mobile companies in the world in 2011.
As one of the leading telecommunications provider in emerging markets, Zain has gone beyond the standard menu telecommunications companies provide and is pioneering innovative solutions in most of the destinations it operates. For instance, it has its One Network roaming plan in most of the destinations it operates in Africa and the Middle East. With the One Network plan, those in Africa and the Middle East can call other countries for the price of local calls. Again, its subscribers can make and receive mobile-calls, sms' and emails on board a number of airlines such as Air France, which it has agreements with.

In Ghana, it plans to roll out its EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) service, it has deployed in its other destinations. One of the elements that has spurred the growth of Zain in other destinations is their quality of service, which they want to replicate in Ghana. There is a challenge with quality of service; all [four] operators are not happy with their quality of service, Sowah speaks of the quality of service that operators presently offer the consumer.

Zain intends to overcome the quality of service challenge by projecting its technical plans ahead of their utilization. According to Sowah, their infrastructure from day one can accommodate 2 million subscribers; they will scale up in the next few months to accommodate 3 million subscribers. At the heart of Zain's strategy are the people who work in the organization. We can all buy technology; the difference is the kind of people who work in the organization. That cannot be replicated, Sowah says of the heart of strategy. He lists the qualities of a typical Zain employee: The Zain person should be approachable, intelligent, a team player and a leader, he says. Zain as an international group has a staff exchange program that moves staff from the different countries it operates, and Sowah aspires to be a net exporter of talent in the next three years.

Sowah believes the quality of people at Zain and their work culture will translate to good customer service. Zain does not put emphasis only on the people within; it is also supportive of the people in communities it works in. for instance, Zain is an integral part of the Millennium villages Project that provides communities with opportunities to combat extreme poverty and is already supporting such projects in Ahanta West, in the western region.

Sowah, a former CEO of onetouch, is credited with growing that network from a subscription base of 160,000 customers to 1.3 million customers. He had his secondary education at the Achimota School and a dual degree at the Grinnell College in the United States. Zain Communication Ghana, like its parent company is looking for the top spot.

In Zain, we always expect to be number one; everything we are doing is to be the leader in this country. [Though] it is not a short term vision, we are putting the right blocks in place, Sowah says.