MTN Uganda Chief Executive Officer Sylvia Mulinge, has been at the helm of Uganda’s largest telecom company since October 2022.
Serving as the first-ever female CEO in the position, she shares with Esther Oluka how her
beginnings set the pace for her to become the powerful and influential woman she is today.

What are those childhood moments that shaped your early experiences?
M y dad was an engineer. He passed on two years ago. My mum is still alive. She was a secretary who used to work in one of the banks in Kenya.
I am the first born of five siblings.
My parents came from a middle-class family and worked very hard to make sure we were well educated. From a young age, education was instilled in me as something important.
I used to do well in school, being allowed to lead specific engagements and being very interested in things like drama and debate club.
The kind of person that I ended up becoming included fighting for what is right and justice for everyone. I remember in primary school chasing down a boy who was bullying some of my friends.
Another memory was from high school. We were doing our mock exams before the final assessment. We did not do well as a school, but my grades were good. I had [scored] A.
The sister [nun] who was the headmistress told everyone to march outside and lie on the ground as a punishment.
I was not part of that [group]. That [incident] shaped my life, and I began to realise that winning by yourself is not as meaningful as when it is a group.
Then, at the university, I wanted to study pharmacy, but I think I missed it by a point and ended up taking on food science and technology, which was not my ideal one. But my dad, right from an
early age, taught me to take everything in stride despite disappointments.
Ultimately, I ended up graduating with first-class honours and getting my first job, and it ultimately ended up shaping the path and the place where I find myself today.

How has the journey been since assuming the office of CEO on October 1, 2022?
It has been a mix of things. I was coming to lead an organisation which hadlargely been established.
I did not know anybody in Uganda.
It was probably my second time in the country. I was in Safaricom in Kenya before, which is a pretty large corporation.
I was there for 16 years, nine of which, I was in the boardroom as a leader – a director of one of the many commercial units that we had.
So I was used to leading from that perspective but not having full end to end responsibility of driving the vision and the mission of a company.
I will never forget my first engagement with my team. You know, sitting there, everybody’s looking at you. And all these are great leaders, right there looking at you and wondering, “So what are you gonna tell us? Where are you taking us?” That was a moment. But I managed to navigate that and since then we have had many high moments in terms of what we have been able to do with the teams.
We have achieved much more than I could have expected and I am really grateful for the support. We have had many highs from seeing our numbers grow including employee engagement growth, to MTN being voted the best telecom company after only two years of serving in the position.
There are so many wins and I cannot capture them all.
Among the lows include my children being away from me. They are not with me here, so I miss them a lot. My daughter is in school in Kenya while my son is in the UK.

How do you then create time for your children?
One of the things I told my children was that I may never be there for all their moments but I will always make sure that I am there for most.
They understand my work. Even when they were little, I talked to them about it .
I remember when we used to be in Kenya, we always had dinner together on Sundays, a day where we would talk about different things including spending time praying for the coming week.

Are there specific challenges you have encountered as a woman holding a CEO position?
The first days in the boardroom, I was intimidated by the men.
I recall a mistake I made during a presentation and it was so rough. I went into a corner and cracked due to humiliation. I thereafter sought to ensure that I equip myself with knowledge that can empower me to be courageous enough to hold my head high and speak confidently.

And how are you adapting to the ever-changing digital space?
I try to stay abreast of all the things that are happening. So I keep myself updated by reading and doing experimentations.
In addition, I am always curious and willing to learn, including hanging out with young people. Being in their space, interacting and observing how they use certain applications, understanding
their language and trends always gives me a fresh perspective on things.

How do you handle criticism from customers?
I absolutely love it. That feedback is the breakfast of champions.
When a customer is willing to give you feedback, it is because they still care. They still want to stay there. Otherwise they would just walk away and say nothing.
At a previous company, customers used to make long lines at our service points. The experience later made me realise that we needed to digitalise most of our operations and make life easier for our clients.
But also, think about it. Customers are people who bring money into the ecosystem. Everybody else takes money out of the chain. These are people who pay my salary and because of that, I am ready and willing to listen to them.
Taking their feedback means that I am guaranteeing the sustainability and continued success of the organisation.

What do you think women need to do to get to CEO positions and thrive?
First of all, we need courageous women who believe in themselves to pitch, show up and do a job well.
We also need men who are allies in this journey because they make room for women.
The challenge we have as women is trying to be a superweman and end up crashing, in the process.
So, for me, I take on most essential tasks and delegate the rest.
When I was in Nairobi, I got a support system at home which made sure my children had what they needed, including a good driver who would drop and pick them up from school.

WHO IS MULINGE?
Born in Kenya, Mulinge was tapped from Kenya’s Safaricom,
where she had been serving since 2006 in different roles, including head of Safaricom business sales, general manager, head of retail, and pre-pay product manager.
Before joining MTN Uganda, her role had been Safaricom’s chief consumer business officer. Earlier in 2004, she had worked at Unilever as an assistant regional brand manager in the laundry division, based in South Africa.