Huawei picks new chief executive to head

Dean Yu, new CEO for Huawei Kenya. FILE 

By DAVID HERBLING

In Summary

• Mr Dean will be tasked with crafting strategies and overseeing operations in Kenya to win a bigger share of the mobile devices market dominated by Nokia and Samsung.
• He was previously vice CEO of Huawei South Africa and takes over from Wind Li who has been head of the Nairobi office since 2012.

SHARE THIS STORY

IT firm Huawei has named Dean Yu as its new chief executive for Kenya, keeping with the tradition of appointing Chinese bosses.

Mr Dean will be tasked with crafting strategies and overseeing operations in Kenya to win a bigger share of the mobile devices market dominated by Nokia and Samsung.

Mr Dean was previously vice CEO of Huawei South Africa and takes over from Wind Li who has been head of the Nairobi office since 2012.


Mr Wind succeeded Herman He who served as CEO for five years.

“Kenya’s ICT industry is set to experience exponential growth. It’s therefore an exciting time for me to spearhead our business efforts here for greater value,” said Mr Dean while taking office Thursday.

“It’s our belief that our continuous innovative, customised, affordable and value-added products and solutions will impact the development agenda of this country by powering and accelerating economic growth.”

The changes at Huawei’s corner office come at a time when mobile phone makers and network vendors are engaged in battles to win market share and clinch big ticket IT infrastructure projects.

The Shenzhen-based firm said it is banking on Mr Dean’s more than 12 years experience in the telecoms industry to drive growth.

Huawei in October last year launched the Ascend P6, its flagship Android powered high-end smartphone to take on Samsung, LG, Nokia and Blackberry.

Safaricom jointly awarded Huawei and Ericsson the contract to build its Sh10 billion 2,400 kilometre metro fibre optic cable. Huawei set its offices in Kenya in 1998 and employs about 500 employees locally.