By Charndré Emma Kippie
Born in Atteridgeville, Pretoria, Morwesi Agnes Ramphenyane who is the Chief Regional Officer at Openserve, is a seasoned professional responsible for the engineering build and field operations with a strong focus on the efficiency and reliability of the core and access network. With a Masters in Business Administration from Pretoria University, as well as a BCom Honours and BCom degree from Unisa, Morwesi has spent more than 4 years at Openserve and has made massive contributions to the company’s vision of streamlined connectivity.
Openserve is South Africa’s largest broadband infrastructure wholesale provider. The company’s broadband network keeps homes and businesses talking, entertained, educated and connected. The Openserve brand embodies the ethos of open access connectivity for all and builds on its ambitions of providing wholesale services to multiple clients to enable South Africans to connect with one another and to the rest of the world.
Search for a new challenge and growth. I initially joined Telkom as an Executive for Network Procurement coming from a competitor in the same industry. I aspired to be part of the team directly involved in network operation and generating revenue. A position was advertised for Managing Executive: Network Field Operations in Eastern and Central Regions (now named Chief Regional Officer) and I was the successful candidate.
Being a Chief Regional Officer is like being a mini CEO because you run operations (including building a network infrastructure) within a defined Operational and Capital expenditure budget and you must always identify efficient ways to run your business and maximise your revenue. So excellent customer experience and differentiating your company from competitors are key. I also enjoy driving my team to greater heights of performance and making team members realise their full potential.
Our organisation is centred to enable multifaceted connectivity, e.g. broadband, voice and real time systems integration across multiple organisations/operations. We further enabled remote connectivity during the Covid pandemic which supports the work from home concept and online learning.
There is probably more or less an equal number of men and women in the industry but the differentiator is that it is still male dominated at Senior Leadership levels. I must however indicate that Telkom has learning and development programmes for women aiming at preparing them for senior roles.
Education, willingness to learn and good work ethic. These must be coupled by ambition and excellent performance.
Striking a work-life balance and furthering my education at the same time while being a single parent was a challenge but not an obstacle and I eventually mastered the art. One also needs to learn how to handle difficult discussions, maintain your assertiveness, acknowledge room for improvement and know how to engage with people at different levels.
I would like to end my career as a CEO, probably in the same industry after having a positive impact on the company’s success. I also want to grow my property portfolio and diversify future investments to retire comfortably and leave a legacy for my children.
Who moved my cheese? – Spencer Johnson
The Four Agreements – Don Miguel Ruiz
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey
Identify a mentor and have regular sessions where you discuss your aspirations, development areas, define success and keep track of progress. Keep yourself abreast of industry, economic developments and general news. Never be afraid to take risks and seize every opportunity that comes your way.
Women wear many hats and face different challenges but manage to rise above it all. Never underestimate yourself, be self-driven, take control of your life and claim your success. Let us uplift each other and take girl children under our wings to prepare the next generation of successful women.
Check out the latest edition of the Standard Bank Top Women Leaders publication on Issuu – [here](https://issuu.com/topcomedia/docs/top_women_leaders_16th). Stay up to date with all the latest on Top Women in SA, by signing up to the Standard Bank Top Women newsletter – [here](https://www.topbusinesswomen.co.za/top-women-leaders-subscription/).
