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Strong relationships critical for the woman making a mark in West Africa
WIOCC’s Nikki Popoola has been named one of Capacity magazine’s 20 Women to Watch in the global wholesale community for the second year running. The magazine commended Nikki for developing WIOCC’s hyperscale national network in Nigeria, seamlessly linking subsea cable systems to high-capacity Metro networks in Lagos and Abuja. She was also praised for building a rich network of partners and thereby enabling WIOCC to further extend its footprint into the region. Both these developments are making a significant impact upon communications in West Africa.
“By the time I joined WIOCC in 2016, I had 18 years’ sales experience in the international telecoms industry. WIOCC’s vision, ‘to make an enduring contribution to Africa’s communications’, strongly aligned to my goal: to ensure Africa is just as connected as the rest of the world,” explained Nikki, WIOCC Director, Sales – West Africa.
She continued: “I rely heavily on the people I work with at WIOCC, where each person plays a key role in helping me achieve my goal. This could be from collaboratively engineering a resilient, hyperscale network to delivering and managing client services – as well as having a good laugh in between! I have built trust and mutually-beneficial relationships with all stakeholders by being consistent, honest, keeping to my word and maintaining a positive outlook.”
A telco client based in Mali came to WIOCC with a complex challenge: to provide two high-capacity, seamless connectivity routes from Bamako (in Mali) to London. Nikki collaborated with three partners to deliver a link from Bamako through Senegal to London via the SAT 3 and EIG subsea cable systems. For the alternative route from Bamako through Cote d’Ivoire to London via WACS, she brought on board a further two connectivity providers.
“Although delivering this complex solution amidst the pandemic had its share of challenges, strong collaborative relationships between WIOCC and our partners enabled us to meet the client’s expectations,” explained Nikki.
She concluded: “WIOCC gives me the autonomy to choose how I can best achieve its objectives for West Africa and empowers me to challenge myself by delving into aspects of the business I could never have imagined. I am fully supported by a friendly, boundless, knowledgeable team and this makes me proud to be part of the WIOCC Family.”
