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The appointment of Mr Mawindi marks the return of a local CEO in more than five years after Mr Rex Chibeza resigned in 2007, paving the way for Rwandese national Mr Aimable Mpore.
Mr Swaim, a member of the Telecel Zimbabwe board of directors, has been managing the company since December last year.
He told Herald Business last week that a new CEO would be named after an exhaustive search for a substantive local CEO.
“Mr Swaim was appointed in December last year, while the board was in the process of recruiting a substantive CEO,” said Telecel.
Mr Swaim came in to head the mobile phone operator after Mr Mpore failed to renew his two-year contract.
But the repeated appointment of foreigners in most executive posts often caused tensions at the firm as workers claimed they were being unfairly treated while expatriates were allegedly favoured.
Mr Mawindi did his secondary education at St Ignatius College before enrolling at the University of Zimbabwe for a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in electrical engineering.
He worked as head of business operations at France Telecom Orange responsible for global services in the Americas, and was based in New York, in the United States.
He has more than 20 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry. This experience includes strategic planning, global business development and operations.
Mr Mawindi also has extensive experience in the field of project management, financial analysis and planning and supply chain management, including budgeting and forecasting.
At France Telecom Orange he led development efforts and the co-ordination and management of the business and strategic planning processes for the Americas, including North America.
He was responsible for unified communications, collaboration services and broadband communications for the multinational business enterprise and institutional markets.
He has also worked for Verizon, a US telecommunications giant, where he supported regional business development in North America, Latin America, Europe and Africa.
Prior to joining Verizon, Mr Mawindi worked for Sprint, the third largest mobile operator in the US, where he was part of the regional baseline strategic planning team for the development and implementation of a nationwide project for the provision of mobile broadband telecommunications services.
He started his telecommunications career at the Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, now Tel-One, and Brightpoint, an outsourcing company operating within the supply chain of the Zimbabwean telecommunications industry.
The new Telecel boss holds a Graduate Diploma in Marketing and Marketing Management from the European Marketing Confederation and a Master of Business Administration in finance from Howard University in the United States.
leeroy