The management and running of the day-to-day operations of Orange Liberia is now in the hands of a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Jean Marius Yao. The announcement of the change in leadership was made yesterday at a formal outdoor ceremony held at the company’s headquarters on Capital Bypass. Yao takes over from former CEO, Mamadou Coulibaly, who had been at the company’s helm since it entered the Liberian market five years ago. Coulibaly is being reassigned as CEO for Orange Burkina Faso.
The colorful turnover ceremony was attended by staff of Orange Liberia, customers, special invited guests, officials, and dignitaries. Making initial remarks, Orange Liberia’s veteran Marketing Manager, Betty Flahn, termed the occasion as being both “happy but sad. Bitter but sweet.” She noted that the company was sad on the one hand because of the departure of outgoing CEO Coulibaly but was also delighted to mark the new chapter under the leadership of Mr. Yao. In welcoming the new CEO, she noted: “for somebody who has worked here for 16 years, I must tell you that you have come to one big happy family and the employees wholeheartedly welcome you with open arms.”
Her words were echoed by Orange Liberia’s employee representative Gaius Barsee- Giah and Aaron Glay Head of distribution who went on to present Mr. Yao with a welcome gift presented on behalf of Orange Liberia’s more than 400 employees. After presenting the gift, Glay also ceremoniously gowned Yao and said that as an honor the staff had decided to bestow on Yao the Bassa name: “Youngedu”, which he said translated to “I am part of you”
In response, the new CEO thanked the staff and stated that he was moved beyond words by the warm welcome. “I am honored to be here today,” said Mr. Yao, “I was not expecting such a great and warm ceremony to welcome me.” He praised outgoing CEO Coulibaly for the tremendous work and accomplishments made as the first CEO of Orange in Liberia and stated that it would not be an easy task to fill Coulibaly’s shoes. Mr. Yao observed: “it is not easy to succeed a great man like you, but I am sure with the help of your team, I will be able to build on the foundation that you have set, and we will continue to build on your work and strengthen the pillars you have set.”
Mr. Yao went on to pledge that he would work hard to improve and grow Orange Liberia’s services in Liberia. “Let me assure all of our customers in Liberia that we will work extremely hard and burn the midnight candle to ensure that we provide you the absolute best and most premier telecommunications products and services. This is a commitment we will not fail to achieve,” Yao concluded.
Outgoing CEO Coulibaly congratulated his successor and thanked him for accepting the post. He admonished the Orange Liberia team to continue to work hard and assured them that they were in good hands. “I am very emotional because you have all been a great team. We have come from far and we have achieved a lot together. You will always be in my heart and I am leaving you in the very best of hands because I know the capabilities of Jean Marius and I know that he is the right man for the job,” said Coulibaly.
Mr. Jean Marius Yao takes over with immediate effect. He Graduated from the Higher School of Commerce and Business of Cote D’Ivoire (ESCA). He was previously assigned with Orange Ivory Coast since 2014 where he successively held positions as Project Director for OrangeMoney and also as Managing Director for Orange Money Cote D’Ivoire.