Vodafone Qatar chief executive officer Kyle Whitehill recently figured in the ‘Top CEO Awards and the leading CEO of the Telecom industry’ across the region.
Organised by business publication Trends magazine in conjunction with INSEAD business school, the awards ceremony paid tribute to business leaders whose success for their organisations is an instrumental factor in the continued growth of the region.
The fifth instalment of the annual programme, ‘Top CEO 2015’ honoured business heads judged to have excelled in the field of leadership. Mediaquest, the media company behind the initiative, says that the scheme is the most credible of its kind in the region, as only leaders of the firms listed on the stock exchanges of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman are eligible for ranking.
Whitehill said, “To me, the fundamental job of a CEO is not just to help your team create a vision, strategy and a plan — it is to engage, inspire, and motivate people across the organisation. There can be no ‘Top CEO’ without a ‘Top team’ backing him or her each day. I therefore accept the honour of being in the Top CEO Awards on behalf of Vodafone Qatar’s talented and tireless team, without whom we would never have reached this stage. From telecommunications to banking and air travel, I am additionally proud to stand among a group of such distinguished global business leaders who are indeed shaking up their industries and shifting the centre of gravity toward this region as partners — not passengers — on its remarkable economic journey.”
“About five years ago, we were extremely honoured to be invited to bid for the second mobile license by HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser and consequently we were able to localise one of the world’s biggest and most valuable telecom brands and privileged to be partnered with Qatar Foundation. There isn’t a single global brand in Qatar, which has localised itself as much as we did and we were the first and only global brand to list on the Qatar Exchange. This was a solid testament to our steadfast commitment to Qatar, bringing a wealth of local knowledge and experience together with our global credentials and track record.” Whitehill added.
Whitehill said, “We are strongly committed to providing world class telecommunications infrastructure to support the Qatar National Vision 2030 and live up to the promise we made to Qatar, its people and all of our stakeholders.”
Before joining Vodafone Qatar, Kyle Whitehill was the chief executive officer for Vodafone Ghana from June 2010 to June 2013. Prior to that, Kyle joined Vodafone UK in 2001 as head of the enterprise business. In February 2008 he moved to Vodafone India as chief operating officer.
His early career was spent in fast moving consumer goods with L’Oreal and Jeyes before he entered general management with the soft drinks division of Pepsico.
Vodafone Qatar switched on its mobile network in March 2009 and shortly after started delivering great value to its customers with a range of “exciting” products and services.
Whitehill (right) receiving his ‘Top CEO 2015’ award recently.
