There is new leadership in the Mozambican NREN, MoRENet. Salvador Inácio Marques Adriano took the helm of the Mozambican NREN from Ludmila Maguni at the close of 2014. An Electronic Engineer by profession, Mr Adriano has worked in the Telecom Industry since 2000.
Mr Adriano takes over a growing NREN that has enjoyed tremendous government support and has so far connected 14 institutions, and trained several network engineers through direct engineering assistance activities. Mr Salvador shared his dream for MoRENet.
“I believe MoRENet can play a crucial role in sharing of information within research entities and universities. We have a lot of individual initiatives in the country, that if combined, the same resources can be better utilized…”
He adds that topping his agenda will be to lead the business sustainability and expansion of MoRENet from its 14 member institutions to at least 80 networked institutions outside Mozambique’s capital Maputo.
Many success are accredited to Mr Adriano at the Ministry of Transport and Communication as Head of Policy Unit, where a Telecom Policy was drafted and passed into Law by the Mozambique parliament. At Mozambique Telecom From 2003 to 2007, he became CEO and introduced ADSL services, fix wireless access and restructuring of the company. He was also Chairman and CEO of Mozambique Cellular (MCEL), the biggest mobile operator in Mozambique where he pioneered 3G services in Mozambique and the preparation to launch the first mobile money services such as Mkesh, Mcel as version of EMPESA among other accomplishment.
Meanwhile, in Malawi, Dr Harry Gombachika, takes the helm at Malawi Telecommunications Ltd in January 2015. Many members of the NREN community will have interacted with Dr Gombachika, a telecommunications engineer and formerly a senior member of staff at the Malawi Polytechic, University of Malawi. He served as CEO of Malawi Research and Education Network (MAREN) in its early days and participated in a number of early events of the Alliance. Recently Dr Gombachika served as Director of Higher Education in the Malawi Ministry of Education. He therefore brings unique insights into the needs of the research and education sector.