Microsoft Nigeria appoints Makama, Amah as director, CTO

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Rimini Haraya Makama

Ifeanyi Amah

Microsoft Nigeria has announced the appointment of two new executives to its senior leadership team. Ms. Rimini Haraya Makama joins as the company’s Corporate Affairs Director while Mr. Ifeanyi Amah, is now its new Chief Technology Officer.

Before her appointment, Makama served as the Communications Director, Africa Practice, where she successfully introduced some of the largest international institutions in EMEA into the Nigerian market whilst simultaneously helping to strategically position them as key players in their industries and encouraging foreign investment in the country. Prior to Africa Practice, she was the Principal Legal Assistant at the International Criminal Police Organization – ICPO – INTERPOL in Lyon, France.

As Corporate Affairs Director, Makama will be responsible for managing the development and implementation of Microsoft’s public policy initiatives throughout Nigeria at national and local levels as they relate to the company’s strategic partnerships with a mission to deliver a regulatory and reputational environment.

In this role, she will also forge and deepen the company’s relationships with government elites, regulatory bodies, the legislature, international organization and academia. She will align closely with Microsoft’s already existing Public Sector, Developer, Education and Citizenship teams to meet the company’s common objectives with the Government.

Speaking on her appointment, she said, “I am excited to be joining Microsoft at a time where it is positioning to lead the 4th Industrial revolution. I am particularly delighted to be leveraging my skills and expertise to contribute effectively to position Nigeria as part of the new digital economy.”

Makama holds an LLB from the University of Jos, Nigeria, an LLM in International Law & World Order from the University of Reading, UK, and CIM Diploma from the London School of Marketing. She is also Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. In 2014, she was recognized by Forbes as one of the 20 Youngest Power Women under 40 in Africa.

Ifeanyi has over 18 years of experience in engineering operations, sales and marketing from various ICT companies in Nigeria where he held several leadership positions.

Prior to joining Microsoft, he was the Group Executive Director of ipNX Nigeria Limited where he served as both the strategic business development manager for the group and Managing Director (MD) of ipNX Network Service Division.

In his capacity has the MD, he was responsible for driving the transformation of the company from an ISP to a multi-service provider pivoting ipNX to become the first fibre to the home (FTTH) broadband company offering ‘triple play’ services to both corporate and retail consumers in Nigeria.

Ifeanyi also had a stint at Swift Networks as one of the pioneer staff responsible for developing the company’s business plan and execution; and at iTECO Nigeria Limited (a subsidiary of Telnet Nigeria Limited) where he was responsible for setting up of the customer support and network management function for the organisation.

As Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft Nigeria, he will be instrumental in developing strategic partnerships with the Federal Government as well as private corporate organisations driving the digital transformation agenda whilst ensuring that IT policies and programs continue to create required impact to improve quality of services to her customers.
Ifeanyi will serve also as the chief transformation officer assisting Microsoft customers in both public and private sector to leverage technology to make them more efficient, competitive and ensuring that Nigeria’s quest towards achieving United Nations sustainable development goals that will transform our country are met.

In this role, Ifeanyi would align closely with Microsoft’s already existing Public Sector, Legal, Developer, Education and Philanthropies teams to develop policies and programs to meet the company’s common objectives with the Government. He would also be responsible for forging and deepening Microsoft’s relationships with technology elites including the CIO Community and Academia.

Ifeanyi holds a Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.) degree in Communications Engineering, an MBA from Lagos Business School and also a GMP from the prestigious Harvard Business School. He has presented papers at Capacity Africa, AfricaCom, NigeriaCom conferences and has been a special guest to other International media, information and technology events around the world.

“I am excited to be joining at such a critical time in the lifecycle of Nigeria where leveraging technology to empower citizens, improve security, create employment and improve efficiency in governance are at the core of the country’s strategic focus. My mission will be to help this digital transformation by working with government to take full advantage of Microsoft technologies and business solutions to improve the quality of life of Nigerian citizens,” he said.