After 16 years with Metacom as CMO, Marius Visser has been appointed as CEO.
Réan van Niekerk, who founded Metacom in 2001, has handed over the CEO role and will continue as Executive Chairman. His focus now shifts to innovation, strategy, and our long-term direction.
This change comes in our 25th anniversary year. Today we keep more than 25,000 sites connected, in over 25 countries across Africa and further afield. At this scale, leading the business day to day and setting its long-term strategy are two distinct roles. This structure will enable Metacom to serve its customers even better.
Marius Visser
Marius joined Metacom in 2010, though his connection to the business goes back further, to Metacom’s earliest days. Business development has been his primary focus, but his expertise has been called on across the entire business.
Metacom pioneered the intelligent use of multiple broadband connections in 2006, years before the industry settled on the term SD-WAN. That foundation has since carried customers from operating largely offline to delivering advanced connected financial services, integrating multiple network technologies behind the scenes. Our MetaWAN platform has become a benchmark in retail, financial, and engineering services.
The offering has expanded well beyond connectivity, now including radio, multimedia, retail analytics, and customised managed Wi-Fi - each built to improve customer engagement, operational insight, and business performance. Our flagship routers now bring almost every managed communications retail service into a single routing platform.
Few people know the business, customers, technology, and its people as well as he does.
“When I joined Metacom, we shared one ambition: to build the most reliable communications technology possible, and to measure our success by our customers’ success. That hasn’t changed. What I’m most proud of is that we’ve done it as a proudly South African business, with a team that customers trust with their most critical operations.”
Réan van Niekerk
Réan founded Metacom in 2001 and has been with the business throughout its 25 years. As Executive Chairman, he remains closely involved in the business, with his time directed towards innovation, strategy, and the opportunities that will shape Metacom’s future.
“Marius has walked this road with me for 16 years. He has been vital to the success of Metacom, and he has executed with confidence and astuteness throughout. Appointing him as CEO was a natural step as we adapt and grow this business. I am confident that Metacom is in the right hands. My job now is to focus on innovation and strategy, and on what we build next.”
