Here is a profile of Uber’s new GM for West Africa, Lola Kassim

October is certainly becoming a month to remember for women climbing the corporate ladder as major appointment is following major appointment for women. The latest of these appointments is that of Uber’s new General Manager, West Africa, Lola Kassim.

The cab company which has in recent times had to struggle with both internal and external controversies, announced that Lola Kassim takes over from Ebi Atawodi, who was promoted to become Product Manager, Global Payments Growth for Uber worldwide.

Below is a brief profile of the new GM.

• Lola holds a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and an MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics.
• She has also served as co-Director of Harvard’s Peer Counselling Service, as well as an intern with the Local Development Institute in Bangkok and a volunteer with the Centre for Agricultural and Rural Education (CARE) in India.
• She was also chosen as one of the Canadian Government’s Policy Leaders Class of 2006, a program that targets and recruits exceptional graduates into the public service of Canada and trains them to take on significant responsibilities in shaping Canadian Public Policy.
• Lola Kassim also worked as a Governance Advisor with the Liberian Presidency through the Africa Governance Initiative.
• She served as a Management Consultant with McKinsey and Company as part of her over 10 years of global experience.

Here is a profile sent to us from Uber

Uber today announced, the appointment of Lola Kassim as its new General Manager for West Africa. Most recently, Lola worked as a Management Consultant with McKinsey and Company where she led teams providing strategic business advice and implementing organizational and operational improvements in the energy, public, and financial services sectors in West and Southern Africa.

A seasoned professional with over 10 years of global experience working at senior private sector and government levels in Africa and Canada, Lola will be responsible for driving Uber’s overall strategy for West Africa, which includes improving reliability and service levels for uberX and creating additional value adds for driver-partners.

“I am immensely pleased to be joining Uber at a pivotal point in the company’s growth and expansion curve. My vision for West Africa, in particular, is to ensure that we are aligned with Uber’s overall objective of creating sustainable, alternative modes of mobility. In addition to creating value for driver-partners and riders, I will also be focused on ensuring that we continue to engage with our key stakeholders and relevant partners with a view to continued positive impact across West Africa.”

Speaking on Lola’s appointment, Alon Lits, General Manager Sub-Saharan Africa, Uber said: “As a company that is deeply committed to diversity and inclusiveness, we are excited to have Lola join the team of other incredible women at Uber – who are pushing the envelope towards achieving the global vision of creating value for riders and driver-partners alike. In West Africa, Lola will be supported by a highly skilled and enthusiastic team covering Operations, Marketing, Communications, Legal and Policy. As we often say at Uber, we are #superpumped.”

Prior to joining Uber, Lola spent 3.5 years as a Management Consultant at McKinsey and Company. She also worked as a Governance Advisor with the Liberian Presidency through the

Africa Governance Initiative, supporting a unit driving delivery of Presidential infrastructure  priorities. She began her career with the Canadian government where she served as Policy Advisor to senior officials and managed units developing policy, strategy, and business cases regarding socio-economic development programming for Canada’s Aboriginal communities and foreign policy.

A Nigerian-Canadian, Lola holds a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and an MSc from the London School of Economics where she was a Chevening Scholar.

About Uber

Uber’s mission is to help people get a ride at the push of a button – everywhere and for everyone. We started in 2009 to solve a simple problem – how do you get a ride at the touch of a button? Six years and over five billion trips later, we’ve started tackling an even greater challenge: reducing congestion and pollution in our cities by getting more people into fewer cars.

The Uber network is now available in over 600 cities in over 80 countries spanning 6 continents. To request a ride, users must download the free application for Android, iPhone, Blackberry 7, or register for Uber at www.uber.com/go. For questions visit www.uber.com