Truecaller expands into Nigeria, appoints Onwuzurike as country manager

Truecaller, a global communications platform, has appointed Ogochukwu Onwuzurike as country manager for Nigeria operations.

The firm, in a statement on Friday, said Onwuzurike would, in her new role, be responsible for leading the company’s go-to-market function.

Truecaller is an application that helps GSM users identify callers that are not in their phone book.

The firm said Onwuzurike would be managing the end-to-end operations of Truecaller’s expansion in Nigeria.

Truecaller said: “Onwuzurike would be saddled with the responsibility of negotiating and collaborating with vendors, service providers and local businesses, with the ultimate goal of making Truecaller a household name in Nigeria.”

According to the statement, the new country manager has over a decade of prior experience across verticals such as banking, payments, fintech and SaaS.

Onwuzurike has previously worked with GlaxoSmithKline, Philip Morris International, Interswitch and MetaMap.

She has a degree in communications from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a postgraduate diploma in digital business from Emeritus Institute of Management.

Speaking on her appointment, Onwuzurike said she was willing to contribute to Africa’s digital transformation.

“A new generation of companies and tools are changing the way we live our lives today,” she said.

“On the back of the digital transformation wave across the African continent, there is a need to continue to build the trust, privacy and safety infrastructure. This is what I find fascinating about Truecaller’s mission.

“Creating safe spaces, including digital and communication spaces, is imperative for a prosperous Africa and I am inspired to join Truecaller and other change-makers to build that reality for my continent.”

In the statement, Nami Zarringhalam, chairman and chief strategy officer of Truecaller, said the company would benefit from Onwuzurike’s wealth of experience.

He said the appointment of Onwuzurike would improve Truecaller’s local expertise and regional knowledge in Nigeria.

“We have clear ambitions to further grow the promising African market, by delivering our class-leading caller ID and spam-blocking functionality, as well as cater to the needs of the diverse businesses that operate in the region,” Zarringhalam said.

“Truecaller has seen increased growth coming from Africa, Latin America, as well as parts of South-East Asia in 2023.”

Zarringhalam also said during the last quarter, the firm surpassed 100 million users outside of India, adding that the ambition, going forward, is to focus on specific markets like Nigeria by recruiting top talent to accelerate the organic growth even further.