‘He was resilient and inspiring’, family and friends say as they celebrate Martin Mabutho who died at 47
Martin Mabutho, MultiChoice Nigeria’s Chief Customer Officer, who died on Tuesday, August 24, 2021, was celebrated by family and friends at a special memorial service on Thursday, September 2, 2021, as an inspiring leader, dedicated team player and man who added value to his work and team every day.
Mabutho was on holiday with his family in Cape Town, South Africa, when he died after a brief illness. He was 47 years old and would have been 48 this month (September 2021).
He was celebrated at a memorial service attended by his family and close friends in South Africa and streamed live to other friends and colleagues in other parts of the world.
The CEO and Executive Director of the MultiChoice Group, Calvo Mawela, described Mabutho as a man who always showed up.
“He’ll be greatly missed for the shared vision we had for this company. He’ll be missed for the success and tribulations that we have had navigating the challenging times we faced in Nigeria,” Mawela said.
Fhulu Badugela, MultiChoice Africa’s CEO, who extolled Mabutho’s virtues and dedication to doing good work, said, “Martin always sought opportunities to do things better and deliver value to the business every day. He approached all of this with authenticity and clarity of purpose”.
Mabutho, who joined MultiChoice Botswana in 1999, eight months after leaving the university, and until his death, he was MultiChoice Nigeria’s Chief Customer Officer.
As the CCO, John Ugbe, the CEO of MultiChoice Nigeria, said Mabutho “had a unique way of looking at problems and finding ways that no one else thought of to solve the problems.”
“More recently, he became more passionate about positioning our content to the best advantage. This passion has led to his love and contribution towards the success of the critically-acclaimed Big Brother Naija.”
Some of Mabutho’s colleagues from college confirmed that he had been a resilient man from his school days.
Martin’s college best friend, Itseng Kwelagobe, commended his resilience towards work and said, “what was unique about Martin was the energy he exuded. He didn’t do anything in half measure. He would always give it his all, almost like there’s no tomorrow. He was also known as the Grillmaster of time, and the grill will not remain the same again.”
Martin’s uncle, Morgan Mabutho, who said that he could always count on Martin when there were challenges, added that “he was an extraordinary child. He endeared himself to everyone, and his stay in Nigeria can exemplify this”.
Mabutho, a Botswanan, was dearly loved by his Nigerian colleagues who nicknamed him ‘Chukwuemeka’, an Igbo name that means ‘God has done great things’.
The MutliChoice team created a short tribute film to bid farewell to the deceased.
In a career that spanned more than 20 years at MultiChoice, Mabutho was Brand Manager at MNet in 2003, led the Marketing and Sales effort for DStv Mobile in Sub-Saharan Africa before he was appointed MultiChoice Nigeria’s General Manager, Sales and Marketing in 2013.
In 2018 he was appointed Chief Customer Officer, responsible for driving the MultiChoice Nigeria customer group strategy covering customer value management, sales, marketing, customer experience and care.
Since his death, many of his friends and colleagues who have paid tributes to him said he lived a short but impactful life investing in friendships and putting smiles on peoples’ faces.
