Catalin Buliga, CTO of Vodafone Egypt: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day, and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. This week, we’re speaking with Catalin Buliga (LinkedIn), CTO of Vodafone Egypt.

My name is Catalin Buliga and I am a 55-year-old Romanian engineer. I have 35 years of experience in the technology industry, 26 of which were leadership roles. Technology has been my passion since childhood

My responsibility is mostly linked to how technology can improve people's lives — either through communication or digital life or just bringing joy to our lives. I always try to find an angle whenever a new technology comes out for how we can use it for a better life, rather than just for the technological benefit.

I’ve spent my entire career in Europe, with the exception of the last two years, which I have been greatly enjoying in Egypt. I started in Romania, then I worked at a different multinational company between Romania and Hungary, and later I was in charge of what we called a cluster, where I was the head for eight countries — Egypt was actually one of them, but I never thought I would end up here.

As CTO, I’m responsible for anything that relates to technology. From mobile and fixed services to financial services and cybersecurity, anything that is technical is with us. Ultimately, my responsibility is ensuring customer satisfaction with the services we provide.

The most interesting trend in the technology industry right now is AI. It’s not only impacting our industry, but all industries. We use it to improve what we do, to make it faster, and just better. We used it recently for a summer campaign on Ana Vodafone. Users could personalize a song by adding their name or a loved one’s name using the singer’s voice. We used generative AI technology in this case. We had a mn people use it within the first 16 days.

When it comes to my morning routine, I read EnterpriseAM every single day. I’m glad it’s dispatched at around 6am, because if it was any later, I probably wouldn't have time to read it. I have my coffee and read before heading to work to become familiar with what’s happening in Egypt. By the time I’m done I start getting my kids ready for school, I leave to drop them off and head to the office.

I spend 90% of my work day discussing things with my colleagues. I prefer not to use the word “meetings” because the format of these conversations differs greatly. Some of them jump into my office or I could meet with my team around a table, but we just collaborate a lot throughout the day.

I spend a lot of time raising people. I'm not here to stay forever and I want to leave something behind. So, I spend a lot of time teaching and coaching my team. And I'm proud of some of the results so far — one of my direct reports has become a chief technology officer in Congo, which fills me with pride.

It might sound like a political answer, but the one constant in all my days is the customer. As CTO, you might be tempted to work on things just for pure technology, but if it cannot be translated to benefit the customer then it lacks real value. It always comes down to the customer. If I have an issue in the network, we ask how many customers were affected and how we can solve it fast. If I’m discussing a new or existing program with the data intelligence team, I will ask how it made the customer feel. Regardless of the conversation we’re having, it’s always from the customer’s benefit angle.

Staying focused is easy. As chief of technology, I have a team of more than 2k people, mostly engineers, software developers, and trained technological professionals. I can’t manage everything alone, so I trust my teams, managers, and directors. If we agree to do something, I trust that it will get done and I don't check on them. I avoid micromanaging.

In terms of where I see myself next — I'm already 55 — I don't have to prove anything much to myself because my career went from technician to engineer to manager. When I say technician, I mean a field technician where I was looking at wires and things, and I climbed all the steps until I became CTO. I don't know when my current posting in Egypt will end, but I’m here until my role is fulfilled.

I’ve gotten better at a work-life balance. When I was younger, at the director level, and I was handling two countries at the same time, I was on a plane every other day for about three years, which was killing me and, of course, completely destroyed my personal life. My kids were not even talking to me. So I learned the hard way that if you are too ambitious, you’ll lose that balance. I had to stop abruptly and refocus on regaining that balance. Now, I tell everyone to ensure they have a work-life balance.

Weekend is for the family. Unless we have an emergency or something that requires me to jump in, then the weekend is for family. When I was young I was working even if nobody asked me, just to be competitive and to progress in my career. But when you get burnt once, you avoid touching the fire again.

I switch off work at the end of the day, but I don’t switch off my passion for technology. I spend time with my daughter, which by default takes me out of work mode. AI algorithms keep giving me things that I would find interesting. Things are moving and evolving faster. If I don’t keep up and read, I’ll miss new things within a week. So, I must stay updated and keep up with the trends and changes. I'm passionate about it — I like it and not just because it's my job.

The greatest piece of advice I’ve ever received came during a leadership training for my first managerial role in 2008. The instructor said “If you like it, enjoy it, it's gonna change.” This prepared my mindset to always be ready for change. Others are sometimes lost when things start changing, because they build their aspirations on the current situation. This is now the mantra of my career. It taught me to be adaptable when things change outside of my control.

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