Airtel announces changes in Africa operations

Bharti Airtel, also known as Airtel, a leading global telecommunications services provider with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, has announced top level changes for its Africa operations.

The telecoms giant has also unveiled a new cluster-based organisational design, with a view to enhancing empowerment, enabling faster decision-making and speed to market.

Christian de Faria, managing director and CEO, Airtel Africa, has been elevated to the post of executive chairman, Airtel Africa. In his new role, he will continue to support the vision of Airtel Africa and lead all matters relating to legal, regulatory affairs, shareholders as well as mergers & acquisitions, a statement by the company said.

Raghunath Mandava, who is currently director of customer experience, India & South Asia, will take over as chief operating officer, Airtel Africa. Mandava will relocate to Nairobi and will be fully responsible for the commercial operations.

Commenting on the organisational changes, Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman, Bharti Airtel said, “Christian has done an excellent job by streamlining the operations, strengthening the leadership teams across Africa while enhancing the image of Airtel brand across Africa.

We believe we have a strong platform to accelerate our journey towards profitability and market leadership and the new cluster- based organisation design will provide an enabling environment to the teams.

The appointment of Raghu will help leverage the platform and sharpen our market focus and strengthen the innovation pipeline. We remain fully committed to Africa and will continue to invest in the growth of our operations. I wish Christian, Raghu and the operating teams the very best for their new roles.”

Also, there will now be 15 African Opcos, which will be classified into eight clusters with all cluster heads reporting to Mandava.

Nigeria and Ghana, which have now been merged into Cluster One, will be under the leadership of Segun Ogunsanya, who will continue to be the MD for Nigeria, while Lucy Quist, MD for Ghana, will report to him.

Cluster Two, which will be led by Wim Vanhelleputte, is made up of DRC and Congo Brazzaville. In addition to being MD for DRC, Vanhelleputte will also have Gerard Lokossou – MD, Congo Brazzaville- report to him.

Alain Kahasha will oversee both Gabon and Madagascar, which make up Cluster Three. Heiko Schlittke, MD for Gabon, and Maixent Bekangba, MD for Madagascar, will both report to him.

For Cluster Four, Tom Gutjahr will continue as MD Uganda and also will have the MD for Seychelles, Amadou Mahamat Dina, and report to him.

In terms of Cluster Five, Sunil Colaso, MD Tanzania, will lead the pack and will also have Michael Adjei, MD for Rwanda report to him.

Regarding Cluster Six, Peter Correia now takes charge of both Zambia and Malawi. While Peter continues as the MD for Zambia, Charles Kamoto – MD Malawi will report to him.

For Cluster Seven, Anwar Soussa will continue as MD for Chad. Raymond Mendy, MD for Niger will report to Anwar.

Kenya OpCo will continue to be led by Adil Elyoussefi as MD.

 

ODINAKA ANUDU