Azeez Amida, former CEO of IHS Rwanda, a subsidiary of IHS Towers, the world’s foremost independent tower company, has departed for a new role at EastCastle Infrastructure, where he will resume as Deputy Managing Director. His appointment takes effect from September 1 2021, a statement has said.
Confirming his new appointment, Amida in the statement said the move was in line with a personal goal to help “set efficient processes and grow companies.”
Before leaving IHS, Amida, who had previously worked as director of financial planning and analysis at IHS Nigeria, was credited with turning around the Rwanda operations and securing orders that guaranteed up to three years continued growth while mending customer and government relations within his first six months.
Under Amida, IHS Rwanda, which until 2020 was a national monopoly, added over 250 towers, including the acquisition of Airtel Rwanda sites and more than 100 built-to-suit sites (the highest the company had done in seven years), employed 90 direct and 30 indirect staff across the country, and earned about $50 million in annual revenue.
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The statement continued that his optimisation of IHS Rwanda also made IHS Rwanda one of the fastest growing entities in the IHS Group, with expanded opportunities and new deals for existing customers.
In his role at EastCastle Infrastructure, Amida, 38, will now oversee the support functions of finance, human resources as well as the regulatory and legal departments.
Launched in 2020 to “pursue new build-to-suit telecom tower and related infrastructure opportunities” for mobile network operators (MNOs), EastCastle’s growing venture reaches beyond Nigeria into the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Ivory Coast.
Some of EastCastle Infrastructure team members have helped structure and complete 14 African telecoms tower acquisitions and disposals, including the sale of Eaton Towers’ operations in Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Niger, and Burkina Faso to American Tower for $1.85 billion in 2019.
EastCastle Infrastructure was founded by Peter Lewis, former Group CFO; and Pankaj Kulshrestha, former Group COO of Eaton Towers. Some of the company’s investors include the International Financial Corporation (IFC), African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), and Adenai Partners.
