Olusegun “Segun” Ogunsanya has commenced his new role as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Airtel Africa plc.
He began his new role on October 1, 2021, and joined the Board of Airtel Africa plc.
Segun was previously Managing Director and CEO of Airtel Nigeria and was responsible for the overall management of the operations in the Company’s largest market.
He has more than 25 years of business management experience in banking, consumer goods and telecoms.
Before joining Airtel in 2012, Segun held leadership roles at Coca-Cola in Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya (as MD and CEO). He has also been the Managing Director of Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd (Coca-Cola Hellenic owned) and Group head of retail banking operations at Ecobank Transnational Inc, covering 28 countries in Africa.
He is an electronics engineer and also a chartered accountant.
“I am looking forward to building on the solid foundations the Group has established for future sustainable growth across Africa. Moving forward, we will invest even more in our network and distribution channels to serve the communities where we operate. By doing this, we will continue to sustainably bridge the digital divide, expand financial inclusion and meet the evolving needs of our customers,” said Segun Ogunsanya.
Segun replaced long-serving leader, Raghunath Mandava, who is retiring.
Mandava worked for Bharti Airtel for 13 years and at Airtel Africa for five years as CEO but says he feels now is the right time to take a sabbatical.
“The last five years have been an exhilarating journey where we have been able to turnaround and transform the business into a strong high growth and profitable company. We have been able to build the business with our unique management and problem solving approach to bring in substantial performance improvement,” said Mandava
“I am very proud of what we have achieved over the past five years in Africa, and I look forward to seeing the Company make even greater progress over the coming years.”
Mandava retired as CEO and as a director of Airtel Africa at the end of September but will be available to advise the new CEO, chairman and board, for a nine-month period.
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