Safaricom is back to the drawing board to find a substantive leader for its Ethiopian subsidiary after it emerged the current CEO, Mr Anwar Soussa, will be exiting at the end of July this year.
The mobile operator’s management announced today that that Mr Anwar Soussa, Chief Executive Officer of Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia PLC (STEP), will be leaving the business effective 31st July 2023 once his secondment comes to an end.
Mr Soussa joined Safaricom Ethiopia in August 2021 to lead the establishment of the organisation, set-up business operations and roll out a high-quality network. His successor will be announced in due course.
As the first CEO of Safaricom Ethiopia, Mr Soussa has overseen attainment of significant milestones in a highly dynamic environment, including onboarding the team and successfully launching commercial operations of the second telecommunications operator in Ethiopia.
Safaricom Plc CEO Peter Ndegwa said Mr Anwar Soussa has steered Safaricom Ethiopia to acquire over 4 million customers, with the network now covering more than 25% of the population and spread across 50 cities/towns.
Under Soussa’s leadership, Safaricom Ethiopia also secured a mobile financial services licence, paving the way for the launch of M-PESA services.
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“I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Anwar for his leadership and contributions to Safaricom Ethiopia,” Mr Ndegwa said, adding that throughout his tenure, Mr Soussa has demonstrated “unwavering passion and commitment,” which have played a crucial role in Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia’s achievements so far.
Mr Anwar Soussa has been leading Safaricom Ethiopia on behalf of the Global Partnership for Ethiopia Consortium. Earlier this month the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) announced plans for a $157.4 million equity investment in Global Partnership for Ethiopia BV (GPE) and a $100 million A-loan to its wholly owned subsidiary, Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia Private Limited Company (Safaricom Ethiopia).
Before joining Safaricom Ethiopia Anwar was the Managing Director of Vodacom DRC and the Chairperson of Vodacash (M-PESA) a position he has held since 2017. Also, Soussa served as the Chief Executive Officer of Airtel in Uganda and Chad. He has also worked in various senior leadership capacities at MTN and Digicel, among other telcos.
Mr Anwar Soussa is a Greek national who holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the American College of Greece (Deree) and a master’s degree in Marketing from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.
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