The Chairman of Bharti Airtel, Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal, on Thursday said the telecoms company had changed its top level executives in its Africa operations.
Mittal made this known in a statement in Lagos.
According to the statement, the new organisation design is aimed at enhancing empowerment at the operating level.
The statement said that the telecoms company’s 15 African operating companies had been divided into eight clusters.
It said that the restructuring design was to further enhance faster decision making.
”Mr Christian de Faria, Managing Director of Airtel Africa, has been elevated to the position 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 and Acquisitions.
”Mr Raghunath Mandava, who is currently the Director, 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,” the statement said.
It said that Mandava joined Airtel in 2003 and had served as Director of Operations (India); Chief Marketing Officer (India); CEO – Rajasthan Circle (India) and COO – Tamil Nadu Circle (India).
”De Faria 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.
”As per the new cluster based organisation design, the 15 African Opcos will now be classified into eight clusters, with all cluster heads reporting to Raghu,” the statement quoted Mittal as saying.
It said that for Cluster 1, Nigeria and Ghana would now form one cluster under the leadership of Mr Segun Ogunsanya, as he would continue to be the MD for Nigeria, while Ms Lucy Quist, MD for Ghana would report to him.
The statement said that for Cluster 2, Mr Wim Vanhelleputte would take responsibility for DRC and Congo Brazzaville. In addition to being MD for DRC, he would also have Mr Gerard Lokossou, MD of Congo Brazzaville reporting to him.
It said that in Cluster 3, Mr Alain Kahasha would oversee both Gabon and Madagascar, as Mr Heiko Schlittke, MD for Gabon and Mr Maixent Bekangba, MD for Madagascar would both report to him.
The statement said that in Cluster 4, Mr Tom Gutjahr would continue as MD Uganda and also have the MD for Seychelles, Mr Amadou Mahamat Dina, reporting to him.
It said that in Cluster 5, Mr Sunil Colaso, MD for Tanzania would also have Mr Michael Adjei, MD for Rwanda reporting to him.
”Cluster 6 will see Mr Peter Correia now take charge of both Zambia and Malawi; while he continues as the MD for Zambia, Mr Charles Kamoto, MD for Malawi, will also report to him.
”In Cluster 7, Mr Anwar Soussa will continue as MD for Chad, while Mr Raymond Mendy, MD for Niger will report to Soussa.
”For Cluster 8, Kenya operating company will continue to be led by Adil Elyoussefi as MD,” the statement said.
