Airtel Africa Appoints Segun Ogunsanya The New CEO

Airtel Africa, the African arm of India’s Bharti Airtel, has appointed Segun Ogunsanya to take over from Raghunath Mandava as the company’s CEO. He officially takes over his new role in October 2021 and also joins the Board of Airtel Africa.

Ogunsanya joined Airtel Africa in 2012 as the Managing Director, a role he has retained throughout his nine-year tenure. He was also leading Airtel Nigeria, the company’s largest African market, from the get-go.

“I am looking forward to building on the solid foundations the Group has established for future sustainable growth across Africa,” Ogunsanya said adding, “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.”

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.