Airtel Africa appoints Nigeria boss Ogunsanya as next CEO

Airtel Africa has appointed Olusegun Ogunsanya, head of its Nigerian business, as the group's next chief executive after Raghu Mandava decided to retire.

Ogunsanya will join the company's board on 1 October. He has worked for the FTSE 250 group since 2012 and has spent all that time running Airtel Africa's business in Nigeria, its biggest market. He has more than 25 years' experience in banking, consumer goods and telecoms and worked for Coca-Cola before joining Airtel Africa.

Mandava will leave the Africa telecoms group at the end of September after five years as CEO of Airtel Africa and 13 years at Bharti Airtel to take a sabbatical. He will be available to advise the board for nine months after leaving.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Airtel Africa's chairman, said: "Segun has displayed significant drive and energy in turning around the Nigeria business by focusing on network modernisation, distribution, and operational efficiency.

"As we look forward to Segun assuming his new role in October 2021, we do so from a position of great strength as a result of Raghu's highly effective stewardship. Raghu will retire from the Board with our very best wishes."

Airtel Africa also said Chief Financial Officer Jaideep Paul would join the board on 1 June and that it would announce a replacement for Ogunsanya as head of the Nigerian business soon.

Shares of Airtel Africa rose 0.4% to 74.76p at 09:49 BST.