Airtel International MD and CEO Manoj Kohli is set to step down on fools day to a new role in non-telecom business of Bharti Enterprises, Bharti Airtel’s holding company, in the firm’s major international shake up with Manoj as the biggest gainer.
The move will see Bharti Airtel go lean with Gopal Vittal as head of Bharti Airtel India and Christian de Faria as head of Bharti Airtel Africa.
Manoj who moved from Africa to India last year will be the new managing director Bharti Enterprises, for its non-telecom businesses such as retail, insurance, food & agriculture, realty among others. He will be responsible for business Development, corporate and shareholder relations, the firm says. He will also serve on the Airtel board and will be the chairman of Netherlands-based Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) which runs Airtel’s Africa and will work with Christian de Faria, who will be the MD and CEO Africa under Airtel International (Netherlands).
Gopal Vittal will be the managing director and CEO (India & South Asia) which will also have Bharti Airtel’s Bangladesh and Sri Lanka operations which were earlier under Airtel Africa.
Chairman Bharti Enterprises Sunil Bharti Mittal said Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Rajan Bharti Mittal and Akhil Gupta, the three vice chairmen and plus four Bharti veterans and Manoj will form the Bharti Governance Board (BGB).
“This is another step towards transforming the group from entrepreneur-led professional-backed to a professional-led entrepreneur-backed one,” said Mittal.
Manoj Kohli has a B.Com, LLB, MBA and has been MD at Bharti Airtel Limited since February 2013 and its CEO International operations as well.