Airtel Africa, has today announced the retirement of Chief Executive Officer Olusegun “Segun” Ogunsanya and the appointment of Sunil Taldar, who joined Airtel Africa in October 2023 as Director – Transformation, as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

According to Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Airtel Africa: “On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Segun Ogansanya for his commitment and significant contribution to Airtel Africa plc as Chief Executive and before that as Managing Director and CEO of Nigeria, our largest market in Africa. Under Segun’s leadership, Airtel Africa has maintained double-digit revenue growth and continued to deliver new, industry-leading products to our customers across Africa.”

Mr. Taldar will be appointed to the Board as an Executive Director and assume the role of CEO on 1 July 2024, at which time Segun will retire from the Board and the Company. Before joining Airtel Africa, Sunil Taldar was the Director of Market Operations at Bharti Airtel, which owns Airtel Africa. Mr Sunil has worked as a GM at Cadbury India, then Cadbury China and Mondelez Indonesia. In 2016, he was appointed as a Director of Direct-to-Home Business at India’s Bharti Airtel.

As Director – Transformation, Mr. Taldar holds responsibility for leading and overseeing key strategic initiatives aimed at transforming Airtel Africa’s business and operations. Mr. Taldar has more than 30 years’ business management experience in the FMCG and Telecommunications sectors, including 15 years’ experience as a member of the Bharti Airtel Management Board, where he was Director, Market Operations.

Following his retirement from Airtel Africa, Segun will assume the new role as Chair of the Airtel Africa Charitable Foundation, where he will bring his visionary leadership to this new philanthropic initiative to advance development and prosperity across Africa. Segun will retire from the Board and Airtel Africa Charitable Foundation will operate independently of Airtel Africa. He will also be available to advise the Chairman, the Airtel Africa Board and Chief Executive Officer for a 12-month period.

Segun Ogunsanya, Chief Executive said: “It has been a privilege to spend over 12 years of my career at Airtel Africa and I am proud of what we have delivered for customers across Africa. We continue to transform lives. Now is the right time to handover to a new leader who can build on Airtel Africa’s strengths and deliver on the significant opportunities ahead as I pursue my renewed interest in the empowerment of Africans through digital and financial inclusion in a different capacity beyond the boundaries of for-profit organizations. This has been my ambition after a successful career spanning over 35 years in banking, FMCG and telecommunications”.

Ogunsanya was the Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria, between 2012 and 2021 and in October 2021, he was appointed as the CEO of Airtel Africa, replacing Raghunath Mandava.