Bharti Airtel, the company that recently acquired the mobile services operations of Zain in 15 African countries, has announced the appointment of African professionals to its top management positions. The move is to entrench its operations and work towards the introduction of its brand ‘Airtel’ on the continent. Mr Fayaz King, who was in charge of the Malawi operations, has been entrusted with overseeing the overall business strategy and successful implementation of market leadership initiatives in Zambia. In a statement released Monday, Bharti CEO Manoj Kohli said the change in leadership aims at ensuring that the Zambia operations, which is the number one mobile communications provider in the country, experiences further growth. Last year the Zambia business, which has more than 3 million subscribers, recorded a 15% growth in the subscriber base. The Bharti CEO said the new Managing Director has vast experience and the technical know-how to effectively drive the Zambian business to meet the emerging needs of the customers. “Mr King has done a splendid job during his two year stint as the MD of Malawi. In 2009, under his leadership, Malawi achieved an outstanding growth of 72% in revenue market share, being the highest in the Group” he said. Mr Kohli reiterated that Airtel’s long term commitment to Zambia, terming it a key market in the success of the company. The statement also announced the appointment of Mr Saulos Chilima as the Managing Director for Malawi. He formerly served as a Sales and Distribution Director and has been on the Zain Malawi Board for a year. Bharti Airtel CEO, Manoj Kohli said Chilima’s appointment was in line with Airtel’s business strategy of developing human capital and empowering the local operations. He holds a Master of Economics Degree and is currently studying for a Diploma in Financial Management with the ACCA. He started his career in Telecommunications as Sales Director, Zain Malawi in September 2006. Prior to joining Zain, Saulos was at Unilever, Malawi and Southern Bottlers Limited (Coca Cola and Carlsberg bottler). He also has 4 years experience in Leasing, having worked for the Leasing and Finance Company in Malawi. Also going up the corporate ladder is Mr Michael Okwiri to head the Corporate Communications docket for Africa. Mr Okwiri will be responsible for building and sustaining positive corporate reputation for Airtel Africa. Until his appointment, he was the Corporate Communications Director at Zain Kenya. He has over 15 years experience in Corporate Communications having served in a similar capacity at Kenya Airways when the Airline was voted African Airline of the Year in 2005 and the most respected company in East Africa for two years running. Before he joined Kenya Airways, Mr Okwiri also worked for the Kenya Commercial Bank and Coca Cola. He will be based at the Airtel Africa Headquarters in Nairobi. Source: Henking Adjase-Kojo/ZainGhana