Airtel appoints local Nigerian to lead cellco

Bharti Airtel today announced the appointment of Segun Ogunsanya as the chief executive officer of Airtel Networks Ltd, Nigeria (Airtel Nigeria).

Ogunsanya, who will be responsible for defining and delivering the business strategy and providing overall leadership for Airtel Nigeria, will report to Manoj Kohli, CEO (International) and Joint MD, Bharti Airtel. The appointment is effective November 26, 2012. 

He takes over from Rajan Swaroop, who has led operations at Airtel Nigeria for the past two years. Swaroop will be appointed as non-executive director on the board of Airtel Nigeria following the completion of the transition process and will continue to work closely with the Airtel Nigeria leadership team.

Ogunsanya brings with him over 24 years of industry experience across multiple geographies, organisations and diverse sectors such as Coca Cola, banking and Arthur Anderson. His last assignment was with The Coca-Cola Company, where he started his career in finance and gradually transitioned into senior leadership roles with the various bottling operations of The Coca-Cola Company across diverse markets and countries in Africa. In his last stint, as the MD and CEO of Nigerian Bottling Company, he was responsible for over US$1 billion revenue operations.

A chartered accountant, Ogunsanya holds a Bachelors of Science in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from University of Ife, Nigeria.