A worker lays fibre optic cable in Nairobi. KDN plans to replace the chief finance officer and its top commercial officer. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
The company Thursday said it would not renew the contract of Roger Warren (chief finance officer) and Atul Chaturvedi (chief commercial officer) that are ending this month.
KDN will give preference to local talent to fill the positions.
Kenya Data Network (KDN) will shake up its executive suite in search of new leadership to turn around the fortunes of the firm as new owners settle into the business.
The company Thursday said it would not renew the contract of Roger Warren (chief finance officer) and Atul Chaturvedi (chief commercial officer) that are ending this month.
The changes in KDN’s executive suite, which is dominated by expatriates, comes less than two years after the data company hired the managers in an attempt to curb losses and return to profitability.
KDN recently got new owners after UK’s Liquid Telecom bought a 60.8 per cent stake from South Africa’s Altech in a sale that was driven by its quest for new capital to boost the operations of the firm.
“I can confirm that the contracts of the chief commercial officer and chief finance officer which expire at the end of the month were not renewed and as such we’ll start the search for talents to fill these positions,” Shahab Meshki, the chief executive of KDN said in an interview Thursday.
“Just as we had said earlier the renewal of any contracts at KDN is pegged on a review by the board.”
Mr Meshki said KDN would give preference to local talent. Altech had earlier claimed that the concentration of foreign managers had partly hurt the performance of its East Africa operations.
Mr Meshki is from Germany and moved to KDN from Cisco Kenya Ltd in 2011. Mr Chaturvedi is from India, Mr Warren (South Africa) while the chief technical officer, Vara Prasad, is also from India.
Altech brought in a number of expatriates in 2011 to “mentor” local managers for between nine months and two years, triggering a wave of resignations by the senior executives.
The company was pushed into losses mainly due to failure to secure big contracts, including a multi-million shilling contract with Safaricom last year, a loss that has seen KDN along with Altech’s West Africa operations hit earnings of the parent company.
“The perception that the expatriates do not understand the local market will not end and so we have decided not to renew these contracts upon expiry,” said Altech Group executive Tim Ellis in an interview with the Business Daily last year.
KDN’s market share dropped to 8.6 per cent in September from 36.7 per cent in September 2011 based on subscribers, according to data from the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK). It slipped to the fourth position after being overtaken by Wananchi Telecoms (41 per cent) AccessKenya (16.5 per cent) and Telkom Kenya (9.6 per cent).
KDN reported a drop in revenue from Sh3.2 billion to Sh2.1 billion for the six months ended August 2011, while operating profit fell from Sh657.2 million a year ago to Sh12.6 million.
