Businessman Naushad Merali has retired as chair of Airtel Kenya in a board job that spanned 15 years since the mobile telecommunication company was licensed in Kenya. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
Merali, 63, was the founder of KenCell, now Airtel Kenya and says increased commitments with his Sameer Group have led him to exit as director of the telco.
Over the 15 years, Mr Merali has harvested billions of shillings in capital gains from trading in Airtel shares in deal that has cut his stake in the telco from 40 per cent to the current five.
Businessman Naushad Merali has retired as chair of Airtel Kenya in a board job that spanned 15 years since the mobile telecommunication company was licensed in Kenya.
Mr Merali, 63, was the founder of KenCell, now Airtel Kenya and says increased commitments with his Sameer Group have led him to exit as director of the telco.
The more than $2 billion (Sh176 billion) Sameer Group has business interests across agriculture, energy and power, finance and telecommunications sectors with flagship firms like Equatorial Bank, Sameer Tyres, Sasini Tea and Ryce Motors.
“I take this opportunity to sincerely thank the entire board for the support extended to me during my tenure as chairman,” said Mr Merali in a statement announcing his retirement.
“I will always be available to assist the board and the company whenever I am required to do so.”
Airtel did not announce the incoming chair with the boardroom shifts coming at a period when the firm has found it difficult to shake the dominance of Safaricom since India’s Bharti Airtel bought Zain in 2010.
Bharti Airtel kicked off a price war in 2010 that saw tariff’s halve to Sh4 a minute in a bid to grow market share and cut Safaricom’s stake.
Airtel controls 17 per cent of the market subscribers compared to Safaricom’s 68 per cent. But Safaricom controls 78 per cent of the voice traffic market (6.1 million minutes) in the three months to December compared to Airtel’s 11.3 market share on this market segment ( 892.5 million minutes) over the same period.
“His passion for the telecoms sector and dynamism as a leader have made an indelible mark and we wish him well as he pursues other business,” Airtel Africa CEO, Christian de Faria, said in reference to Mr Merali’s exit.
Over the 15 years, Mr Merali has harvested billions of shillings in capital gains from trading in Airtel shares in deal that has cut his stake in the telco from 40 per cent to the current five.
The businessman owned 40 per cent of the Airtel (then KenCell Communications) jointly with its French partner Vivendi in 2000.
Three years later, when the French firm decided it was time to leave Kenya, Mr Merali used his pre-emption rights to play one of the smartest boardroom chess games that pitted a number of global telecoms giants against each other for Vivendi’s stake.
He bought the Vivendi stake in KenCell at $230 million and sold it to a new partner, Celtel International, the very same day for $250 million— earning a sumptuous profit of $20 million.
