Companies

Airtel names former Vodacom executive East Africa head

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An Airtel shop in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Airtel Africa has appointed Ian Ferrao as the Regional Director of its East Africa business, which is a newly created position that will oversee operations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.

Mr Ferrao is the former chief executive of Vodacom Tanzania and Vodacom Lesotho before that. He also served as chief commercial officer at Vodacom Business Africa.

After his stint at Vodacom Tanzania ended last year, he was to be succeeded by Safaricom’s Sylvia Mulinge, but her appointment was later scuttled by the country’s authorities.

Mr Ferrao boasts more than 12 years experience in senior management telecommunications roles in Africa and holds a BSc Management Sciences from the Warwick Business School.

Speaking on his appointment, Airtel Africa CEO Raghunath Mandava said Mr Ferrao will operate from the Nairobi office.

“He brings a wealth of relevant telecommunications and mobile money experience within the region and will be an asset to the business. He will be part of the Africa executive committee based in Nairobi and will focus on driving growth across voice, data and mobile money in East Africa,” Mr Mandava stated.