Airtel’s CEO becomes Telecoms CEO of the Year

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, has been named the Telecoms CEO of the Year by organizers of the Nigeria Telecoms Awards. He was honoured last weekend at a colourful ceremony held at the MUSON Centre in Onikan, Lagos.

The event attracted several dignitaries including the Minister of Communications, Barr. Adebayo Shittu; the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi.

Airtel was also adjudged the best Customer Service Operator of the Year.

According to the Awards’ citations, Ogunsanya was named Telecoms CEO of the Year in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the development of the sector while Airtel was adjudged the Customer Service Operator of the Year for its consistency in its quest to providing exceptional service experience to telecoms consumers.

The Minister of Communications, Barrister Shittu presented the Telecoms CEO of the Year award to the Airtel CEO while the Acting DG, NITDA (National Information Technology Development Agency), Dr. Vincent Olatunji presented the Customer Service Operator of the Year Award to Ogunsanya.

Ogunsanya who joined Airtel Nigeria from The Coca-Cola Company in 2012, is an Engineer and a Chartered Accountant by profession with over 26 years’ experience garnered across multiple geographies, organizations and diverse sectors such as telecoms, consulting, Banking and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG).

He has re-positioned the company to become the second largest telecommunications company by revenue, serving over 30 million customers.

In February 2016, he was elevated and appointed Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director for Airtel’s operations in Nigeria and Ghana, with responsibility for accelerated growth and overall profitability across the two West Africa cluster countries.

While at The Coca-Cola Company, he rose to the position of Managing Director and CEO of Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company in Nigeria, the first African to be appointed, he was responsible for over $1bn revenue operations annually.

He was also the CEO of the Kenya operations for Coca-Cola Sabco, where he was instrumental in successfully turning around the business. Prior to this, he worked with Ecobank Transnational where, as the Managing Director of Retail Banking for Africa, he was responsible for the operations across 28 countries.

Apart from manufacturing and banking, Ogunsanya has consulting experience having worked with Arthur Anderson & Co in Nigeria where he was involved in Audit, Tax Advisory, setting up new businesses and profit improvement services.

The Nigeria Telecoms Awards is rated by telecoms pundits as one of Nigeria’s most prestigious Telecom performance evaluation ceremonies.