Airtel Nigeria appoints C. Surendran as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer

NIGERIA – Airtel Nigeria, a Telecommunications firm and subsidiary of Airtel Africa plc, has announced the appointment of C. Surendran as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria with effect from August 1.

In addition, Surendran will be appointed to the Executive Committee (ExCo) as Regional Operating Director, reporting to the CEO of Airtel Africa plc, and onto the Board of Airtel Networks (Nigeria) Limited.

Surendran replaces Olusegun Ogunsanya who has been appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Africa plc with effect from October 1, with a transition period from August 1, 2021.

Surendran has been with Bharti Airtel since 2003 and has contributed immensely to various roles across customer experience, sales and business operations.

A statement yesterday said in his most recent role as CEO Karnataka, which is the largest circle in Airtel India with over US$1billion in revenue, Surendran delivered exceptional performance with significant movement in Revenue Market Share (RMS) over last few years, currently at 54 per cent.

He has over 30 years of business experience, including 15 years at Xerox.

Surendran will transition into his new role from June 1, 2021 and spend the time onboarding into the business until July 31, 2021.

It can be recalled that a few days ago, Airtel Africa Plc, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services in Nigeria and 13 other countries, announced the appointment of Mr Olusegun Ogunsanya as the new Chief Executive Officer, following the notice of retirement given by the current Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Raghunath Mandava, to the Board.

In the notification sent by Airtel Africa to the Nigerian Exchange, Ogunsanya is expected to join the board of Airtel Africa with effect from October 1, 2021.

Nigerian ed-tech startup ScholarX has partnered mobile operator Airtel to launch LearnAM, a new mobile learning platform that provides skills training content to improve learning outcomes.

ScholarX will leverage on the expansive retail and digital footprints of Airtel Nigeria to deliver its skill acquisition content.