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Lewis Njoka @LewisNjoka

Safaricom has appointed Anwar Soussa the Managing Director of the operating company in Ethiopia. 

This after a Safaricom-led consortium was awarded a licence to set up operations in Ethiopia giving the telco a much anticipated go-ahead to enter the lucrative market.

Prior to the appointment, Soussa was the Managing Director of  Vodacom DRC and the chairperson of  Vodacash (M-Pesa) since 2017.

The Greek national has previously served as the CEO of Airtel in Uganda and Chad, among other senior positions. 

“Anwar brings on board a wealth of international cross-functional experience in the telecommunications industry with a special focus on emerging markets,” said Safaricom in a statement. 

An internal announcement signed by Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa and Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub, said his appointment took effect beginning July 1. This follows a raft of measures meant to allign the telco.

In June Safaricom tapped the former Managing Director, Telkom Digital, Kris Senanu, to become the new Chief Enterprise Business Officer.

“As you know our mission is to establish a customer obsessed, digital first organisation by the end of Financial Year 2022 in order to be a purpose-led technology by 2025,” said Safaricom while announcing the appointments. 

Prior to that, it had appointed Lucille Aveva as the Director, Customer Obsession, beginning May 1.

Before the appointment Aveva worked for Eselle Group Consulting Company which she founded and led since 2016.

In November Safaricom appointed Dilip Pal as new Chief Financial Officer.

Previously he was the Chief Financial Officer at DTAC, the third largest mobile phone services provider in Thailand.