Airtel empowers Nigerians in top management

Swaroop, who was addressing a media roundtable in Lagos last week, explained that the fact that Nigerians have a dominant presence in the top management of Airtel Nigeria, a network acquired in 2010 by the Bharti Airtel Group, was indeed ample proof that it is "in Nigeria for the long haul".

According to him, "we have fewer expatriates on our executive committee than any other telecommunications services provider operating in Nigeria, and we are indeed proud to be attracting top quality Nigerian human resources to Airtel".

Management staff

Notable among Airtel Nigeria's leading management staff are: chief sales officer, Inusa Bello; chief marketing officer, Olu Akanmu; director Regulatory & Government Affairs, Osondu Nwokoro; director, Corporate Communications & CSR, Emeka Oparah; director Human Resources, Jubril Saba and director, Legal/Company Secretary, Ibirobo Adekola.

Others are: regional operations director, Lagos, Adebayo Osinowo; regional operations director, North, Olufemi Oyewole; regional operations director, South, Godfrey Efeurhobo and financial controller, Solanke Abimbola.

Swaroop expressed optimism that empowerment of Nigerians at both executive management and the rest of the staff would support the realisation of Airtel's mission to entrench itself as "the most loved brand in the daily lives of Nigerians by 2015."

Since the 2010 acquisition of the network, Airtel Nigeria has invested $1.2 billion (N192 billion) in the business and garnered increments in major indices. Within the period, Airtel Nigeria's base grew 31 percent to over 20 million subscribers. Traffic on the network grew 124 per cent also.

Airtel changed the paradigm for tariffs in Nigerian telecommunications with pocket-friendly pricing as well as numerous packages including the 2Good series, Big Family, Steady Steady, Club 10 and Quick Talk while it pioneered the physical data recharge card.

To buttress the company's surefootedness in the bid to win the hearts of Nigerians, the CEO pointed out that Airtel is customer focused in product design, offering and pricing which has fostered love between the company and Nigerians. "Our customers," said Swaroop, "are happier because we have service offerings that are good and very affordable, flowing from new ideas we have brought to the market."