Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, has been named the Telecoms CEO of the Year by organizers of one of the most credible award platforms in the country, the Nigeria Telecoms Awards.
Ogunsanya was honoured, last weekend, at a colourful ceremony that 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.
At the event, which held at the MUSON Centre in Onikan, Lagos, 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.
Mr. Ogunsanya 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 joined Airtel Nigeria in 2012 and he has re-positioned the company to become profitable and the 2nd 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.
Mr. Ogunsanya joined Airtel from The Coca-Cola Company, where he started his career in Finance and gradually transitioned into senior leadership roles with the various bottling operations of The Coca-Cola Company across diverse markets and countries in Africa. In his last stint as the 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.
