Pan-African telecommunications group; Smile Telecoms on Tuesday appointed Mr. Ahmad Farroukh as the telco’s new CEO and Ms. Irene Charnley as Deputy Chairman. Their appointments go with effect June 1st, 2019 — as Mr. Ahmad will be replacing Mr. Mohammed Sharbatly the current CEO.
Mr. Ahmad currently the company’s Executive Director of Operations is an experienced telecoms executive with a distinguished record of commercial and operational success. He has worked with MTN Group as the CEO of MTN Nigeria, Chief Operating Executive of MTN South Africa, and CEO of Mobily. Mobily is Saudi Arabia’s second largest telecommunications operator.
On the other hand, Ms. Irene who is the company’s Founder and Shareholder is appointed as the telco’s Deputy Chairman.
In a statement the company writes, “After 12 years at the helm, Ms. Charnley will now serve as Deputy Chairman for the Company and will fulfil a strategic role.”
Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Mohammed said, “We are equally delighted that Irene will continue to serve the company she founded as Deputy Chair. We look forward to her ongoing strategic direction and guidance.”
According to the company, Ms. Irene has led the company’s innovation and pioneering of Africa’s first 4G LTE network infrastructure, using low band spectrum in 800MHz band. Thereby revolutionizing the way people in Africa accessed high speed internet.
In his remarks, Mr. Mohammed said, Mr. Ahmad is suited to lead Smile’s next exciting phase of growth as they (Smile Group) transitioned from a spectrum rich upstart to the fastest, most reliable data gigabyte factory in Sub-Sahara Africa.
Adding on his remarks, Ms. Irene said, Mr. Ahmed is best suited to lead the company to the next phase of the company focusing on delivering excellent operational returns, achieving profitability and creating value for all stakeholders.
“Africa is experiencing explosive data growth, and I am honored to have the opportunity to lead the operations of one of the continent’s best 4G LTE networks at this exciting time,” said Mr. Ahmed.
Smile Telecoms currently has its operations in Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
