Bharti Airtel makes organisation changes for its Africa operations

Bharti Airtel has made senior-level organisational changes for its Africa operations with Manoj Kohli, managing director and chief executive officer (International), relocating to India.

The company has named Christian de Faria, who was associated with MTN for the last seven years, as CEO-Airtel Africa from 1 January 2014.

Kohli, who has led the company's foray into Africa over the past three years, would move to India, effective 1 January 2014. He was part of the integration and transformation of the company's operations in Africa and more recently integrated the Bangladesh and Sri Lanka businesses with its international operations.

Airtel also said Faria will join Airtel Africa, effective 16 September 2013. He will be based out of Nairobi and will report to Manoj Kohli.

Faria will immediately take charge of Anglophone operations and commence a comprehensive orientation encompassing Airtel Africa headquarters functions, Francophone and Nigeria regions.

Christian has more than 30 years of industry experience across multiple geographies, diverse sectors and organisations such as MTN, Telekom Malaysia, Discvision, Deutsche Telecom and Grundig.

''We have built a strong foundation for the next phase of growth of our Africa operations and are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. Manoj has successfully embedded our business model and the Airtel brand in Africa, and will now provide governance oversight to the international operations and be involved with the group strategic matters,'' Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, said.

Faria was associated with MTN where he held senior leadership positions, including as executive vice president, responsible for the operations for West and Central Africa region and later as group commercial officer for two years until January 2013.

As CEO-Airtel Africa, he will be responsible for providing overall leadership for the African operations and will be fully empowered to manage its P&L.

He will lead the growth agenda across markets and build key skills and capabilities within the organisation. He will also be co-opted on the board of Bharti Airtel International Netherlands BV and on the boards of major Opcos in Africa.