By Agency
Segun Ogunsanya, the outgoing CEO of Airtel Africa, has been named the winner of the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in the 14th African Business Leadership Awards (ABLA) 2024.
The awards are a flagship annual recognition event run by Africa Leadership Magazine (ALM), aimed at honouring exceptional corporate practice and outstanding achievers in Africa’s business landscape and private sector.
The awards showcase Africa’s businesses and leaders, celebrating exemplary business leadership on the continent.
Mr Ogunsanya will be presented with his Lifetime Achievement Award at a special ceremony during the 9 th ALM Africa Summit, taking place from 17-18 July 2024 at the UK House of Lords. The theme of this year’s Summit is ‘Africa Unleashed: Navigating Disruptions, Enhancing Opportunities’, with policymakers, private sector leaders, civil society leaders, thought leaders and stakeholders from across Africa and the rest of the world expected to attend.
Mr Ogunsanya’s landmark contributions towards advancing Africa’s socio-economic growth and development include his 12-year career at Airtel Africa. He ran the Nigeria operations of the telecommunications and mobile money company for nine years before his appointment as CEO of the Group in 2021. With deep knowledge of the continent, coupled with extensive distribution experience, he led the company in maintaining double-digit revenue growth over many quarters and in delivering new, innovative products to its customers across Africa.
Segun has more than 35 years’ business management experience in banking, consumer goods and telecoms.
Before joining Airtel Africa in 2012, he held leadership roles at Coca-Cola Bottling operations in Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya (as MD and CEO). Segun has also been the Managing Director of Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd (CocaCola Hellenic owned) and Group head of retail banking operations at Ecobank Transnational Inc, covering 28 countries in Africa. He is an electronics engineer and a chartered accountant.
Mr Ogunsanya will retire from Airtel Africa on 1 July 2024, and will become the Airtel Africa Charitable Foundation’s inaugural Chair, building on the work undertaken during his time as CEO, including the launch of the Company’s first sustainability strategy.