Titus Naikuni, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Kenya Airways will now head the Board of Directors at Airtel Kenya, after he was appointed as the new chairman by the telecom.
The telecommunications provider Bharti Airtel appointed Naikuni saying he would bring new strategic guidance to help the telecom achieve a good place in the Kenyan telecommunication sector.
“We are pleased to have Dr. Naikuni on the board. His wealth of experience will add immense value to the Board and provide strategic guidance to our operations in Kenya, to enable Airtel gain an important place in the Telecom sector in the country,” said Christian de Faria, CEO at Airtel Africa.
A Harvard Business School graduate and holding a doctorate in Engineering, Naikuni previously served as Group Managing Director & CEO at Kenya Airways , receiving recognition for his contribution to development in the country with an honorary award.
Naikuni has also served as the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information, Transport and Communications, was a member of a World Bank’s Dream Team, which involved Kenyan technocrats who were geared towards turning around the Kenyan economy.
Airtel Kenya will be banking on his extensive experience as a manager, which started in 1995 when he was appointed as the managing director at Magadi Soda Company and his previous and current boardroom experience, serving in several big companies including Access Kenya.
This move is just another strategy by the telecom to grow performance in the country and maybe attract more customers.
Bharti Airtel has been working to maintain and improve its presence in African countries and is aiming at getting a good position in the telecom sector especially in Kenya where Safaricom has dominated the market for a long time.
Currently Airtel Kenya is second in market share after Safaricom with a huge gap in subscriber numbers at just over 5 million while Safaricom’s subscriber base is at 21.9 million.
