Airtel Africa’s Key Investor Nominates Singtel Optus CEO to Board

By Dipo Olowookere

The chief executive officer of Singtel Optus and Consumer Australia, Ms Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, has been appointed to the board of Airtel Africa Plc.

Ms Rosmarin is joining the board of the telecommunications firm as a non-executive director with effect from October 27, 2020. She will replace Mr Arthur Lang who will step down as a non-executive director on the same date after two years.

The Australian businesswoman and banker was nominated to the board by the controlling shareholder of Airtel Africa pursuant to the terms of relationship agreement dated June 17, 2019, between the company, Bharti Airtel, Airtel Africa Mauritius Limited, the majority shareholder and an indirect subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, and Bharti Telecom.

Airtel Africa is a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa and the addition of Ms Rosmarin is expected to broaden the board.

The new addition was previously with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, where she held several senior positions and varied portfolios, before being appointed as Group Executive of Institutional Banking and Markets.

She is recognised for leveraging technology, data and analytics to develop leading customer services and experience. She was named in the Top 10 Businesswomen in Australia and the Top 25 Women in Asia Pacific Finance and holds a variety of board and advisory responsibilities.

Ms Rosmarin has, since February 2019, served as an independent non-executive director on the board of OpenPay, listed on the ASX. She will continue in that role. Openpay is a payments technology company based in Australia.

“I am delighted that Kelly has agreed to join the Airtel Africa board and we very much look forward to working closely with her,” the Chairman of Airtel Africa, Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal, said.

While wishing Mr Lang “well for the future,” the Chairman also thanked him “for his significant contribution to the success of our strategy to build Airtel Africa into a market-leading mobile service provider.”