Airtel Africa plc, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, announced, on October 12, the appointment of Tsega Gebreyes as an independent non-executive director with immediate effect. Tsega Gebreyes becomes the 13th member of the Airtel Africa Board of Directors. At the end of its 2021 financial period, Airtel Africa paid a total of $1.22 million in fees to its directors for their service.
Airtel Africa is a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries in Africa, primarily in East Africa and Central and West Africa. Airtel Africa offers an integrated suite of telecommunications solutions to its subscribers, including mobile voice and data services as well as mobile money services both nationally and internationally.
Since 2007, Tsega Gebreyes is the founding partner of Satya Capital LLP., a private investment Group focused on private equity opportunities in Africa. Satya Capital is the private equity fund of Mo Ibrahim, the Sudanese telecommunications billionaire and founder of Celtel international. Satya Capital has invested between $20-50 million into companies with a wide portfolio of products and services such as Whitedent (Tanzania’s most popular toothpaste); Cellulant which facilitates mobile payments and ecommerce, works in 11 countries with 94 banks and 7 mobile money platforms with a combined potential customer base of over 130 million customers; TRACE, the leading media brand for the connected Afro Urban youth in Sub-Saharan Africa, France, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean; Ecoles Yassamine, the largest network of schools in Morocco, and recently Tunisia across11 campuses, more than 6,000 students, and over 700 teachers and support staff; Wilderness Holdings, a group of responsible ecotourism companies, such as Wilderness Safaris and Governors’ Camp Collection, that together use responsible tourism to build sustainable conservation economies in Africa; and also Mara Ison, a leading African provider of outsourced IT services and solutions that was set up as a partnership between ISON and the MARA Group, one of East Africa’s largest industrial groups, with a presence in 21 Sub Saharan African countries.
As a founding partner of Satya Capital, Tsega Gebreyes has assumed responsibility for a full range of activities ranging from legal and office set-up to recruitment of other partners and Investment Professionals. She also defined investment strategy, recruited Board and sector advisors and Investors and Raised 200 million usd seed funding and planning to raise additional $400-600 million.
On the other hand, Tsega Gebreyes currently serves as a Non-Executive Director of the London Stock Exchange Group, as Vice Chair of SES, the world’s leading provider of satellite communications services with revenues of over EUR 2 billion. The headquarter of the company is in Betzdorf, Luxembourg. Tsega Gebreyes became a director on 4 April 2013 and she is also a member of the nomination Committee of SES. Tsega Gebreyes also serves as Senior Adviser to TPG Capital, a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately $108 billion in assets under management.
At Airtel Africa, it is explained, she brings with her a wealth of experience in telecommunications, working and investing in Africa and, most importantly, a strong financial acumen to strengthen the knowledge base of the board. Commenting on the appointment of Tsega Gebreyes, Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said, “On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am delighted that Tsega has agreed to join the Airtel Africa Board and we look forward to working closely with her. Tsega brings with her a wealth of experience in telecommunications, working and investing in Africa and, most importantly, a strong financial acumen. All of this adds an additional knowledge base to the board.
Driving force behind the growth of the business of Celtel international
Tsega Gebreyes began her career at Citibank and McKinsey before joining Celtel in 1999 where she worked closely with Mo Ibrahim, the company’s founder, as head of Strategy and Business Development. At Celtel, she played an instrumental role in attracting capital for investments in Africa and was a driving force behind the growth of the business through multi-country expansion across Africa. She completed a number of acquisitions and investments in mobile companies across Africa, including $1.2 billion in Nigeria; $ 100 million in Madagascar; $250 million in Kenya; $40 million in Tanzania and led M&A sale of Celtel to MTC which resulted in $3.4 billion to shareholders. As such, Tsega Gebreyes is considered to be the one who made Mo Ibrahim a billionaire. She also served as Senior Advisor to Zain.
King Pin of the New Africa Opportunity Fund
Prior to Celtel, Tsega Gebreyes was a founding partner of the New Africa Opportunity Fund (NAOF), LLP, a 120 million dollars private equity Fund anchored by Citibank. Tsega Gebreyes was responsible for the fundraising and closing of the Fund. She was responsible for identifying, analyzing and selecting investments within the Northern SADC countries; she reviewed and selected investments in wide range of industries with primary focus on telecommunication, media, financial institutions, services and fast moving consumer goods sectors; jointly marketed the Fund to investors to close $120 million fund from US investors; raised $40 million in equity to underpin the OPIC guarantee of $80 million; established a regional office in Kenya to support activities and provided support to the various portfolio companies as a Board director and through managing fundraising activities, identifying strategic partners and recruiting talent.
Served on several boards in various capacities
In addition, she has served on the boards of several privately held companies operating in Africa, as senior advisor to MTC and as a non-executive director for Sonae International. Tsega Gebreyes has served in various capacities during her board memberships, including roles on Audit, Remuneration, and Finance Committees.
Ms. Gebreyes has a bachelor’s degree (double major in Economics and International Studies) from Rhodes College (Memphis, USA) and holds an MBA (Master of Business Administration) from Harvard Business School, Boston, United States of America. An Ethiopian national, she is bilingual in Amharic and English, proficient in French and speaks elementary Spanish.
