Airtel Africa has appointed Dinesh Balsingh as the Managing Director and chief executive officer of Airtel Nigeria following the end of Carl Cruz’s tenure in the same position.
This role, effective 1st November 2024 will see Balsingh also become a member of the Executive Council for the Airtel Africa Group.
Cruz, whose tenure has just ended, returned to his home country, The Philippines, at the end of October.
With a Master of Business Administration from Thiagarajar School of Management, Balsingh has extensive experience across the telecommunications industry and returns to Nigeria following his appointment as Managing Director and CEO of Airtel Tanzania in 2022.
Before he moved to Tanzania, he served as the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Airtel Nigeria and therefore has considerable experience in the Nigerian telecommunications market.
Balsingh’s career in the telecommunications industry spans over 24 years, having begun his career in 2000 with Hutchison Essar, before moving to Airtel India as a Marketing Director in 2006 and then Tata Docomo in 2011.
Balsingh joined Airtel Nigeria as Marketing Director in 2013, before taking over as CCO in 2018.
During his tenure in Airtel Tanzania, Balsingh led the business to achieve record growth through intelligent pricing, product enhancements and disciplined execution of projects, resulting in strong Revenue Market Share (RMS) gains in the highly competitive market.
Speaking on the leadership changes, Sunil Taldar, Airtel Africa CEO, said, “Balsingh’s deep telecommunications experience and strong operational execution, combined with his knowledge of the Nigerian market, will be instrumental in further supporting our corporate purpose of transforming lives across Nigeria.”