HELIOS TOWERS - Key Persons
Ahmat Ousmane has been the Managing Director of Helios Towers Madagascar since October 2022. Prior to this appointment, Ahmat held the position of Launch Director, where he successfully worked setting up and integrating new markets in Senegal, Oman & Madagascar.
Ahmat joined Helios Towers in 2014 and has held several management positions in different functions, from SHEQ, Projects, Operations to Business Excellence.
Prior to joining Helios Towers, Ahmat worked as a Quality Manager at Norwest Group International, Glencore & Schlumberger in Chad and abroad.
He holds an Engineer's degree in Geophysics & Environment from Doukkali University (Morocco) & Oklahoma State University (USA). He is a certified Lead Auditor from the British Standard Institution (UK) and certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. Ahmat is a citizen from Chad.
Job Titles:
- Audit Committee ( Chair )
- Senior Independent Director
Alison Baker has more than 25 years of experience in auditing, capital markets and assurance services. She has worked extensively in emerging markets, including those in Africa.
Until January 2017, Alison was a partner at PwC LLP and, previously, a partner at EY LLP. She is Senior Independent Director of Rockhopper Exploration Plc and Non-Executive Director of Endeavour Mining Plc. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, and gained a Bachelor of Science in Mathematical Sciences from Bath University.
Job Titles:
- Group Director
- Group Director Business Excellence and Delivery
Allan Fairbairn became Group Director Business Excellence and Delivery in January 2024. He contributes to execution of our Sustainable Business Strategy while leading on SHEQ and Property responsibilities. Prior to this appointment, he had been Director of Delivery and Business Excellence since April 2022. He joined Helios Towers as Director of Operations and Technology in June 2021, focusing on Performance Engineering and Delivery functions of the Group, including Operations, Supply Chain and PMO. He joined Helios Towers from Aggreko, where he held a number of senior positions including Area General Manager for West and Central Africa, a position he held since 2016, and led operations for Africa as an Operations Director in the EMEA team, a position he held for four years prior.
Allan has extensive international experience in setting up and managing technical operations in markets across Africa and the Middle East. He is a Chartered Electrical and Electronic Engineer, a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology, an accredited Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and is a British citizen.
Angelo Govina has been the Managing Director of Helios Towers Ghana since August 2023, having previously held the position of Deputy Managing Director since 2022. He joined Helios Towers Ghana as Sales & Marketing Director in 2020, and has played a central role in managing key stakeholder relationships to support customers to expand and improve their network coverage.
Job Titles:
- Group Regulatory and Public Affairs Director
Beki Muinde is Group Regulatory and Public Affairs Director. Beki has created the Group's overall strategy for regulators and public bodies and led numerous engagements with senior state and intrastate officials. Since joining Helios in 2018 as Deputy General Counsel, Beki has been an instrumental member of the team in closing all M&A transactions over the last few years and held the position of Director of Business Development and Regulatory Affairs until the end of 2023.
Beki joined Helios Towers from Linklaters LLP where she focused on public and private M&A along with corporate advisory work. A great deal of Beki's work in private practice involved advising, and spending time on secondment to, companies in highly regulated sectors.
Beki is a qualified lawyer, admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in England and Wales and is Lean Six Sigma Orange Belt trained.
Job Titles:
- Independent Non - Executive Director
- CEO at the Africa50 Infrastructure Fund
Job Titles:
- Head of Strategic Finance and Investor Relations
Job Titles:
- Managing Director of Helios Towers DRC
Colard Nkole Tshiyoyo became the Managing Director of Helios Towers DRC in October 2022. Previously Colard held the role of Managing Director for Helios Towers Madagascar and Helios Towers Congo Brazzaville. Colard joined Helios Towers in 2011 and has undertaken many roles including Project Manager, Project Director and Head of Performance Engineering. Colard is a Civil Engineer from the University of Kinshasa and, since 2009, has been a Professor Assistant in the Civil Engineering department at the University and a certified Project Manager since 2016.
Craig James joined Helios Towers in October 2019, having previously been Head of Information Technology (‘IT') at Ophir Energy, an African and Asian focused oil and gas exploration and production company. Craig has over 25 years' experience in the field of Information Technology. He started his career at Barclays, has experience in the Telecommunications sector and previously held roles as Global IT Architect and Head of IT (Asia Pacific) at a FTSE 100 multinational mining organisation. Craig also has consulting experience with BP, AWE and Credit Suisse.
Craig holds IT industry qualifications and has over 18 years' experience working across Africa. He also holds an MBA Essentials certification from the London School of Economics. He is a British citizen.
Job Titles:
- Country Managing Director
Job Titles:
- Group Director, People, Organisation & Development
Doreen Akonor has an extensive HR career having undertaken various roles within Telecommunications, Investment and Financial Services across the UK, EMEA and Africa.
At Vodafone Group, these included being Head of Diversity and Inclusion and Group Senior HR Business Partner for multiple functions in UK, Ghana and Europe and was one of 40 chosen globally for their HR Excellence Programme. Following her time in the telecoms sector, Doreen has worked in private equity focusing on Talent, Diversity & Inclusion, HR strategy and operational performance. With Leapfrog Investments, Doreen was the HR Director for their portfolio companies in Africa & Asia. With Varde Partners, Doreen was HR Lead (Value Creation Group) for their European region leading leadership and organisation initiatives. Doreen was also Chief HR Officer for a leading digital bank in Spain. Furthermore, in a consultancy capacity for Schneider Ross, Doreen has advised the likes of Vodafone and Safaricom on various D&I initiatives and programmes.
Doreen holds a Master's in Human Resources Management, is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personal Development and has completed HR Executive Programme at Harvard Business School and is a member of International Coach Federation.
Job Titles:
- Stephanie Ellis FTI Consulting LLP
Job Titles:
- Finance Director, Senegal
I joined Helios Towers in May 2021 as the CFO of Senegal Opco. It was a very exciting time as the business was launching that year making Senegal the first infrastructure operator in the market. Joining Helios Towers has so far been a time of great enrichment for me. I have learned so much about the infrastructure of an any individual operator within the telecom industry. It has also been an eye-opening experience to see the growth potential and added value our company brings to developing countries. We always strive to promote equality in access to internet coverage through reducing the investment gap in passive infrastructures.
I have also found that at Helios Towers there is a strong people-oriented culture that favours continuous self-development. There is an incredible training portfolio for a variety of challenging tasks including lean six sigma programs. I strongly believe this creates opportunities for Human Resources to recruit local talent which is crucial to me.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Regional CEO - Central Africa
Fritz Dzeklo has been Managing Director of Helios Towers Ghana since July 2019 and was promoted to Regional CEO Central Africa in January 2023. His position covers our operations in Ghana, DRC and Congo Brazzaville. Fritz joined Helios Towers in October 2012, having held various senior roles during his time, including Projects Director for Helios Towers Tanzania and Head of Projects for Helios Towers Ghana. Prior to Helios Towers Ghana, he was at Vodafone Ghana.
Fritz has vast experience in East, Central and West Africa throughout his career. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and a citizen of Ghana.
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Director
- Managing Director of Newlight Partners LP
Helis Zulijani-Boye is Managing Director of Newlight Partners LP, an independent investment manager formed in October 2018 when the Strategic Investments Group ("SIG") of Soros Fund Management LLC spun out. Helis has been with Newlight Partners LP (and its predecessor, SIG) since 2013 and primarily focuses on sourcing, executing and managing investments in acceleration of tech-enabled services.
She has over 15 years' experience in the private equity and investment banking industries, having previously worked at the Charterhouse Group, the Carlyle Group and JP Morgan. She currently serves on the boards of Ciklum (digital transformation services), BayoTech (on-site hydrogen production) and ASSIST (US-based non-profit organisation matching academically talented students with American independent high schools). Helis holds a BA in Economics and a Citation in German Language from Harvard University.
Jadawy Al Riyamy was appointed Managing Director of Helios Towers Oman in July 2023. Prior to this, Jadawy had held the position of Middle East Business Development Director at Helios Towers since February 2022, successfully engaging customers across the Middle East and supporting the acquisition Omantel's tower assets as part of Helios Towers' first expansion into the region.
It's the people for me! From my supportive colleagues to the leadership teams who are always willing to offer guidance to the difference we make in the communities we serve across the globe. Working at Helios Towers has been a rewarding experience from day one. I joined the Helios Towers team in 2019, having been appointed as Head of Legal for Helios Towers in South Africa. Recently, I have joined the Group Legal team as Deputy General Counsel. Helios Towers is my first in-house role after several years of private practice, so everything was new to me when I joined. Fortunately, I was welcomed by a dynamic team of go-getters, without whom I would not be where I am today.
Helios Towers has provided me with countless opportunities to diversify my skill set and become involved in new areas of the business. This has given me a new perspective and I am immensely proud of the importance we place on creating a sustainable business alongside our partners.
Even after more than four years at in the business, every day brings a new challenge; creating opportunities for me to learn and grow in my career. I am excited to see what the future holds as Helios Towers continues its journey to even greater things!
Job Titles:
- Head of Performance Engineering, Ghana
I joined Helios Towers in 2010 as an Executive Assistant then progressed to a Data Analyst the year after. From there I led the compliance processes as the NOC manager in Ghana in 2017. In 2020 several colleagues encouraged me to apply for a new role. They saw the potential in me and believed that I had the capability to take it up, which was all the motivation I needed. I successfully assumed the role of Head of Performance Engineering in Ghana after a series of transparent interviews. The internal core values of integrity, partnership, and excellence have contributed to our success story as a corporate body over the years.
My rise through the ranks attests of the positive internal culture of employee development at Helios. I believe there is always an opportunity for career development and growth here which challenges me to go for gold. It is always my aim to look out for my team members as I recognise my output is one of the many batons that feeds into the work of my other colleagues up until the very end of each process to reach our organisational goals.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director for Senegal
- Senegal & Regional Director Central and West Africa
Karim Ndiaye joined Helios Towers as Managing Director for Senegal in March 2021, launching operations in our sixth market. In his capacity as Regional Director Central and West Africa, he also supports our operations in Ghana and Congo Brazzavile.
Prior to joining Helios Towers, Karim held the role of Regional Asset Management Director for the Meridiam Investment Africa Fund, an infrastructure investment fund. In this role, he supported the fund in the opening of their Dakar office and was responsible for the management of several large infrastructure projects across West and Central Africa in sectors including Renewable Energy and Transport & Logistics.
Karim is an accredited Lean Six Sigma Orange Belt with almost two decades of international experience in senior management roles in companies including Matforce, Ericsson, Aggreko & Man Energy Solutions, delivering power projects across Sub-Saharan Africa. He is a Senegalese national.
Job Titles:
- Director of Operations and Engineering
Lara Coady was appointed Director of Operations and Engineering in April 2022. In this role, she oversees performance engineering, operations and technology of the company. She joined Helios Towers in 2016 as Group Customer Programme Manager and more recently had held the position of Head of Performance Engineering.
Lara has more than 13 years of work experience in the Africa and Middle East regions. She had held a number of technical positions including Principal Engineer - Performance Management at Aggreko, where she had spent five years prior to joining Helios Towers.
Lara is an accredited Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and is a British citizen.
Job Titles:
- Quality Assurance Engineer
Job Titles:
- Deputy Chair
- Senior Independent Director
- Technology Committee ( Chair )
Magnus Mandersson was appointed Senior Independent Director on 12 September 2019. He has more than 25 years of experience in the Telecommunications and Media sectors.
Magnus worked at Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson for 14 years, where he held various positions including Executive Vice President. He was also President and Chief Executive Officer of SEC, the parent company for Tele2 Europe, held a number of leadership positions in the IKEA Group and Millicom S.A., and was Chair of Next Biometrics Group ASA.
He is Chair of Karnov Group AB and Tampnet ASA, and a board member of Albert Immo Holding S.à.r.l., PMM Advisors S.A. and Interogo Foundation. He has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Lund University in Sweden.
Prior to joining Helios Towers Congo Brazzaville, Maixent was most recently CEO of Property Technology Africa, an infrastructure design company for smart buildings and connected cities. In addition to his experience at the Executive level in several markets across Africa within Telecom industry, Maixent has also spent 13 years at Airtel where he held a number of senior management roles in Chad, Congo Brazzaville as Chief Commercial and later on Director of Merger and Integration before moving to Madagascar where he was Managing Director.
Manjit Dhillon joined Helios Towers in 2016. He was appointed CFO in January 2021, having held the positions of interim CFO and Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Finance. Manjit is the Head of the London Office and Sustainability and IT also report into him.
Manjit has overseen transactions including capital raisings of c.US$3.5 billion, substantially reducing the cost of capital, and the acquisitions of multiple tower portfolios across six new high-growth markets. He also played a key role throughout the successful IPO of Helios Towers on the London Stock Exchange in 2019.
Prior to Helios Towers, Manjit has held a number of positions in the financial services sector, including with Deloitte, Goldman Sachs and Lyceum Capital. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Operations Director
- South Africa & Regional Director Southern Africa
Marinus Gieselbach has been the Managing Director of Helios Towers South Africa since June 2020. In his capacity as Regional Director Southern Africa, he also supports our operation in Madagascar.
Marinus joined Helios Towers South Africa as the Operations Director in 2019. Prior to joining Helios Towers, he held executive positions in operations, commercial and finance with Vulatel, Dimension Data Advanced Infrastructure and Plessey. During this time, he delivered various tower, fibre and data centre projects in 12 African countries over a period of 14 years.
Marinus holds a Bachelor of Commerce Honours in Financial Management from the University of Pretoria. He is a citizen of South Africa.
Paul Barrett - Chief Legal Officer, Secretary
Job Titles:
- Company Secretary
- General Counsel
Paul Barrett joined Helios Towers plc as General Counsel and Company Secretary in April 2020. Prior to joining Helios Towers, Paul was Director of Legal and Company Secretary at RAC Motoring Services, a position which he assumed in July 2018. Before this, he held interim positions as General Counsel of Helios Towers, Ltd. and Legal Director at Prudential plc. From 2006 until February 2017, Paul was Head of Legal Affairs at Home Retail Group plc, the then parent company of Argos and Homebase and the UK's largest non-food retailer.
Paul has an LLB (Hons) in Business Law and qualified as a Barrister before moving into industry. He has extensive senior management and board level experience, domestically and internationally, in both listed and private companies. He is a British citizen.
Job Titles:
- Regional CEO - Middle East, East & West Africa
- Regional CEO Position With
Philippe Loridon has held a Regional CEO position with Helios Towers since August 2020. His position covers our operations in Tanzania, Senegal, Malawi and Oman.
Philippe previously held the position of CEO of Helios Towers Tanzania from January 2015, and the CEO of Helios Towers Congo and Helios Towers DRC from May 2019 and was previously CEO of Helios Towers DRC between December 2011 and December 2014. He previously served as CEO at Equateur Telecom Congo, where he re-launched Equateur Telecom Congo in Congo Brazzaville.
Prior to this, Philippe accumulated 20 years' experience in the Telecommunications industry with MNOs based in San Marino, Israel and Papua New Guinea. This included 13 years at Hutchison Whampoa, fulfilling senior roles in sales, marketing and business development before first becoming CEO of Hutchison Sri Lanka in 1998, and then head of Hutchison Telecommunications' Latin American operations between 2000 and 2002. He was also previously a Director at Be-Mobile. He is a French citizen.
Job Titles:
- Independent Non - Executive Director
- Remuneration Committee ( Chair )
Richard Byrne was appointed to the Board on 12 September 2019, having previously been a Director of Helios Towers, Ltd. since December 2010. Richard co-founded TowerCo in 2004, serving as the company's President and Chief Executive Officer. He was a member of the board of directors from its inception until his retirement in December 2018.
Before TowerCo, he was President of the tower division of SpectraSite Communications, Inc. Richard has also served as National Director of Business Development at Nextel Communications Inc. From 2008 to 2018, he served on the board of directors of the Wireless Infrastructure Trade Association (‘WIA') in the US.
The Board regards Richard Byrne as independent notwithstanding his membership as a Director of the Board since 2010, and considers his continued membership of the Board is in the best interests of the Company. Magnus Mandersson is Deputy Chair and Alison Baker is Senior Independant Director. In line with the Code all Directors stand for annual re-election.
Job Titles:
- Chief Commercial Officer & Regional CEO - Southern Africa
- Chief Commercial Officer and Regional CEO
Sainesh Vallabh is Chief Commercial Officer and Regional CEO Southern Africa and oversees the Commercial function of the company, including business development & M&A, and our South Africa and Madagascar markets. Before becoming Chief Commercial Officer, he was Group Commercial Director and had been leading our operations in South Africa, Madagascar, in addition to Ghana, DRC and Congo Brazzaville, as Regional CEO Southern & Central Africa since August 2020.
Job Titles:
- Independent Non - Executive Director
- Independent Non - Executive Director / Independent Non - Executive Director for Workforce Engagement
- Member of Sustainability Committee
Sally Ashford joined the Helios Towers Board in June 2020 as Non-Executive Director for workforce engagement. Sally is currently Group HR Director at Informa plc, a role she commenced in June 2021.
Sally has over 30 years' experience in the field of Human Resources (‘HR') including significant expertise in reward, talent and business transformation. In her early career, Sally worked in HR research and consultancy before moving in-house. She spent 15 years working in a variety of HR roles in the Telecoms industry at BT, O2 and Telefonica, including European HR Director and Deputy Global HR Director. In 2015, Sally joined Royal Mail where she became Chief Human Resources Officer in June 2018, a role she held until February 2021.
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Science from the University of Manchester and a Master's degree in Industrial Relations from the University of Warwick.
Job Titles:
- Group Head of Sustainability
Sima Varsani joined Helios Towers in May 2020 as our first Group Sustainability Manager and helped to develop our sustainable business strategy. She works with teams across the business to drive our positive social and economic impact and to reduce our environmental footprint.
She previously held sustainability roles in consultancy as well as at the GSMA (the mobile industry association), Vodafone and Sainsbury's.
Sima has a Classics degree from the University of Cambridge and is a British citizen.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Nomination Committee ( Chair )
Appointed to the board: 12 September 2019 Committees Nomination Committee (Chair) Remuneration Committee Skills and experience Sir Samuel Jonah KBE, OSG has extensive listed company experience, having served on the boards of various public and private companies including Vodafone Group plc, Lonrho plc, the Global Advisory Council of the Bank of America corporation and Standard Bank Group. He has been Chairman of Roscan Gold Corporation Inc. since January 2020 and a Non-Executive Director of Grit Real Estate Income Group Limited since February 2019. He previously worked for Ashanti Goldfields and later became Executive President of AngloGold Ashanti Limited. He was born and educated in Ghana, and obtained a Master's degree in Management from Imperial College London, and is a member of the American Academy of Engineering. Other current appointments Grit Real Estate Income Group Limited, listed on the Johannesburg and London Stock Exchanges, and Roscan Gold Corporation Inc. listed in Canada on the TSX Venture Exchange.
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Director
- Director of Helios Towers, Ltd
Temitope Lawani was previously a Director of Helios Towers, Ltd., serving since February 2010. A Nigerian national, he is co-founder and Managing Partner of Helios Investment Partners ('Helios') and is co-Chief Executive and Director of Helios Fairfax Partners Corporation and has more than 25 years of principal investment experience. He is also Non-Executive Director of Pershing Square Holdings Ltd.
Prior to forming Helios, Temitope was a principal in the San Francisco and London offices of TPG Capital, a global private equity firm. Temitope began his career as a corporate development analyst at the Walt Disney Company. He received a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Juris Doctorate (cum laude) from Harvard Law School and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Tom Greenwood joined Helios Towers in 2010, during the Company's formation, and was appointed CEO in April 2022. He has held numerous positions since joining, including two prior executive positions (Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer).
Tom has overseen many of the Company's key milestones, including all 15 major M&A transactions, the inaugural 2017 bond and IPO listing, as well as delivering record operational performance for customers. Since 2020, under Tom's leadership the Company has doubled its tower portfolio.
Tom joined Helios Towers from PwC, and is a qualified Chartered Accountant of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.
Will Richardson-White has helped establish a shared framework of risk management across the business and throughout our partner network since joining the company in 2019. Will has co-led the Helios SHEQ Strategy centred around developing a group-wide cultural drive for transparency and learning culture which significantly reduces the overall number of incidents being incurred across our operations.
Will has championed our SHEQ strategy and philosophy with our key customers and stakeholders helping to position Helios Towers as a front runner for safety within the telecoms industry.
Will is a Lean Six Sigma Orange Belt and a Chartered Mechanical Engineer.
Job Titles:
- Group HR Business Partner, UK
After completing an apprenticeship, I joined Helios Towers as their first Receptionist in the London Office in 2015. I was then promoted to the role of Corporate Services Administrator which gave me the opportunity to support the HR, SHEQ and Administration teams. Through this role I quickly saw that my interests lied within Human Resources. The business supported me in completing my Level 5 CIPD in Human Resource Management.
Upon completion, I was promoted to the position of Human Resources Advisor for the London office for over 100 employees. The scope of my responsibility steadily increased since then which led to my promotion in June 2021 to Group HR Business Partner for the UK. I have also been provided with a wide range of training such as Lean Six Sigma training for which I hold an Orange Belt. I was also selected to be a part of the first cohort of trainees in The Senior Leadership Development Course.
Throughout my time here, I have really valued the support and trust my line manager has given me to work with such diverse teams across our various global markets. This is something I feel makes Helios Towers unique and has helped me to progress to where I am in the business today. I have seen that Helios truly believes that people are key to the success of the business. They invest in the talent in order to get the best out of us. If you show commitment, team spirit as well as enthusiasm there are lots of opportunities here for you!