Anwar Soussa.

The Global Partnership for Ethiopia (GPE) has appointed Anwar Soussa as the Managing Director of its Operating Company in Ethiopia, effective 1 July 2021.

Anwar is currently the Managing Director of Vodacom DRC and the Chairperson of Vodacash (M-Pesa), a position he has held since 2017.

According to a statement released to the media, Soussa will report to the Board of the Ethiopia entity and the Safaricom PLC CEO.

An excerpt from the statement reads:“He has cemented Vodacom DRC as the largest Vodacom operation outside of South Africa by driving operational performance, crossing the US$500m in service revenue mark for the first time in 2020. Anwar will lead the Ethiopian Operating Company on behalf of the Global Partnership for Ethiopia Consortium.”

Soussa will be responsible for execution of the consortium’s goal to bring about transformational economic and social impact in Ethiopia and positively enhance the lives of its over 112 million people.

Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub said: “We are delighted to appoint Anwar as Managing Director of our Ethiopian Operating Company and we are confident that he has the right experience and expertise from his time with Vodacom DRC to build a world class telecommunications network in Ethiopia.Our immediate priority in Anwar’s appointment is to ensure that the Vodacom Group has the strongest team in place to lead our efforts to connect the next 100 million Africans by 2025, through the delivery of reliable network coverage and transformative technology services. Anwar’s successor in the DRC will be announced in due course.”

Prior to joining Vodacom, Soussa served as the CEO of Airtel in Uganda and Chad.