Hatem Dowidar, former CEO of Vodafone Egypt.

Hatem Dowidar, former CEO of Vodafone Egypt, joined the Vodafone Group board as a non-executive director yesterday.

Dowidar joined Vodafone Egypt in 1999 as marketing director, before becoming CEO from 2009 to 2014, during which time the company says he “steered the business growth with benchmark profitability in challenging and competitive environments”.

Vodafone Group recently announced that, after entering into a strategic relationship agreement with Emirates Telecommunications Group (e&), the Group CEO of e&, Dowidar, would join the Vodafone board as a non-executive director, subject to e& obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals.

Dowidar has 30 years of experience in international corporations, 24 of which have been spent in telecommunications.

Jean-François van Boxmeer, chair of Vodafone, said: “He brings extensive experience within the telecommunications industry and has held senior positions across a range of companies in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. His appointment will further strengthen our strategic partnership.”

Dowidar, for his part, expressed his eagerness to collaborate with Van Boxmeer and the rest of the board to support the work being undertaken by Vodafone Group CEO Margherita Della Valle and the management team.