Safaricom Ethiopia CEO Anwar Soussa.

Safaricom Ethiopia CEO Anwar Soussa is leaving the company end of July, two years after joining the telecom provider.

Soussa joined Safaricom from Vodacom DRC in 2021, and he was in charge for two years overseeing operations of Ethiopia’s newest telecom provider.

He was tasked with formulating strategies and plans to ensure quality and affordable mobile and internet connectivity.

Previously, Anwar served as the CEO of Airtel in Uganda and Chad. He also worked in various senior leadership capacities at MTN and Digicel, among other telcos.

In a statement, Safaricom said: “As the first CEO of Safaricom Ethiopia, Anwar has overseen the attainment of significant milestones in a highly dynamic environment, including onboarding the team and successfully launching commercial operations of the second telecommunications operator in Ethiopia.”

During his tenure, the National Bank of Ethiopia granted a mobile money service license to Safaricom.

M-Pesa is Africa’s most successful mobile payment service, launched in Kenya in 2007 and has since evolved to become a driver of financial inclusion with more than 50 million customers across seven countries.