Adil Youssefi appointed new CEO of Liquid Telecom Kenya

Mr Adil Youssefi 

Liquid Telecom Kenya today announced the appointment of Mr Adil Youssefi as its new Chief Executive. He succeeds Mr Ben Roberts, who will become board Chairman of Liquid Telecom Kenya and concentrate on his role as the Chief Technology Officer for Liquid Telecom Group, a position he has held since 2006. 

The new CEO joins the Internet Service Provider from Airtel Kenya where he has been the Managing Director for three years. Prior to that, he worked for Millicom Group a mobile operator with operations in several African countries in various capacities across its subsidiaries. He started as a Senior Advisor to the Chief Officer Asia in Sri Lanka in 2008, then moved to Chad to take up the Chief Executive position and finally served as the Chief Executive of Millicom Ghana in 2012.

Mr Youssefi has over 15 years’ experience in senior management across Africa, Asia and Europe, with expertise in developing markets, leadership, and telecommunications, He contributed to double digit growth in the companies he led in Kenya, Ghana and Chad.

“Adil brings to Liquid Telecom Kenya his excellent track record of strong leadership, as well as his unique and incredible ability to understand the customers and the market in a way that sees him translate vision into winning strategy,” said Nic Rudnick, CEO of the Liquid Telecom Group.

Liquid Telecom Group has grown rapidly in recent years, building an extensive fibre network spanning 11 countries across Eastern, Central and Southern Africa. This network has grown from 13,000km in 2013 to 40,000km by 2017.

Following the acquisition of Kenya Data Networks in 2013, Liquid Telecom Kenya has also recorded tremendous growth. To date, the company has laid 5,000km of fibre network across Kenya, with 800km laid in 2016. It has connected 41 of the 47 counties to high speed Internet, and rolled out successive rounds of new technology.

“I’ll be returning full time to the role of Chief Technical Officer with a considerably expanded network across Africa and a technology landscape that is advancing rapidly.  My focus will be on running one Pan African network combined with innovation.  Kenya is a perfect placed to be based due to its central African location and lively innovation scene. It is an honour to hand over the leadership of the Kenyan company to a CEO as experienced and accomplished as Adil,” said Mr Roberts.

The expansion of Liquid Telecom including the group’s recent acquisition of Raha in Tanzania and Neotel in South Africa, has also prompted the group to appoint Willie Fryer as Chief Finance Officer, covering East Africa.  This position was held previously by Mr Raj Jandu who has moved to South Africa to take the role of Chief Finance Officer at Neotel.