Wondering what the Airtel Uganda MD will be put to after his sudden departure from Airtel? Tom Gutjahr the out going MD has reportedly landed a lucrative deal with Djezzy (OTA), the largest mobile operator by subscriber numbers in Algeria. The experienced and hardworking Gutjahr will be starting work next month June following his resignation from Airtel at the start of this year. Mr. Gutjahr took over at Airtel Uganda in August 2014 replacing Arindam Chakrabarty who had been the firm’s acting Managing Director. Mr Gutjahr said;
“After consultations with my family, I accepted the offer because my wife comes from Algeria and she will be with her family. I leave Airtel Uganda in a much better shape than I found it,” he said. We are only a few points behind and we are going to close the margin very fast. The growth has been tremendous, Airtel Uganda controls one-third of the mobile money network in the country.”
During his tenure, Airtel Uganda achieved significant growth that saw the telecom company compete head to head with MTN. Airtel also achieved significant improvements to its services, connecting millions of consumers to the internet in Africa. Before the Airtel appointment, Mr. Gutjahr was Chief Executive Officer in Tigo Paraguay (Millicom International Cellular), the biggest operation in the Millicom Group. Prior to that, he had a stint as CEO for the Tigo operation in Rwanda in 2011; and CEO for Tigo in Chad between 2008 and 2010.
