Airtel Nigeria Names Owolabi as HR Director

Leading telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, has announced the appointment of Gbemiga Owolabi as director, Human Resources.

According to the telco, the appointment, which takes effect immediately, aligns with its core philosophy of empowering and creating opportunities for exceptionally talented professionals in line with its aspirations of becoming the employer of first choice in Nigeria.

Owolabihas over 20 years’ experience spanning international HR, talent management, employee engagement, capability development and HR operations.

He has worked in Nigeria, United Kingdom and East Africa, starting his career with Lennards Nigeria Plc in 1990 as HR Manager and subsequently joined Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (CCHBC) in 1994 as HR Manager, where he managed HR in the largest Coca-Cola manufacturing plant in Nigeria.

In 2007, he Joined BG Exploration & Production Nigeria Ltd as the HR Manager and managed the development and embedding of an Employee Value Proposition in the company.

He was later transferred to the United Kingdom headquarters of the parent company (BG Group) in 2009 and appointed as HR Manager of Dragon LNG in Wales, a joint company of BG Group with Petronas of Malaysia.

On this assignment, he marshaled the attainment of competency assurance standard in the company which is a license to operate requirement in the industry.

Owolabi was appointed as the Head of HR & Admin for BG East Africa in 2011 and led the development and execution of the country entry strategy, creation of a functional HR and subsequently, a revised HR strategy to manage the high growth company in East Africa spanning Tanzania, Kenya and Madagascar business units.

He holds an MSc Industrial Relations & Personnel Management degree (University of Lagos) and an MBA Marketing (Obafemi Awolowo University).

He is an alumnus of Advance Management Programme (Lagos Business School) and a member of Chartered Institute of Personnel Management Nigeria.

The company also announced the appointments of Sina Adegoke and Col. Awadhesh Kumar Kalia as Regional Operations Director, West Region and Chief Technical Officer, respectively.

Adegoke, has over 19 years of Sales Management and Leadership experience across the Telecommunications, Finance, FMCG and Pharmaceutical industries. Prior to his appointment, he worked at Etisalat Nigeria as the Head of Region (South West) between 2013 and 2015.

He has also held various leadership positions in Coca-Cola and May & Baker Plc.

Adegoke holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from Obafemi Awolowo University and MBA (Marketing) from the same University.

Awadhesh, a retired Military Colonel was Chief Technical Officer for Airtel Nigeria from September 2010 to January 2014. As Chief Technical Officer, he will be responsible for the delivery of network pillars to support Airtel’s achievement of business objectives, and will provide overall leadership of Networks in Nigeria

Speaking on the new appointments, Segun Ogunsanya, chief executive officer and managing director of Airtel Nigeria, said the telco is committed to empowering exceptionally talented Nigerians and also creating value for all its stakeholders.