Together good things happen - Airtel

Bharti Airtel Annual Report 2009-10
CEO (International) & JMD’s
message
I see our foray into Africa in the same vein. It is no doubt an
exciting challenge – 15 countries, 42 mn customers,
15 different regulatory regimes, multiple time zones,
different currencies and cultures. However, waiting at the end
of the rainbow is the chance of a lifetime – to firmly establish
the next growth engine for Airtel and to partake in the
wonderful growth story that is Africa. We are sitting on a
huge growth potential, a market which is poised to become
the largest in terms of population, urbanisation and middle
class larger than India and China in coming decades.
India and Africa are and will continue to be high growth
markets. However, we must understand that we can’t use a
“one size fits all” model, as Africa is really not one country
but an exciting collection of several countries. We will have
to evolve country-by-country strategies. For this, we will bring
tremendous scale and efficiency and more importantly, our
execution excellence to the Africa operations.
Having said this, I have high regard for the team that we
have inherited from Zain. It has market leadership in 10 of
the 15 markets and have done an excellent job in bringing
the digital revolution to Africa. In Zain’s product portfolio,
we have some extremely exciting services, like ZAP that won
the ‘Best Mobile Money for the Unbanked Service’ award at
GSMA, Barcelona and One Network and many others that
would help us drive the telecom revolution in other emerging
markets. I firmly believe leadership talent from the two
continents will facilitate a robust process of cross-pollination
of ideas, practices and people that will take Bharti Airtel to
new heights.
Through the transformation that we intend to bring to our
Africa operations, we will continue to hold dear the principles
on which Airtel has built its formidable reputation - “retain
the soul of a small company and nurture our entrepreneurial
spirit”.
To me, going global is not an event. It is a journey with many
milestones along the way. The immediate objective will be to
put our foot on the accelerator and drive the growth
momentum in all our territories. In addition, we will integrate
the African assets with the view to retain the best that we
have across both South Asia and the Africa operations. In the
first 4 weeks after the closure of the deal on June 8, 2010, we
have moved swiftly to build a shared vision 2015 for Airtel in
Africa, our new business model, strategies and culture with
130 leaders of Africa. We have also met all the governments,
banks, partners and employees in each of the 15 countries and
have shared our vision and plans with them. Clearly, all these
stakeholders are extremely excited on the future prospects and
have joined the Airtel journey with enthusiasm.
Acquisition of Zain Africa is clearly amongst the biggest
professional challenge that any Indian company has
undertaken in recent times. The big test for us lies in
transporting our unique business model and recreating our
brand magic across the large population in the new continent
and be seen as a global corporation with global best practices.
Our partner ecosystem linked through a rich culture of
win-win collaboration will undoubtedly be the bedrock of our
strategy. Finally, it is an opportunity to contribute to another
societal transformation in Africa by dedicating our CSR efforts
to educate under-privileged children.
We have overcome many challenges in the past; we will go
past this one as well.
Manoj Kohli
CEO (International) & Joint Managing Director
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