Apoorva Mehrotra

Board Member

Qualifications: Apoorva holds a master’s degree in management studies (Marketing) from K J Somaiya Institute of Management and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Allahabad.

Experience: He was appointed Managing Director for Airtel Networks Zambia Plc on 1st March 2018 until October 2022 when he was appointed as Airtel Africa Regional Director-East Africa. He had joined Airtel Zambia as Chief Commercial Officer in April 2017. He has over 28 years’ experience in Operations, Sales and Marketing across the telecom industry as well as in the consumer durables and FMCG sectors. Apoorva has since been promoted to be the Regional Managing Director for East Africa of the Eastern Region. Before joining Airtel and most notably, he spent 14 years at Vodafone, where his last posting was as Executive Vice President (EVP) & Business Head for the Delhi NCR Circle.

External appointments: Apoorva Mehrotra is currently serving as Director at Airtel Networks in Uganda and Airtel Networks Tanzania.

Hamish Chipungu

Board Member

Hamish Chipungu is a seasoned risk management and internal audit professional with over 30 years’ experience in the financial services sector. He has held senior roles at the Bank of Zambia, ZANACO, and Access Bank Zambia, including Chief Risk Officer, Director of Internal Audit, and Chief Risk & Compliance Officer.

Mr Chipungu is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and holds certifications as a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certification in Risk Management Assurance (CRMA), and in ISO 31000. He has led the implementation of key governance and compliance frameworks including ISO 31000 (Risk Management), ISO 22301 (Business Continuity), ISO 27001 (Information Security), and ISO 19600 (Compliance Management).

He was the founding President of the Institute of Internal Auditors Zambia and continues to support both public and private institutions in strengthening risk oversight and assurance functions.

Hussam Baday

Board Member

Experience: Hussam is a Master of Business Administration and BSc holder in Electronics and Communications Engineering. Prior to this appointment, Hussam was the Chief Commercial Officer in Airtel Zambia since December 2021, and prior to that he worked as the Company’s Marketing Director since July 2018. He was the Chief Marketing Officer at Sudatel Telecom Group (STG) before joining the Airtel Group. STG is a leading telecom service provider serving customers in Sudan and West Africa.

Hussam has a rich background in successful Commercial strategies, business development, and proper execution that turned around commercial performance. He also serves as an advisory board member at CMO- council Africa and holds a Professional Diploma in marketing from The Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) and an executive education in Leading with Results from INSEAD (France).

Jaideep Paul

Board Member

Qualifications: He is a Commerce Graduate from Calcutta University and a Chartered Accountant from ICAI.

Experience: Jaideep joined Bharti Airtel Delhi Circle in 2002. He worked as Chief Financial Officer of Bharti Retail (a franchisee of Walmart) for 2 years and Fairtrade LLC Muscat before joining Airtel Nigeria as Chief Financial Officer in September 2010.

He has been the Chief Finance Officer at Airtel Africa since May 2014 following his role at Airtel Nigeria. He has a total work experience of 29 years having started his career with Pricewaterhouse in 1989. 

He continues to provide the Board with the ability to achieve financial discipline and enhance the overall efficiency of the organization. Jaideep is a keen analyst with exceptional negotiation and relationship management skills and abilities. 

External appointments: Jaideep serves on the boards of Airtel Nigeria and Airtel Tanzania. He is also Director of several entities under the BAIN and Airtel Mobile Commerce umbrellas.

Lynda Mataka

Board Chairperson

Lynda Mataka is the Managing Partner of TMS Legal Practitioners (formerly Theotis Mataka and Sampa Legal Practioners). Lynda holds an LLB Degree from the University of Zambia and a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Drafting from the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE).

Qualifications: Lynda is also a Chevening Scholar and holds a Masters Degree in International Business Law (LLM) from the University of Manchester (United Kingdom) and was awarded the David Livingstone Award (a British Council award) for being the most promising scholar in the year 2000. She is a qualified Advocate of the High Court for Zambia and the Supreme Court of Zambia as well as a member of the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) and Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CMLA).

Lynda began her career at the Ministry of Justice where she served in several roles including State Advocate (civil) and Senior Parliamentary Counsel (Legislative Drafting). Lynda is passionate about financial sector development. Her passion began upon joining the Bank of Zambia as an inspector in the Non-Bank Financial Sector Supervision department following which she took on the role of Legal Counsel Advisory in the Bank of Zambia.

As a skilled draftsperson Lynda spearheaded the review and analysis of financial sector Legislation with the objective to harmonise the Banking and Financial Sector Act with financial sector regulations to include the Securities Act, the Pensions and Insurance Act, the Anti-Money Laundering Directives, the Microfinance Act and the National Savings and Credit Bank Amendment Act on behalf of the Bank of Zambia.

Further, Lynda served as Secretary to the Financial Sector Development program whose mandate was to improve the efficiency and competitiveness in the sector; to provide enhanced choices of financial products and services and the collaboration of increased financial inclusion with a particular reference to the Bank of Zambia.

As a private sector Lawyer, Lynda has provided expert advice to various Companies ranging from business start-ups to seasoned Companies on matters involving, corporate governance, statutory compliance, risk management and investment management and advisory. Lynda’s practice at the firm also involves the provision of expert advice and oversight of large corporate transactions and negotiations, the preparation and drafting of local and International Agreements (Bilateral and Multilateral Agreements).

Lynda has also headed international investments into Zambia including but not limited to Dangote Cement Zambia Limited which is a subsidiary of Dangote Cement PLC. This investment of Four Hundred Million United States Dollars (USD400,000,000) marked a significant milestone in the cement industry in Zambia. Lynda had conduct of the transaction starting from the Company incorporation to facilitating the Environmental Impact Assessment plan, obtaining Mining Licenses, drafting and facilitating the Investor Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA). She continues to represent Dangote Zambia’s interests as the Company’s Legal Advisor.

Lynda further spearheaded the entrance of Access Bank into the Zambian market, where she handled the incorporation of the Company and obtained a Banking License from the Bank of Zambia. TMS is the lead Legal Advisor to the Bank and recently successfully attended to the amalgamation of the Access Bank (Zambia) Limited and Cavmont Bank Limited. The scope of work included obtaining various regulatory approvals from the COMESA Competition Commission, the Bank of Zambia, the Securities Exchange Commission, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security and the Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA).

Lynda has also served as a board member of the following institutions:

The Zambia Electricity Supply Cooperation (ZESCO) from 2008 to 2010;

ii. The Energy Regulation Board, (ERB) February 2016 to 2018;

iii. Access Bank (Zambia) Limited from Inception in 2008 to 2021,

iv. Chairperson of the Credit Committee and the Human Resource Committee;

v. Dangote Cement (Zambia) Limited from 2008 to date;

vi. Dangote Quarries (Zambia) Limited 2008 to date;

vii. Airtel Networks Zambia Plc 2022 to date; and

viii. The Industrial Development Corporation from March 2022 to date.
Lynda is a seasoned profession with over twenty years’ experience who is focused, determined and is result orientated.


 

Monica Kambo

Board Member

Qualifications: Monica holds a Master of Science Degree in Global Human Resource Management from the University of Liverpool UK, She is a Chartered Marketer from the Chartered institute of Marketing-UK and has recently attended INSEAD leadership courses.

Experience: She is currently the Group Human Resource Director of Airtel Africa plc, a position she has held since March 2020. She is currently tasked with delivery of business strategy through talent leadership and HR operations. She is a seasoned 20-year expertise spans in the fields of business management, strategy development and execution, talent management and entrepreneurship across diverse global markets in Africa, the India sub-continent and Europe. She started her career managing brand investments at DDBCCL and subsequently moved to WPP- Scangroup companies in progressively senior roles. In her time at WPP Scangroup, she took on key management roles in Uganda and South Africa. She has held the positions of General Manager at Ogilvy Africa and Managing Director at MEC / Wavemaker. Prior to joining Airtel Africa plc, Monicah was the Group Human Resource Director for WPP Scangroup. Monica has a passion for mentoring young women and engaging in driving sustainability agenda within her community.

External appointments: Monicah Kambo is currently serving as a Director at Airtel Malawi Networks Plc and Airtel Seychelles Limited.