Smile Telecoms Holdings Ltd. (“Group”) announces important changes in its management

M / s. Irene Charnley and Mr. Mohammad Wajih Sharbatly to step down from Group Board of Directors; The Group’s Board of Directors announces several new appointments to strengthen the Group in the coming era of telecoms transformation.

Smile Telecoms Holdings Ltd., (www.Smilecoms.com), a pan-African telecommunications group with operations in Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo, announced after its board meeting on January 15^e, 2021, significant changes in the management of the board and the management of the Group.

The Group has announced the retirement of Ms. Irene Charnley and Mr. Mohammed Wajih Sharbatly from the Board of Directors of the Group and all boards of directors of operating companies, effective January 1^st 2021.

Ms. Irene Charnley, the founder of Smile, has retired as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Smile Telecoms Limited.

Mr. Mohammad Wajih Sharbatly is co-founder of Smile and acted as co-chairman of the group until December 2020.

Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Ibrahim H. Sharbatly, Group President, said: “Today we say goodbye to our Founder and Vice President, Ms. Irene Charnley. We wish her every success in her new endeavors.”

“We also want to say goodbye to our co-founder and co-chair, Mr. Mohammad Wajih H. Sharbatly.”

“God bless them both.”

Smile Telecom Holdings, during its board meeting on January 15^e, 2021, also announced the following appointments:

• Mr. Osman Sultan has been appointed Vice-Chairman of the Group. Mr. Sultan, founding CEO of EITC (du) in the United Arab Emirates, was at the helm from 2006 to the end of 2019. Prior to that, he was founding CEO of Mobinil in Egypt (now Orange Egypt) from 1998 until ‘at the end. from 2005. Mr. Sultan sits in several ICT companies and university councils. He has been actively involved with Smile as Chairman of the Group Restructuring and Transformation Committee since July 2020.
• Mr. Albert Momdjian has been appointed Group Director and Chairman of the Group Audit Committee. Mr. Momdjian is a former corporate and investment banker with 27 years of investment banking and restructuring experience, primarily in media and telecommunications across Europe, the Middle East and Africa , having been involved in more than $ 100 billion in mergers and acquisitions, financial markets and restructuring. transactions.
• Ms Caroline Chang, recently appointed Group Director in November 2020, has been appointed member of the Group Audit Committee. Ms. Chang is a senior board member and former general counsel for the EMEA region of Farallon, the leading US hedge fund active in Africa and emerging markets.
• These appointments are in addition to the appointment of Mr. Raihan Shaikh-Khaleel as a member of the group’s board of directors in September 2020. Mr. Khaleel is a partner at Swinton Capital and an experienced restructuring advisor in the EMEA region, serving on the on various boards of directors of companies involved in restructuring. He has 20 years of experience in the EMEA region and other cross-border experiences, spending the last 10 years restructuring companies for a leading US hedge fund.

“While we understand the desire of our founders to retire after a difficult journey, we are preparing in recent months for the future. We want to ensure that we bring the best skills on board to enable the Group to face the various challenges and transformations facing the telecommunications sector and take advantage of the opportunities to come. Africa is the fastest growing continent in the world, and data is the new future in the world we live in, ”concluded Mr. Ibrahim Sharbatly.

Commenting on the changes Ahmad Farroukh, Group CEO, added: “I look forward to working with the new board members and relying on their diverse experience to prepare for the future of the company in the tough times the industry is going through. . “

Finally, Smile announced that the group’s board of directors has approved the transfer of the head office and center of interest (COMI) of Smile Telecoms Holdings Ltd from Mauritius to England and Wales.