Mahtab appointed new Robi Axiata CEO, takes charge from November

Robi Axiata has appointed Mahtab Uddin Ahmed as its new Chief Executive Officer “as part of its ongoing efforts towards developing and promoting talents from within”.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 13 July 2016, 03:01 PM
Updated : 13 July 2016, 03:19 PM

Mahtab will take over charges as the CEO and Managing Director in Bangladesh from Supun Weerasinghe on Nov 1, the mobile-phone operator said in a media statement on Wednesday.

Before that, he will return to Robi’s Leadership team from Sept 1 in the capacity of the Deputy Chief Executive Officer.

Weerasinghe will return to Dialog Axiata Plc, Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, as the successor to Group CEO Hans Wijayasuriya from Jan 1, 2017.

Mahtab is currently seconded to Axiata Group for a special assignment.

“The succession announcement by Robi Axiata marks the culmination of the succession program planned and executed over the past several years centered on the Accelerated Leadership Development Program of the Axiata Group,” the statement added.

Mahtab was Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Robi from April 2014 to March 2016, having joined the company in 2010 as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He held the position until 2014.

He had worked for 17 years with Unilever where he held various business and finance leadership positions including the post of Finance Director in various operating companies like Unilever Pakistan, Unilever Arabia and Unilever Bangladesh.

The CEO-designate did his Bachelor of Honours and Masters in Accounting from the University of Dhaka.

He is also a Fellow member (FCMA) of Institute of Cost and Management Accountant of Bangladesh (CMAB), FCMA & CGMA of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA, UK). He is also an alumnus of the Harvard Business School (AMP 190), the Robi statement also said.

Robi is a joint venture between Axiata Group of Malaysia and NTT DoCoMo of Japan. 

It is one of the leading mobile phone operators in Bangladesh with 27.6 million subscribers, as of April 2016, according to the media statement. 

Robi network provides nationwide coverage to 99 percent of the country’s population with 13,475 BTS and 4,271 3.5G sites. 

“Robi proudly claims to have widest international roaming service in the market, connecting about 385 operators across more than 140 countries,” it said.

 It is also the first operator to introduce GPRS and 3.5G services in Bangladesh.
 
The statement said the company has introduced ‘many’ first-of-its-kind digital services in the country.
 
It has invested ‘heavily’ in taking mobile financial services to the 'underserved communities in the rural and semi-urban areas'.