Mahtab to helm Robi as CEO, managing director from Tuesday

Mahtab Uddin Ahmed is taking over telecoms operator Robi Axiata Limited as the first Bangladeshi CEO and Managing Director from Tuesday.

Mahtab is replacing Supun Weerasinghe, who has been the top Robi executive since January 2014, according to a Robi media statement.

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.

Commenting on Mahtab’s succession, Axiata Group Berhad’s President and Group CEO Tan Sri Jamaluddin Ibrahim said, “We are pleased to appoint Mahtab as the new CEO of our Bangladesh operations, an important and key market for the Group."

"Mahtab’s appointment solidifies Axiata’s Asian Talent Factory promise," the statement quoted Ibrahim as saying.

About the planned merger with Airtel, Ibrahim said in the statement, "I’m confident Mahtab, being the first Bangladeshi, will provide strong leadership and vision for the merged entity.”

Robi announced the appointment of Mahtab in July. He was seconded to Axiata Group for a special assignment at that time and made Robi's deputy CEO in September.

Mahtab was Robi's chief operating officer from April 2014 to March 2016. Before joining Robi as chief financial officer in 2010, 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 the Institute of Cost and Management Accountant of Bangladesh (CMAB), FCMA & CGMA of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA, UK), and an alumnus of the Harvard Business School (AMP 190).