At a ceremony held in Nairobi yesterday, Tarig Hamza Zain Elabdein, President and CEO of The Sudatel Group, was named East African CXO of the Year at the annual East Africa Com awards.
These awards celebrate the achievements of the people and organizations improving connectivity and accelerating digital transformation in East Africa. They are part of the East Africa Com show, the premier strategic event for telecoms, media, broadcasting and technology leaders in East Africa taking place in Nairobi this week.
Mr Zain Elabdein beat off strong competition in his category from Ben Roberts, Group Chief Technology and Innovation Officer of Liquid Telecom; Erik Hersman, CEO of BRCK; Joshua Sandler, CEO of Lori Systems and William Kibiwott Chesire, CEO (East Africa) of Mtech Ltd.
Tom Cuthell, Event Director for East Africa Com, said “Congratulations to Mr Zain Elabdein. The judges were very impressed with Sudatel’s progress under his watch – and his ambitious plans for the future.”
Mr Tarig has been President and CEO of The Sudatel Group since 2014. During this time he has developed Sudatel into a major telecom operator with operations across Northern, Central and Western Africa – and an award-winning data centre. Internet capacity in Sudan will increase eightfold during 2019 as a result of Sudatel’s recent investments in its 4G network whilst inter-country connectivity has been improved through the connection of Sudatel’s fibre to the border countries of Chad, Ethiopia and Egypt.
Mr Zain Elabdein also organised the first US trade delegation to Sudan in 20 years following lifting of US sanctions.
Mr Zain Elabdein said: “This is wonderful recognition for both myself and Sudatel. I would like to thank my colleagues and partners for working together to build Sudatel into a world-class operator. Our ongoing strategy is to expand beyond a pure connectivity provider to offer a range of ICT services across the region.”
