Olubayo (Bayo) Adekanmbi is beginning a new adventure with Airtel. The award-winning business and digital innovation executive, has joined Airtel Africa, to lead its strategy, partnership and sustainability roadmap.
Airtel Africa outlined the key roles he will play, including leading innovation among others.
Olubayo Adekanmbi “will be responsible for leading strategic business-wide initiatives, including innovation, strategic investment, operational efficiencies, and partnerships. In addition to this, he is also responsible for delivering Airtel Africa’s Group Sustainability. He is part of our Executive Committee and reports directly to Segun Ogunsanya, CEO,” Airtel said on its website.
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Prior to his appointment by Airtel Africa headquartered in London, United Kingdom, Adekanmbi previously worked for MTN in South Africa and Nigeria as Chief Transformation and Strategy Officer, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, General Manager, Business Intelligence and Head of Strategy and Analytics.
Bayo has over two decades cognate industry experience. He also has made innovative contribution to strategic innovation and analytics practice in telecommunication.
His work on the use of machine learning algorithm in customer value and risk management earned him global recognition by the U.S. based Corinium Intelligence as one of the Top 100 global innovators in data and analytics.
This solution also earned him a Yello Star award in 2013 for enabling billions of naira in revenue growth.
Bayo is an innovation leader who has driven impactful strategic projects and innovations. He was the Nigeria lead for the MTN Group-led efficiency transformation programme IGNITE, a future-shaping intervention by MTN to accelerate the company’s business and financial performance.
As a strategist, Adekanmbi led many short and long-term strategic initiatives, like e-SIM, 5G trial, data monetization, spectrum acquisition, agile transformation, national roaming pilot, data center, 5G strategy, etc.
He also works at the nexus of the use of artificial intelligence and data science for the attainment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One of his works was the evidence-based, national COVID-19 intervention, conducted with the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, using anonymized telecoms mobility data and other multiple points of interest data for social good. In partnership with the GSM Association (GSMA), Cambridge University Press recently published this work.
Olubayo Adekanmbi is the founder of the award-winning non-profit Data Science Nigeria (DSN, now Data Scientists Network), which has evolved into Africa’s number one artificial intelligence learning, research, start-up incubation, social product development network.
Two DSN’s products were recently recognized and listed in the Global Top 100 of artificial intelligence products by the International Research Centre in Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for their outstanding contribution to the U.N.’s SDGs in the areas of health and education in low-resourced countries.
Olubayo Adekanmbi graduated with Distinction from the University of Reading postgraduate school, United Kingdom, and has also completed both full-time and executive education in many other leading institutions, including Columbia Business School, New York; The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Chicago; INSEAD Business School, France; Telecoms Training Institute, London; ETH Zurich, Switzerland; and Gatton College of Business at the University of Kentucky, Kentucky.
Asked if his position in Airtel will affect the functions off DSN, Bayo said it will not “because DSN has full dedicated staff who are running all the programmes on full time basis.”