Bharti Airtel, a leading emerging market telecom services provider, today announced the appointment of Andre Beyers as the Chief Marketing Officer for its African operations. The company recently acquired the mobile services operations of Zain in 15 countries across Africa and is working towards introducing its brand ‘Airtel’ in these markets shortly. Andre will report to Manoj Kohli, CEO (International) and Jt. MD, Bharti Airtel.Commenting on the appointment Mr. Manoj Kohli said, “We are delighted to have Andre on board and believe that his experience will be immensely valuable and contribute to our vision of making Airtel the most loved brand in the daily lives of African people. It will be our endeavour to achieve leadership position in all our markets by delivering a superior brand experience backed by world-class service, strong distribution network and innovative products that delight customers. I wish Andre the very best for his new assignment.”    

Andre brings with him over 20 years of rich experience in marketing and brand management, particularly in the telecom sector. He contributed towards Vodacom’s marketing and brand efforts for 11 years. Andre spent 4 years supporting Vodacom’s incubation hub (the fast tracking of advertising and communications relating to new ideas) and managing Vodacom’s brand, whilst working for FCB (South Africa’s largest advertising group) and then led Vodacom’s marketing function for 7 years (2001 to 2008) during which both customer base and revenue grew manifold. He led the brand strategy for Vodacom across Africa and also set up the initial marketing framework across Mozambique, Congo, DRC, Tanzania and Lesotho. He also led Eyeballs Mobile Pty Ltd, a Cape Town based Mobile advertising company as its Chairman & Marketing Director. Andre’s most recent assignment was as Marketing Director, Vital Health Foods - South Africa\'s leading vitamin and nutritional supplement company.  

In his role as the Chief Marketing Officer for Aitel Africa, Andre will be responsible for developing the Marketing & Distribution Strategy, Enhancing Revenue & Customer Market Share in all markets, Development of Innovative Products, and nurturing the Airtel Brand across Africa.