Airtel elevates Balsingh to chief commercial officer
Airtel Nigeria has elevated Dinesh Balsingh, marketing director, to the position of chief commercial officer, effective immediately.
The company has also announced the appointments of Seun Solanke as Information Technology Director and Femi Kupoluyi as Sales and Distribution Director.
In his new role, Balsingh will supervise Airtel’s Sales & Distribution, Marketing, Customer Service and Regional Operations functions with responsibility for growing revenue market share, customer market share, brand development, customer experience as well as leading and driving innovation.
An alumnus of TSM in South India, Balsingh has over 20 years’ experience spanning the entire marketing spectrum including Products, Customer Lifecycle Management, Data & Content, Revenue Planning and Brand.
Prior to his role as marketing director,
Airtel Nigeria, he was vice president for Tata Docomo, India (2011-2013) managing national prepaid product marketing. Balsingh also had stints as chief marketing officer for Airtel across India, including one of India’s largest telecom circle, Mumbai, Maharashtra & GOA. He had also managed various assignments across Hutch and BPL Mobile.
Dinesh began his career in 1995 as a Business Development Executive at Parry Agro, South India and later took up a role as Sales & Marketing Manager for TVS Rubber, India
On his part, Seun Solanke joined Airtel Nigeria from Ericsson MEA where he was Senior Director & Head of Solution Area BSS for Middle East & Africa and Director & Head of Digital Services Customer Unit, Nigeria. Prior to his role at Ericsson MEA, he worked at Oracle as the Digital Sales Lead for Nigeria.
Solanke started his career as a Middleware Architect at Hewlett Packard Enterprises in Houston, Texas, growing rapidly through the ranks to become the Engagement & Pursuit Centers Manager, Greece & Africa.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Science and Systems from the Morgan State University, Baltimore and is an alumnus of the Said Business School – University of Oxford.
The other appointee, Femi Kupoluyi, has over 20 years cross-functional experience in relationship management, sales and marketing operations, forecasting and planning.
Before his appointment as Sales & Distribution Director, Airtel Nigeria, he was the Franchise Director, North and Central Region for Coca-Cola Nigeria and has been responsible for the design and implementation of profitable product portfolio growth models that revived and drove the growth of Coca-Cola Light and Fanta Flavour segments.
Kupoluyi holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University) and an MBA from the University of Benin.