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Airtel Africa Group CEO-designate, Segun Ogunsanya has been awarded the African Business Leader of the Year at the 2021 African Business Leadership Awards (ABLA). The awards are organized by African Leadership Magazine, a pan-African leadership-focused publication.

According to the organizers, Ogunsanya, who also won the Africa Industry Personality of the Year in 2020, was selected in a keenly contested 3-step points-based process. The process included a call for nomination; online voting for shortlisted nominees and the editorial board’s final review of nominations and voting submissions.

Coming in second place was Standard Bank Group CEO, Simphiwe Tshabalala.

Online voting accounted for 65% of the final outcome, with supporting evidence contributing 35% in the final selection process. The awards attracted over 300,000 online entries, as well as submissions via email and physical posts from Africans across the continent and in Diaspora.

Ogunsanya is an engineer and chartered accountant with over 30 years of experience garnered across multiple geographies, organizations and diverse sectors such as telecoms, consulting, Banking and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). He joined Airtel Nigeria in 2012 and his appointment as Airtel Africa Group CEO comes into effect on 1st October, 2021.

All award winners and runners-up will be presented with an award trophy and formally decorated with instruments of the honor at the 6th virtual Invest in Africa Summit. The summit is slated for September 16th– 17th, 2021 from 3.00 pm – 5.00 pm (GMT) daily. This year’s theme is Africa 4.0: Redefining Growth, Sustainability, and Innovation.

Winners in the 11 categories of the 2021 were unveiled by Dr. Ken Giami, Publisher of the Africa Leadership Magazine. Dr. Ken expressed gratitude to everyone who submitted nominations and participated in the voting process.