CC image courtesy of @fran on Flickr
France Telkom, Orange Telkom Kenya’s parent company, is recalling senior executives including chief executive officer (CEO) Mickael Ghossein, following a deal with the Kenyan government that will see the Paris-based company release its grip on the Kenyan company.
Business Daily reports chief financial officer (CFO) Yvan Ridard, chief technical and information officer Alain Bridard, chief marketing and strategy officer Vincent Camadro, chief business market officer Xavier Villegas, chief business transformation and SMEs officer Miveille Helou and head of customer care and marketing Bertrand Vuillemin are the other executives set to leave.
The decision, which will see the executives leave by September, was arrived at after a meeting between France Telkom and Treasury officials last week in Paris.
“There will be some strategic changes in the management team, with the tours of duty of some of the expatriates coming to an end,” a source told the newspaper.
According to officials in the company, the decision comes as a response to the government’s demand for better representation in the management of the company.
The Kenyan government has had preferences for a local executive but Ghossein has several times denied knowledge of any such demands.
“We need to change the business orientation from control by people from France who haven’t understood the local business environment,” former finance minister Njeru Githae said before he left office in April last year.
