Irene Charnley Is The Founder And Deputy Chairman Of Smile Telecoms, A Pan-African Telecommunications Group

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Irene Charnley is the Founder and Deputy Chairman of Smile Telecoms, a Pan-African telecommunications group established in 2007, with broadband operations in Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and a presence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”).
Prior to establishing Smile, Irene was instrumental in transforming MTN Group into one of the most pre-eminent Telecoms operators in the Middle East and Africa region, through a few license companies’ acquisitions. She also led the management and staff buy-in of 18.7% in MTN, which was an entrepreneurial initiative independent of MTN and which saw thousands of MTN employees benefit from the structure at the time.
7 Nov 2019 11AM English South Africa Business News · Investing

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