Airtel's perilous safari: How Sunil Bharti Mittal conquered Africa
Bharti Airtel, exhorted the world to bet on Africa, calling it the last continent of hope, having a large young population but also one of the most backward parts of the world.
“Just adopt Africa as a place to do agriculture and perhaps value-added agriculture. The entire world can change.
5- 10% of its 60% of uncultivated land can dramatically alter the food chain and food ecosystem of the world,” he said.
Mittal's insight comes from a daring bet he had himself placed on Africa more than a decade ago, which proved to be as adventurous as a jungle safari through African wilderness. Many in India won't know that Airtel is as familiar a brand in nearly half of Africa as in India.
That also makes Airtel one of India's biggest global brands. Mittal's call for developing Africa as the granary of the world, which continues to grapple with a food crisis, comes from his own hard-earned knowledge about the continent.
Airtel Africa is the first- or second-largest operator by customer market share in 13 markets of its total 14, in all of which it offers 4G services.
Recently, Airtel Uganda has said it plans to raise $216 million in an initial public offering, making it the nation’s biggest share sale. If Airtel Uganda reaches its IPO target, it will become Uganda’s biggest company by market value.How Mittal's African adventure began
Mittal, a first-generation entrepreneur who built Airtel, for long India's biggest telecom company, had heeded to the call of the wild in 1997, just two years after setting up Airtel in India, when he tried to start operation in Botswana but failed.
