Nairobi, Kenya. Essar Communications Holdings Limited (ECHL), the Telecom subsidiary of Essar Global has appointed Mr. Michael P. Foley as Chief Executive Officer – East Africa. Mr. Foley will have overall responsibility for the group's telecom investments and operations in the region. He will oversee the roll out and launch of Econet Wireless Kenya.

A telecom and marketing professional for over 25 years, Mr. Foley brings on board commercial and management experience gained from a number of leading telcos in Canada, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Tanzania and Nigeria. An experienced executive, consultant and speaker on Telecom issues, he previously served with Celtel as MD Tanzania and as Chief Commercial Officer in Nigeria. He has also served as Group CCO for Emirates International Telecommunications (Dubai, Malta, Tunisia, and London).

Mr. Foley, began his career In Canada with Procter & Gamble Inc. before moving to the telecom sector with New Brunswick Telephone and Bell Canada. He was President of @Home Networks (Canada), VP of Excite@Home (US) and served on the Board of Excite.ca. Michael has held executive level telecom roles in Eastern Europe, Iraq, UAE, Tunisia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, among others.

Early in the year, ECHL announced the acquisition of a 49% stake in Econet Wireless International Limited (EWI) by subscribing to fresh capital in the company. Essar will actively participate with EWI in the network rollout of Econet Wireless Kenya.

Econet Wireless Kenya has also announced three senior leadership appointments. The new appointees are Mr. Shailendra Khare as the Chief Technical Officer, Mr., Philip Mudimu as Project Director (East Africa) and Ms. Anna Othoro as Marketing Director.

These appointments are in line with Kenya’s third mobile telephone provider’s plan to employ a management team with extensive regional and global experience in order to give much needed throttle to a dynamic yet critical sector.

Equally, the senior appointees have notched up experience in various leadership positions in various telecommunications facets regionally and across the globe.

Mr. Shailendra Khare brings on board over 20 years technical experience with the last 13 years in the Cellular Networks domain. Prior to joining Econet as CTO – East Africa, he held a number of senior positions in IBM, Nokia & Reliance Infocomm.

He has extensive experience in Planning, Roll-out & Operations of cellular networks. He has also handled Managed Services role for a leading operator in India. His global experience spans assignments in the India, the Middle East & Africa.

Mr. Philip Mudimu is a veteran of Econet and has played an instrumental role in steering the company through the last 5 years. Philip will lead regulatory and government relations and will also focus on development activities outside of Kenya. Philip has 27 years of Telecom Experience. After working with the Zimbabwean Posts & Telecommunications, he joined Econet Wireless International where he was a senior executive in Nigeria, South Africa and most recently in Kenya when he joined Econet Wireless Kenya in 2002.

Ms Anna Othoro is well known in the mobile telephony circles from her stint in a similar position at Celtel Kenya. Anna’s appointment is significant given her understanding of the local mobile telephony marketing terrain She has an expansive experience in Commercial management (Sales and Marketing) spanning over 11 years having held various senior management positions at both a local and International level with GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Limited and most recently Marketing Director of Celtel Kenya Limited. She has specialized in launching new products both in East Africa and the Middle East and has a strong record of achievement in the competitive fast moving consumer goods markets. She is a seasoned marketer with an Upper Second Class Honors Degree from the University of Nairobi and a MBA in Marketing from the United States International University.

About Essar Global
Essar Global Limited (EGL) is a diversified corporate group with businesses in the manufacturing and services sectors of Steel, Energy, Power, Telecommunications, Shipping, Ports & Logistics, Mining & Mineral Resources, and Construction. EGL has a firm value of approximately USD 50 billion and employs 38,000 people worldwide. More than 15 percent of Essar’s workforce is in the Americas.

Privately owned and professionally managed, EGL has an excellent track record, having succeeded in the capital intensive and competitive manufacturing sectors. Better focus through integration, incorporation of state-of-the-art technology and innovative in-house research has made Essar Global a leading player in each of its businesses.

NOTE TO EDITORS

Essar Telecommunications is the single largest investor (with a 33% interest) in Vodafone-Essar, a joint venture with Vodafone Group and one of India’s largest cellular service providers, with 46 million subscribers, currently adding 2 million subscribers every month. Essar owns ‘The MobileStore’, India's largest national retail chain of mobile phone stores. Essar has a major presence in the telecom infrastructure space with one of the largest investments in tower companies. Essar operates India’s 4th largest business process outsourcing business operating under the Aegis brand, with 20 centers spread across USA and India staffed by over 20,000 employees.

Essar Steel is a global producer of steel operating out of India, North America, the Middle East and Asia. It is a fully integrated flat carbon steel manufacturer - from iron ore to ready-to-market products. It has a current capacity of 8.5 million tons. With Essar’s expansion in India, Asia and North America, capacity is expected to rise to about 20 million tons by 2012. Essar successfully acquired Algoma Steel in Sault Ste Marie, Canada, in 2007, where following a capital expenditure program and incorporating improved work processes, it has increased production from 2.5 MTPA to 3.4 MTPA in just 10 months.

Essar Energy operates a fully integrated oil company of international size and scale in India. Its assets include development rights in proven oil & gas blocks, a 12 million tons per annum refinery, currently being expanded to 34 million tons per annum, and over 1,500 fuel stations across India. Plans are under way to increase exploration acreage, further acquire / build oil refineries internationally, and open a total of 5,000 fuel stations.

Essar Power operates five power generation plants with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts. Its portfolio includes gas and coal fired plants and renewable energy sources. Essar is currently increasing its generation capacity to 6000 MW of coal and gas fuelled plants, with an investment of approximately USD 5 billion. It also plans to enter the power transmission and distribution markets.

Essar Ports, Shipping & Logistics is a comprehensive, end-to-end player in maritime transportation, ports and terminals, logistics, contract drilling and allied services. It is a global shipping and logistics provider with sea and surface transportation services, oilfield drilling services, dry and liquid terminals, tankage and associated pipelines.

Essar Projects is a global engineering procurement and construction company based in Dubai with offices in India and China. The Essar Engineering Center specialises in detailed engineering and design for large projects. Global Supplies specialises in procurement. Construction executes projects for industrial plants, civil & irrigation projects, pipe laying – both offshore and onshore, marine construction and highways and expressways. Heavy Engineering Services manufactures pressure vessels, reactors, vacuum vessels and cranes. Essar Constructions undertakes projects on a turnkey basis, with a pipeline division certified at ISO 9001.

Essar Mining & Minerals owns iron ore and coal mines in India and overseas. It has acquired the U.S. based Minnesota Steel that has iron ore reserves of approximately 1.5 billion tons.

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