Leadership

Our executives combine strong management skills with a proven track record in the communications industry and specialist market insight. The Executive Management Committee and Board of Directors are shown below.

Leadership Team
Board of Directors

Sam Darwish

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Sam Darwish is one of our co-founders and serves as the Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer of IHS Towers, and as a Director of IHS Towers. Mr. Darwish has over 25 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry. Before founding the Company, he served as the Deputy Managing Director of CELIA Motophone Ltd, Nigeria’s first GSM operator. Prior to that, Mr. Darwish was Vice Chairman and Director of projects at Lintel, an international GSM operator, responsible for global project implementation in West Africa and the Middle East. Mr. Darwish also served as Network Manager for Libancell SAL, a Lebanese GSM operator, which is currently known as Touch. In addition, Mr. Darwish has created several businesses and investment firms. In this regard, he currently serves as the Founder and Principal of Singularity Investments, a private investment firm with a focus on technology, media and telecommunications companies with investments in the United States and the emerging markets. He is also the Founder and President of DAR Properties, a property investment company, and DAR Telecoms, a telecommunications consulting company. He is also a Trustee of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, New York.
William Saad

Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder

William is responsible for shaping IHS Towers’ long-term technology vision and driving innovation across the company.

He is one of our co-founders and has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of IHS Towers since July 2012 and has 27 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry.

Before co-founding IHS Towers, he was the Operations Director at CELIA Motophone, a Nigerian GSM operator, from 1998 to 2001. Before joining CELIA, William served as project manager at Lintel SAL, an international GSM operator, from 1998 to 1999 and prior to that as OMC Network Administrator with Libancell SAL, the first Lebanese GSM operator, from 1995 to 1998. William also serves on the board of several private companies as well as the Lebanese-Nigerian Initiative, a non-profit organization.

He has a bachelor’s degree in Computer and Communication Engineering from the American University of Beirut.
Steve Howden

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Steve is responsible for overseeing the financial activities of all IHS entities and implementing an effective financial strategy across the company.

He has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of IHS Towers since April 2022. Steve previously served as Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Financial Officer from June 2019 until March 2022. Since joining IHS Towers in January 2013, he has also served as Group Head of M&A as well as a variety of other senior finance positions.

Prior to joining IHS Towers, Steve was a member of the Ernst & Young M&A department from 2006 to 2013 and in the Corporate Restructuring team at Ernst & Young and Andersen prior to that. He has approximately 17 years of finance and corporate finance experience.

He is a qualified Chartered Accountant who trained at Ernst & Young in London and has a BSc in Business Administration from the University of Bath in the UK.
Mustafa Tharoo

Executive Vice President and General Counsel

Mustafa is responsible for all Legal matters pertaining to IHS, guiding the company through change and providing Legal counsel to the Board of Directors and the wider Executive Committee.

He is a leading corporate and commercial lawyer. Mustafa joined IHS Towers in 2011 and has served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel since 2012. He has over 20 years of experience in corporate, compliance and regulatory matters as well as major transactions across Africa and the Middle East. He is also a member of IHS' Executive Ethics Committee.

Mustafa's primary fields of practice include mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, complex commercial contracts and corporate and project finance matters. He has also undertaken a variety of private and public company commercial work. Mustafa has acted for, and advised, vendors and purchasers on the acquisition and disposal of shares and assets. This included undertaking detailed due diligence investigations and drafting and negotiating share purchase, asset purchase, joint venture, partnership, sale and leaseback agreements, distribution and marketing agreements. On the debt capital markets side, he has also been involved in the drafting of OMs, listing of publicly traded securities and undertaking liability management exercises.

Before joining IHS Towers, Mustafa was a Consultant at ADEPT Chambers in Tanzania. Previously, he served as a Consultant at Ringo & Associates in Tanzania and a Partner at Anjarwalla & Khanna in Kenya.
Mohamad Darwish

Executive Vice President, IHS Nigeria CEO and Co-Founder

Mohamad is responsible for leading IHS’ largest entity, IHS Nigeria, and delivering a commercial strategy that supports IHS’ wider growth ambitions.

He has around 20 years' experience working in the telecommunications sector, is one of our co-founders and has served as Executive Vice President of IHS Towers and Chief Executive Officer of IHS Nigeria since January 2023. Mohamad previously served as Senior Vice President of IHS Towers and Chief Executive Officer of IHS Nigeria from November 2015 until December 2022.

Prior to this, he served as the IHS Nigeria Deputy CEO from October 2014 to November 2015. Mohamad is responsible for growing IHS Nigeria’s operations and further strengthening its position as the leading tower company in Nigeria. He oversees the development of the IHS Nigeria's strategic plan, the roll out of new sales strategies, and manages key relationships with clients, regulators, ministries and NGOs. He is a member of the Executive Ethics Committee and responsible for helping ensure the company is fully compliant at a Group level with international standards and best practices.

Mohamad has a Master of Engineering in Applied Operation Research from Cornell University, a Master of Business Administration with Honours from Rollins College, and a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from the American University of Beirut.
Ayotade Oyinlola

Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer

Ayotade is responsible for upholding IHS' culture and values by delivering a HR strategy that attracts, retains and develops leading talent across all IHS entities. Ayotade also serves as the Head of the Dubai Corporate Office.

He brings over 20 years of HR and telecommunications industry experience to the IHS management team. Before joining IHS, Ayotade served as Millicom Services UK Head of HR for Africa and Europe, overseeing operations throughout Africa, as well as the corporate offices in London, Luxembourg and Sweden. He has extensive experience in driving international and African talent acquisition and development at various executive and operational levels within the telecommunications sector. Previously, he served as Ericsson’s West Africa HR Director and Ericsson’s Sub-Sahara Africa Director for Learning and Development. In addition, he has held several senior positions at Shell Petroleum, Bristow Helicopters, Atlasco Technologies and Resourcery Limited.

Ayotade holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree (Electrical & Computer Engineering) from the Federal University of Technology, Minna; and an Executive MBA (Strategy, Human & Organizational Behavior and Strategic HR) from the Lagos Business School. Ayotade is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in the UK, and a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Managers in Nigeria.

Sam Darwish

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Sam Darwish is one of our co-founders and serves as the Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer of IHS Towers, and as a Director of IHS Towers. Mr. Darwish has over 25 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry. Before founding the Company, he served as the Deputy Managing Director of CELIA Motophone Ltd, Nigeria’s first GSM operator. Prior to that, Mr. Darwish was Vice Chairman and Director of projects at Lintel, an international GSM operator, responsible for global project implementation in West Africa and the Middle East. Mr. Darwish also served as Network Manager for Libancell SAL, a Lebanese GSM operator, which is currently known as Touch. In addition, Mr. Darwish has created several businesses and investment firms. In this regard, he currently serves as the Founder and Principal of Singularity Investments, a private investment firm with a focus on technology, media and telecommunications companies with investments in the United States and the emerging markets. He is also the Founder and President of DAR Properties, a property investment company, and DAR Telecoms, a telecommunications consulting company. He is also a Trustee of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, New York.
Mallam Bashir Ahmad El-Rufai

Independent Non-Executive Director

Mallam Bashir Ahmad El-Rufai joined the Board of Directors of IHS Holding Limited in June 2013. Mr. El-Rufai also serves on the boards of a number of our subsidiaries. Prior to joining IHS Nigeria, Mr. El-Rufai served as Training and Development Officer and later Assistant Production Manager at Kano State Oil & Allied Product Limited from 1977 to 1979, before joining Nigerian Cereals Processing Company Ltd as Group Marketing Manager from 1981 to 1983. He served as Chief Commercial Officer for the Northern District of Nigerian External Telecommunications Limited from 1983 to 1985 and held several positions at Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd.

From 1985 to 1996. Mr. El-Rufai was also co-founder and President of Intercellular Nigeria Limited. From 1997 to 2009 Mr. El-Rufai currently serves as Chairman of Intercellular Nigeria and has served as Vice Chairman and Corporate Advisor of Intercellular (Nigeria) Limited in 2009. He also served as an Independent Director of FSDH Merchant Bank Limited. Mr. El‑-Rufai has also chaired several boards, including Channel Distribution (an ICT company), Systemtech (an IT company), Alpha Aluminium and Northstar Chemicals, among others.
Ursula M. Burns

Independent Non-Executive Director

Ursula Burns joined the Board of Directors of IHS Holding Limited as an Independent Non-Executive Director in July 2020. Ms. Burns was the Chairman of the Board of Xerox Corporation from 2010 to 2017 and Chief Executive Officer from 2009 to 2016, after having been appointed President in 2007. During Ms. Burns’ tenure as Chief Executive Officer, she helped the company transform from a global leader in document technology to the world’s most diversified business services company serving enterprises and governments of all sizes. Shortly after being named CEO in 2009, she spearheaded the largest acquisition in Xerox history, the $6.4 billion purchase of Affiliated Computer Services.

Following her retirement from Xerox, Ms. Burns was appointed as Chairman of VEON, Ltd. in 2017 and became Chairman and CEO in December 2018 until June 2020.

Ms. Burns is a member of the Uber Technologies, Inc., and Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. Board of Directors. She is also a founding partner of Integrum Holdings, a private equity firm, Non-Executive Chairman of Teneo Holdings LLC. In addition, Ms. Burns is on several private company boards, including Waystar and Hear.com while also providing leadership counsel to several other community, educational and non-profit organizations including the Ford Foundation, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Corporation, Cornell Tech Board of Overseers, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Mayo Clinic amongst others.

President Barack Obama appointed Ms. Burns to lead the White House national program on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) from 2009 - 2016. She served as Chair of the President’s Export Council from 2015 - 2016 after service as Vice Chair from 2010 - 2015.

Ms. Burns holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Polytechnic Institute of New York University. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Royal Academy of Engineering and the G7 Gender Equity Advisory Council.
Jeb Bush

Independent Non-Executive Director

Jeb Bush joined the Board of Directors of IHS Holding Limited as an Independent Non-Executive Director in October 2019. Mr. Bush is the 43rd governor of the State of Florida, serving from 1999 through to 2007. He was the third Republican elected to the state’s highest office and the first Republican in the state’s history to be re-elected. He was most recently a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

Governor Bush remained true to his conservative principles throughout his two terms in office – cutting nearly $20 billion in taxes, vetoing more than $2.3 billion in earmarks and reducing the state government workforce. His limited government approach helped unleash one of the most robust and dynamic economies in the nation, creating 1.3 million net new jobs and improving the state’s credit ratings, including achieving the first ever triple-A bond rating for Florida.

During his two terms, Governor Bush championed major reform of government, in areas ranging from health care and environmental protection to civil service and tax reform. His top priority was the overhaul of the state’s failing education system. Under Governor Bush’s leadership, Florida established a bold accountability system in public schools and created the most ambitious school choice programs in the nation. Governor Bush is also known for his leadership during two unprecedented back-to-back hurricane seasons, which brought eight hurricanes and four tropical storms to the state of Florida in less than two years. He worked tirelessly to improve the state’s ability to respond quickly and compassionately during emergencies, while also instilling a ‘culture of preparedness’ in the state’s citizenry.

Governor Bush previously served as a Presidential Professor of Practice at University of Pennsylvania. He also served as a visiting professor and fellow at Harvard University, an executive professor at Texas A&M University, and has been awarded several honorary doctorates from collegiate institutions across the country. Governor Bush earned his bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

Governor Bush currently serves as Chairman of Finback Investments Partners LLC and Dock Square Capital LLC, both merchant banks headquartered in Coral Gables.

Governor Bush maintains his passion for improving the quality of education by serving as the Chairman of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, a national non-profit education reform organization he founded to transform education in America.
Frank Dangeard

Independent Non-Executive Director

Frank Dangeard joined the Board of Directors of IHS Holding Limited in September 2020 and is an Independent Non-Executive Director. Mr. Dangeard was Chairman & CEO of Thomson from September 2004 to February 2008. Prior to that he was Deputy CEO of France Telecom from September 2002 to September 2004, Deputy CEO and Deputy Chairman of Thomson Multimedia from June 1997 to September 2002, and Managing Director of the investment bank SG Warburg & Co. Ltd from October 1988 to June 1997.

Mr. Dangeard currently serves as Chairman of the boards of Gen Digital (previously NortonLifelock), and NatWest Markets, the investment banking arm of NatWest Group, and as a director of the NatWest Group and of Spear Investments B.V. Mr. Dangeard has previously served on the boards of RPX, Orange, Equant, Wanadoo, Eutelsat, SonaeCom, Arqiva and on the board of Telenor as Deputy Chairman and Acting Chairman. He has been a member of the Advisory Boards of the Harvard Business School and of Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales, and was a founding board member of Bruegel, the European think-tank.

Mr. Dangeard graduated from the École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (Prix Jouy-Entreprise), the Paris Institut d’Études Politiques (Lauréat) and from the Harvard Law School (Fulbright Scholar, HLS Fellow). He received the French Ordre National du Mérite and the French Légion d’Honneur.
Maria Carolina Lacerda

Independent Non-Executive Director

Maria Carolina Lacerda joined the Board of Directors of IHS Holding Limited as a Non-Executive Director in October 2021. Ms. Lacerda has over 25 years of experience in the financial industry and has held various senior management positions throughout her career, including at UBS Investment Bank, UNIBANCO, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, Inc. and Bear, Stearns & Company, Inc.

Ms. Lacerda has served as an independent member of the board of directors of PagBank PagSeguro since January 2023, of Rumo S.A. since May 2021, and of Hypera Pharma since October 2016. Ms. Lacerda has also served as an independent board member of China Three Gorges Brasil. Ms. Lacerda previous served as a Board member of Vibra Energia (formerly BR Distribuidora) between 2019 and 2022, and between 2012 and 2016 she served as a board member of ANBIMA (Associação Brasileira das Entidades dos Mercados Financeiros e de Capitais), CNF (Confederação Nacional das Instituições Financeiras) and the Listing Chamber at BM&FBovespa in Brazil.

Ms. Lacerda has a BA in Economics from the University of São Paulo (1994) and an MBA from Columbia University (1999). She also has Corporate Directors Certifications from IBGC and Harvard Business School.
Nick Land

Independent Non-Executive Director

Nick Land joined the IHS Holding Limited Board of Directors as a Non-Executive Independent Director in August 2019. He is a chartered accountant, retired as Executive Chairman of Ernst & Young LLP in 2006 following 36 years with the firm. Mr. Land also serves as the Deputy Chair of Thames Water Utilities Ltd and chairs the Audit and Risk Committee. He is also Chair of The Instant Group and sits on the board of Astro Lighting Ltd. Mr. Land has previously been a Non-Executive Director of Vodafone Group, Royal Dutch Shell, Alliance Boots, Ashmore Group, and Signature Aviation. He is also Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Vodafone Group Foundation, is an adviser to the Board of Dentons UK EMEA and chairs the Private Equity Reporting Group of the British Venture Capital Association.
Phuthuma Nhleko

Independent Non-Executive Director

Joined the Board of Directors of IHS Holding Limited as a Non-Executive Independent Director in October 2021. Mr. Nhleko previously served as Chief Executive of MTN Group from 2002 to 2011 and continued to serve as Non-Executive Director and Chair of the MTN Group board from 2013 to 2019. He also currently as Chairman of the Pembani Group (PTY) Ltd, a position he has held since 2011. He currently serves on the boards of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, or the JSE, and is expected to serve as the Chairman of the JSE from May 2022. Mr. Nhleko also serves as the director of Engen Holding Limited and Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund Managers. Previously, he served on the boards of BP plc from 2011 to 2016 and Anglo American from 2011 to 2015. In addition, during his tenure as MTN Group CEO, he was a non-executive director at the GSM Association, the global trade association for mobile phone operators. Prior to joining MTN Group, Mr. Nhleko served as a director of Nedbank Group Limited and Old Mutual Life (SA).
Aniko Szigetvari

Independent Non-Executive Director

Aniko Szigetvari first served on the Board of Directors of IHS Holding Limited as a Non-Executive Director from July 2014 to February 2021, before re-joining in October 2021. She is the founding partner of Atlantica Ventures, an African impact focused venture capital fund investing in early-stage startups building technology and technology-enabled businesses. She serves as board committee chair and advisory board member of various investee companies. Prior to this, Ms. Szigetvari also had 20 years' experience with the International Finance Corporation, or IFC, beginning in 1998, where she focused on emerging markets principal investing and financing, primarily in the telecommunication, media, and technology, or TMT, sectors. For eight years she managed IFC's TMT business, first as the Head of the Africa and Latin America TMT businesses, then including four years as Global Head of the TMT group from 2015 to 2019, leading investment and portfolio activities across all emerging markets. Prior to joining IFC, Ms. Szigetvari held roles at DHL, Kraft Foods and McKinsey & Company. She holds various graduate degrees, including a Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.