Djibril Tobe is a Senegalese telecommunications executive who became Managing Director of Airtel Kenya on July 1, 2026, taking over from Ashish Malhotra. He has close to 30 years of professional experience, starting in Senegal before moving into roles across six African countries.
He speaks three languages, and Kenya marks only his second Anglophone posting after a career spent mostly in Francophone markets.
Djibril Tobe Education
He holds a degree in business management from ISG Paris. Djibril Tobe later invested heavily in executive education at INSEAD, attending a short executive program there in 2018, completing INSEAD’s International Directors Program in 2024, and earning a Certificate in Corporate Governance in 2025.
Djibril Tobe’s early career
He began as a financial auditor with Ernst & Young’s School of Excellence and Achievement from 1996 to 1998. He then spent four years at Coca-Cola in Senegal (1998–2002), contributing to sales growth and helping launch products like Fanta flavors and the “Spriteball” program.
Djibril Tobe later became Senior Operations Manager for Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company, overseeing operations across nine countries and leading the launch of Dasani bottled water in the region.
Move into telecoms.
In 2006 he joined Celtel Burkina Faso (later rebranded Airtel) as Commercial Director, delivering strong subscriber and revenue growth.
From late 2006 to 2016, he served nine years as CEO of Expresso Telecom Group, where in Guinea he turned a small greenfield operator into a credible market competitor.
Rise within Airtel
He then joined Airtel proper as Managing Director of Airtel Chad (2016–2023), where he’s credited with a major turnaround pushing the business to the leading position in Chad’s telecom market and winning internal Airtel awards for best data performance and highest group-wide profitability.
From May 2023 to June 2026, Djibril Tobe led Airtel Congo B in Brazzaville, growing market share by four percentage points in 2025 and winning the Airtel Africa CEO’s Special Award, the Best Team Trophy, and a Leadership and Social Responsibility Trophy from the PSI Foundation.
Airtel Kenya
Djibril Tobe now leads a business that, under his predecessor, doubled revenues, grew subscribers from 16 million to 24 million, rolled out over 2,000 new network sites, launched 5G and fibre products, and grew Airtel Money’s market share from roughly 2% to 11% while still trailing Safaricom by a wide margin overall.
His stated priorities going forward include enterprise broadband expansion, accelerating mobile money adoption, monetizing 5G, and engaging regulators on spectrum and interconnect issues.
Drop Your Comments, What do you think About The Article?