First Name: Azmi Taha
Title: CEO
Date of Birth: 21/09/1972
Place of Birth:
Tripoli,
Lebanon Family: Member of the influential
Mikati business family, the most famous individual in the family is ex-prime minister
Najib Mikati. Azmi is the son of
Taha Mikati,
Investcom's chairman and founder.
Taha Mikati is Najib's brother.He lives in
Beirut,
Lebanon with his wife Mira Zantout and their two children Nada and Taha
Education: 1994 Bachelor's degree in science,
Columbia University,
USA Languages: ArabicEnglishFrench
CV: 1998- CEO, Investcom LLC, Lebanon2005- Director, M1 Limited, Dubai, United Arab Emirates1994-97 Director, T-One Corporation, USABoard member of FTML, the France Telecom subsidiary and the previous operator of one of two mobile networks in Lebanon
Quotes: As a corporate entity
Investcom was founded in 1984. The group began its telecom adventure back in 1982. The partners lived in
Abu Dhabi but moved back to
Lebanon. They found the telecom situation very bad due to the war. We started selling and installing satellite phones designed for ships on office buildings as a sideline. We installed about 50 phones but they were very expensive, about $50,000 each with calls costing $10 per minute. Eventually we installed the first cellular network in the 1990s and we moved on from there."The Saudi Arabian third licence is something that we would seriously consider, and if you look at
Iraq, this is a market that is now going through the process of licensing GSM concessions. We're very keen to pursue these aggressively,""I think if you look at our markets, a lot of them are quite sizeable.
Afghanistan has 30 million people,
Sudan 40 million,
Ghana 20 million,
Yemen 20 million,
Syria 20 million. So you have some of those sizeable markets, and then you have smaller ones with
Guinea that has 10 million people, and
Liberia with a couple of million. What we try to do is not look purely at the size of the market when we look at an opportunity, we really try to look at what that market can give us, and what is the profile of that market - is it a market that has potential?"
Misc:
Azmi Mikati is responsible for the global strategy of the holding and its implementation. While in college, he founded T-One, a telecom company providing long-distance services between the
United States and other international destinations.In July 2006, South African telecom operator MTN took over
Investcom in a cash-and-shares deal.
Investcom was incorporated in 1994 under the name
Investcom Holding (
Luxembourg) S.A., as a Societe Anonyme domiciled in the
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
Investcom is the holding company of the group companies with its head office located in
Beirut,
Lebanon. In September 2005,
Investcom changed its domicile from the
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to the
Dubai International Financial Centre in the
Emirate of Dubai in the
United Arab Emirates. Following the change of its domicile,
Investcom's name was changed from
Investcom Holding (
Luxembourg) S.A. to
Investcom LLC. In October 2005,
Investcom went public with a primary listing on the
DIFX and a secondary listing on the LSE.
Investcom is the holding company under which many other telecom companies controlled by the Mikatis are found.
Investcom is 70.6 percent owned by the Mikatis.
Investcom owns and operates GSM networks, ostensibly under the Areeba brand in
Benin,
Cyprus,
Ghana,
Guinea Bissau,
Liberia,
Sudan,
Syria and
Yemen, and recently won licences in
Afghanistan and the
Guinea Republic. MTN's African stable includes
Botswana,
Cameroon,
Ivory Coast,
Nigeria,
Republic of Congo,
Rwanda,
South Africa,
Swaziland,
Uganda and
Zambia.The company operates in the
Darfur region in
Sudan, one of its expanding markets.