Sam Darwish

Sam Darwish, also known as Issam Darwish, is a well-known innovator in the telecommunications industry. He is Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of IHS Towers, which he also co-founded. IHS Towers is the largest mobile telecommunications infrastructure provider in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The company’s infrastructure and tower sharing model coupled with its renewable energy capabilities to power the towers is crucial to telecoms accessibility for millions of Africans.

Due to Sam Darwish’s knowledge and expertise, IHS has expanded further into the African market, which has seen them acquire over 23,100 mobile towers in Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Zambia and Cameroon, and make it to the top of their field in this continent. Sam and the IHS team have been credited as one of the companies that are bringing mobile technology to rural areas where millions of Africans previously had no access.

Sam Darwish founded IHS Towers in 2001, but before that he was Deputy Managing Director of Nigeria’s first ever GSM operator Celia Motophone LTD. Within six months in the role at Celia, Sam has already launched GSM in five brand new cities for the brand, as well completing countless other tasks such as budgets and contract negotiations. Prior to that he was also Vice Chairman and Director of projects for Lintel, where he managed operations throughout the Middle East and West Africa. As well as this, he held the role of Network Manager at Lebanese GSM company Libancell SAL.