Kuwait City: Dr. Sa’ad Al Barrak, chief executive officer of Zain, who carved a Kuwati telephone operating company to that of a conglomerate, has resigned, leaving behind a trail of questions on the company’s future.
There has been no definite reason so far attributed to Barrak’s leaving by the company.
Zain in its official statement said: "Sa’ad Al Barrak has handed his resignation to the chairman of the board and the chairman will present the resignation to board members to look into the matter."
According to media reports Al Barrak’s resignation raises questions on the company’s strategy in the future, given the fact that a major shareholder is trying to sell a controlling stake in the company to foreign investors.
Al Barrak received the Middle East’s ‘CEO of the Year’ award in Information and technology sector in 2005.
He has been instrumental in providing teeth to the company that went into aggressive acquisition spree, pushing for the purchase of Netherlands-based Celtel for $3.4 billion in 2005.
It was to enter sub-Saharan Africa, as part of plans to turn Zain into a top-10 global mobile operator by 2011.
Zain, currently operates in 23 countries, serving more than 70 million customers.
