Zain Group, the leading telecom innovator across the Middle East and Africa announces the promotion of Kuwaiti national, AbdulGhaffar Setareh to the position of Chief Risk Officer (CRO) for Zain Group. The newly created executive role will see Setareh reporting to the Board Risk Committee, being responsible for delivering the global risk framework and strategy across all operations within Zain Group.
An accomplished corporate executive with over 30 years of operational, engineering, insurance and risk management experience in mobile telecommunications and technology sectors across the Middle East and Africa, Setareh first joined Zain in 1995 as a senior transmission engineer, having spent the previous 10 years with the Kuwait Ministry of Communications engineering department.
Setareh has led the Zain Group Risk Department, as its Director since July 2005 and previously to that was the company’s Corporate Security Manager, a position he held since 2002. Key milestones during his impressive tenure to date include the establishment of an enterprise-wide risk management framework for all business units at every level across Zain Group, which included eight Middle East operations (2005 to 2015) and 15 African operations (2005 to 2010). He also established group-wide Information Security and Business Continuity Management initiatives based on global leading practices and oversaw a group-wide Insurance program for over 16,000 employees and families.
Commenting on the appointment, Zain Group CEO Scott Gegenheimer said, “It is a pleasure to promote AbdulGhaffar Setareh demonstrating the importance that the company places on fulfilling its human resources policy to develop its people and capitalize on gifted leaders from within.”
Gegenheimer continued, “Risk Management is a top priority at Zain and critical to the company’s future prosperity. Setareh’s extensive experience will ensure we continue to enhance the operational effectiveness of the Group’s risk oversight and control assurance processes, which is critical to our efforts to transform into an integrated digital lifestyle operator, with a particular emphasis on enterprise solutions.”
As the Zain Group Chief Risk Officer, Setareh will continue to promote risk management culture throughout the Group, regularly enhancing the enterprise-wide risk governance framework currently in place and ensuring that the Group’s risk levels and business processes are consistent with its risk appetite, internal risk policies, and regulatory requirements for risk management.
The incoming Zain Group CRO, AbdulGhaffar Setareh said, “I appreciate the confidence that has been placed in me by the Zain Group Board Risk Committee and senior management, and look forward to further strengthening the company’s risk management capabilities and ensuring that Enterprise Risk Management at Zain is a business and strategic enabler in achieving our objectives.”
Setareh graduated with a Telecommunications Engineering degree from the Ecole Nationale des Telecommunications, Rabat, Morocco in 1984 and is fluent in Arabic, English, and French. An Affiliate of the London based Institute of Risk Management, Setareh is a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) and Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC).
Source: Zain Group