In October, fresh controversy clouded a deal that the company hoped to achieve with the Kharafi Group, a Kuwaiti-based operation which would have seen the sale of a majority stake in the company.

In October, Zain had to call off talks to sell its African assets to appease Kharafi, who said on Wednesday that its deal to purchase 46 per cent of the group was still valid.

The resignation of the CEO of its Saudi Arabian operation - which was one of the group’s most recent purchases - and the failure of the firm to strike a deal to buy Palestinian Paltel Group rounded out a tumultuous year for the operation.

Dr Barrack is credited with growing the company’s customer base from 600,000 in a single unit to a conglomerate of 24 operations with over 70 million active customers across the Middle East and Africa.

During his tenure, Zain’s market capitalization on the Kuwait Stock Exchange has increased from less than US$2.5 billion to exceed $20 billion as of September 2009.

Shares of Zain, which is partly owned by Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund, has fell more than 3 percent on Wednesday after several media reported Dr Barrack would resign but recovered to be 0.31 percent higher by 1146 GMT.

Zain Kenya currently employs over 400 Kenyans.

Source:businessdailyafrica