East Africa: Youssou Ndour is Celtel's Guest

The pan-african mobile telephone company, Celtel, which operates mobile phone licenses in thirteen African countries has decided to sponsor the first East African show performed by the Senegalese musician Youssou Ndour, from November 9 to November 11, in three East African countries, starting in Tanzania (Nov. 9), Uganda (Nov. 10) and ending in Kenya (Nov.11).

“We want to provide happiness to our customers, while remaining faithful to our motto, namely making life better in the countries where the well-known musician will play”, said the CEO of Celtel, Martens Pieters, in giving the reasons why Celtel has agreed to associate itself with the show.

Universally known and respected, Youssou Ndour is considered to be one of the best African musicians of his generation, and his musical appearances always draw huge crowds around the world. Born in Dakar, Senegal in October 1959, he started his musical career while he was still very young in the crowded district of Medina in the Senegalese capital. He began in various small bands in this city before forming his own under the name Etoile de Dakar (The Star of Dakar), which was later on changed to The Super Star (Super Etoile in French).

With this band, he produced various records on pressing social issues like immigration, the anti-apartheid struggle, sport, development and democracy. Over the years, he became so successful that many international organisations, like UNICEF, chose him to be their goodwill ambassador. He has likewise been associated with many humanitarian actions, notably a record produced to discuss the consequences of famine in Africa and calling for Nelson Mandela's liberation from the former South African apartheid regime in the 1990s.

Among his achievements, Youssou Ndour was also selected to produce and sing the 1998 Soccer World Cup official song. “Our company is proud to support such a musician” stated Celtel's CEO. Youssou will have a great opportunity to communicate with his fans through this East African journey. “It comes at the right time”, says Mady Drame, Ndour's Manager. “There is a great demand from his fans in this region and he will at long last have a chance to satisfy it by giving the best of his talent”. It is not the first time that Celtel is associated with Youssou Ndour ; previously it sponsored one of his shows in Gabon, also aimed at pleasing its local customers there.

In addition to Gabon, and the three countries in East Africa where the Senegalese musician is going this time around, Celtel operates telecommunication licenses in nine other African counties. It occupies a leading position in these markets. Celtel has also invested roughly 800 million dollars in Africa to promote the telecommunications industry. It is also a prime mover in the education and health sector where it provides assistance to its host countries.

Many multinationals, international institutions and first class investors are shareholders of Celtel whose ambition is to remain at the forefront of the development of the telecommunications industry in the continent.

For more details, please contact Mamadou Kolade, ou Philippe Guyon, guyon.p@celtel.com