‘The Covid-19 crisis taught us that whilst the world could survive with less planes, cars and trains, it couldn't survive without the phone!'

Sam Darwish has chosen emerging markets as the universe in which to grow and connect. Read on about the towering ambitions of this entrepreneur who rose as an engineer to run one of the world’s largest providers of telecoms infrastructure, recently listed on the new york stock exchange.

- By Peace Hyde, Photography by Maike Schulz/Gruber Photographers; Forbes Africa Archives 2014

SAM DARWISH is no stranger to adversity. He spent his early childhood trying to survive the hardships brought on by the brutal civil war that gripped the West Asian country of Lebanon that he called home. Today, he is Chairman and CEO of IHS Towers, the largest telecommunications infrastructure company in Africa and one of the very few with global operations and aspirations.

With a current valuation of $7 billion, as per the company’s Q3 results last year, IHS Towers is one of only a handful of unicorns in Africa.

In October last year, Darwish marked another milestone by listing IHS Towers on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), a lifelong dream for the telecom entrepreneur, and a move you don’t often hear about in Africa.

“When I rang the NYSE bell on October 14 2021, it was a privilege. I don’t think anyone of similar background or path has done this before. We are talking about ringing the opening bell of the NYSE, the largest stock exchange on earth and the pulsating heart of the global capital markets,” exudes Darwish when we meet him for this recent interview via Zoom.

From Lebanon to Lagos, he is beaming with pride in his business suit, but in scaling to those heights, taller than his towers, he has had to face some pretty low moments.

The trauma he faced in his early years seem like a lifetime ago for him now. Growing up during those bleak war-torn times in Beirut, Lebanon, Darwish had to find ways to not just survive but make meaningful sense of his long days.