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Philip Sowah Board Chair, Simbrella Ghana

Philip Sowah is a board chair, former telecoms CEO and adviser with more than 30 years of experience in telecommunications, technology and business consulting across Africa, and the United States. As CEO of Airtel Ghana, and having launched Zain’s operations in Ghana, he led market growth, operational improvement and large-scale digital transformation. That experience gives him a practitioner’s view of Africa’s changing technology landscape.
 
Philip chairs Simbrella Ghana, a fintech company, and Rancard Solutions. He previously served as a non-executive director of Absa Bank Ghana and Unilever Ghana. On those boards he served on committees covering audit, risk, and IT/cybersecurity, and helped guide strategy through periods of significant market disruption. At Absa, he chaired the IT, Cybersecurity & Payment Systems Committee, with direct oversight of technology investment, payment systems and digital risk in a regulated financial institution.
His advisory work helps organisations see where AI and emerging technologies can create business value and how to govern their adoption responsibly.
Drawing on both executive and non-executive roles, he focuses on clear objectives for technology, board attention to risks to customer data and trust, and clear accountability across the organisation.
 

Philip holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis and a Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Grinnell College. His professional development includes cybersecurity oversight training at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute and leadership training at INSEAD. He brings analytical rigour and strategic perspective to discussions on AI, digital finance and building trust in Africa’s digital economy.