Allirajah Subaskaran

Premananthan Sivesasamy oversees strategic, commercial, and financial matters across the 23 countries in which Lyca Mobile operates.

Working closely with Group Chairman Allirajah Subaskaran, with whom he has shared a long and prosperous working relationship dating from the very beginnings of their careers, and is adept in tackling challenges associated with rapid financial and geographic expansion. He plays a crucial role in the induction of new country teams to the Lyca Mobile ethic and business practices, commanding a high and consistent level of service and practice across all divisions.

After graduating with a BA Honours Degree from Middlesex University, where he read Accounting and Finance, Prem held a number of high profile roles within the Prepaid International telecommunications industry. These include the position of Managing Director of the United Networks Calling Card Division and a post as Managing Director of Voice Telecom where he held overall responsibility for driving revenue for both the company’s calling card and residential telecoms products.

Reuniting with his colleague Subaskaran to oversee the launch of Lyca Mobile in 2006, Prem’s experience in telecoms and his skilled orchestration of international growth has been instrumental in the Group’s continuing success.

Richard Schafer is the Group’s CEO, responsible for driving growth across all areas of the business. Formerly Lyca’s Group CFO, he previously oversaw all finance activities, including financial accounting and operations, financial planning, analysis and reporting, tax, treasury, and investor relations. He has also played a key role in working with internal and external stakeholders to deliver on the Group’s commercial and financial objectives.

Richard has an extensive senior financial leadership track record, having worked in the domestic UK and international telecommunication sector for more than 22 years. He has worked for some of the UK’s leading telecommunication companies including Three UK, Vodafone UK, Onecom, and Lebara.

At Three UK, Richard helped build, launch, and grow the UK’s first pure 3G telecommunication company and delivered what was, at the time, one of largest European telecommunication outsourcing agreements between Three UK and Ericsson, valued at over £1bn. At Vodafone UK, Richard provided financial leadership to the pioneering site sharing joint venture between Vodafone and O2. During his time at Onecom, one of the UK’s leading total communications companies, Richard supported the commercial and financial objectives of the business through organic as well as inorganic growth. More recently, Richard was the Group Chief Financial Officer at Lebara.

Born in the UK, Richard is a dual British and German national, and was educated in England. Richard holds an undergraduate degree in International Business and German from Aston University, a postgraduate degree in Economic Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and is a qualified chartered accountant registered with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

Richard is married to Niki and together they have three teenaged children. The family live in Henley-on-Thames and share their home with a dachshund called JJ. When he’s not working, Richard enjoys running both for its meditative and fitness benefits. He’s completed races of several distances, including full and half-marathons. Richard is an avid supporter and sponsor of his local rugby club, the Henley Hawks.

Indraprakash Jegatheesan has operational responsibility for all current Lyca Mobile-operating countries, as well as all new prospective country launches. He oversees sales, distribution, marketing, HR and administration globally.

Indraprakash joined the company when it was first founded and has always demonstrated tremendous commitment, dedication, and passion for the success of the business.

Lawrence is Lyca Mobile’s Group Chief Operating Officer, responsible for all Group Operations and P&L management for Lyca’s UK and overseas operations. His focus is on creating and implementing strategies and operating models that generate strong financial performance – through improving customer centricity, operational effectiveness, and people development.

Corbett brings a wealth of experience from the telecommunications, media, and technology sector, having spent most of his career focused in this area. He began his career in Australia before moving back to his native UK where he worked for several UK-based entities with global growth ambitions. Most recently he was based in Singapore as the COO of a digital telco and SaaS platform provider. He also spent a large part of his career at Virgin, working within several Virgin Mobile businesses, then later as an Investment Director in Virgin Group’s Investments Team helping to start up, fund and structure new Virgin telecoms businesses globally.

Outside of work Lawrence enjoys spending time with his wife, two kids and dog, as well as football and sailing. He also gives his time to support the local community – he was a school governor for over six years as well as a business mentor for the Prince’s Trust.

Nikos Paraskevopoulos is Lyca Mobile’s Group Financial Officer, responsible for all finance related issues as well as business and strategic planning, controlling, accounting and tax, commercial finance, treasury & cash management. In this position, he will drive key financial KPIs and he will work closely with the leadership and other stakeholders to establish and manage financial and business processes, programs and projects, resource allocations, KPIs and corporate governance activities to measure the progress, track the benefits capitalized and ensure achievement of financial targets.

Nikos has been doing finance roles for the last 26 years and he is a strong believer of finance contribution and disciplines in driving business growth. He has been leading several transformational and M&A projects in Europe and progressing his career to Chief Financial Officer roles for the last 15 years. More specifically, he has dedicated his professional life in fast moving consumer goods industry with The Coca-Cola Company in Romania and telecoms industry with the subsidiary of Deutche Telecom in Bulgaria and Vodafone in Greece and UK. His last assignment before joining Lyca was with Vodafone Group in UK holding the position of the Chief Financial Officer for Group Technology industries. He brings to the table more than 15 years of experience in the industry.

Nikos is a proud father of two kids. His daughter (Lydia, 19) is studying business at Warwick business school and his son (Vangelis, 16) is attending the American Community School in Athens.

When he’s not working, Nikos enjoys cycling, cooking, watching movies and going to the gym. He is a football fan and he is a supporter of Olympiakos in Greece.

Paul Mallett is the Group Head of Talent Acquisition & HR and is responsible for the human resources and talent management for the Group. He joined the company in 2011, and has been instrumental in attracting C-level members to the business while overseeing launches in 18 countries.

Prior to joining Lyca Mobile, Paul worked within Executive Search, and has also spent seven years working at Lloyds within their Corporate Finance division.

Satkunanathan Jogaratnam (Jogan) is the Chief of Product and Pricing, and has overall responsibility for the Product and Pricing across the 23 countries in which Lyca Mobile operates.

Jogan is one of Lyca’s core members, having joined in 2003. He is directly involved in all negotiations for major commercial partnerships with MNOs across all of Lyca Mobile’s markets to ensure the best deal is being reached for the company.

He is responsible for the company’s overall Gross profit margin and plays a leading role in all major business deals.

Kashmir Nijar is responsible for managing Group commercial functions and activities including MVNOs and Partnerships.

Prior to this Kashmir was the Chief Strategy Officer for Lyca Mobile, where he was instrumental in setting up and implementing the global distribution channel strategy since 2007.

Kashmir has over 39 years’ experience within the mobile Industry. Kashmir joins Lyca Mobile from KPN Mobile, where he was Head of International Wholesale. He was instrumental in pioneering the new wholesale challenger strategy for KPN Mobile International, resulting in remarkable growth experienced at both BASE and E-plus in 2005/2007. He also successfully launched 11 major MVNO’s & branded partners in 2006 across multiple segments (FMCG, Media, Data, Ethnic, Mobile Retail and Fixed), including five group deals.

Kashmir has an MSc in Satellite and Telecommunication Engineering from the University of Surrey and a BEng (Hons) degree in Electronic Engineering from UMIST (Manchester).

Kaddamban Radhakrishnan is the Group Technical Director and one of Lyca’s core members.

Kaddamban was the Head of Technology for the launch of Lycatel in 2002, overseeing and building the Technical architecture of the Lyca network from day one. As Lyca expanded into 23 countries, he oversaw the technical requirements of each new launch, creating the right solutions to allow the brand to grow and expand effectively in accordance with the over-arching business strategy.

He was instrumental in the creation of Lyca Mobile in 2006 and was responsible for overseeing and implementing the technical requirements of transitioning the company from its calling card model to becoming a multinational MVNO and MNO.

Kaddamban has a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, and has amassed more than 20 years of experience as a manager and leader in Technology, Software/Mobile Network Architectures and Protocols, IT Business Systems, and Product Development for the telecommunications industry.

He enjoys meditation, travelling, and spending time with his children, family, and friends.

Rob has held senior commercial roles in the telecoms industry for approaching 30 years. He has worked for numerous MNO’s including T-Mobile, Vodafone and EE. Notably, Rob was part of the management team that launched, scaled and successfully IPO’d Virgin Mobile UK – the worlds’ first and arguably most successful MVNO.

Rob has extensive operational experience in multiple territories including the UK, Europe and South East Asia, most recently as CCO for a mobile and cable operator in Brunei. Rob has conducted international business development and fund-raising activities in East and West Africa, in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Russia, Kazakhstan and the Middle East.

Rob has an MBA from Henley Management college and is a qualified ski instructor. His proudest achievement is a 30-year marriage, three smart kids and a very happy dog who loves to join Rob cycling and running at the weekend.

Umesh Tripathi is responsible for Lyca Mobile’s Digital Business, including digital acquisition, customer engagement & retention and online customer experience. In addition, he is tasked with the overall digital transformation agenda of building best-in-class digital platforms for customers and internal/external stakeholders. He also plays a key role in delivering on Lyca Mobile’s overall financial goals.

Umesh has an extensive senior digital leadership track record, having worked with organisations across the globe to drive their digital transformation and digital business agendas for more than 25 years. He has worked with organisations like Three UK, Vodafone Australia, Telefonica SA and Sunrise as a consultant. Umesh is an avid digital marketer and believes strongly in the power of digital to drive business growth.

Umesh is an Indian national who was educated in the top-tier engineering and management institutes in India. He is an Engineer from IIT (ISM), Dhanbad, India and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India.

Umesh is married to Deepa and together they have two daughters Khushi and Astha. The family lives in Bangalore and shares their home with Bolt, a Pug. When he’s not working, Umesh enjoys giving back to the community. He was one of the founders of Awsar, an NGO supporting education of underprivileged children. He is the founding member of iimagineindia which is a philanthropic fund looking to empower NGOs and social entrepreneurs in the field of education. He is a cricket fan and enjoys all forms of Cricket. He is a supporter of Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL.

Michael is Financial Adviser to the Chairman, an experienced Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and was formerly Group Chief Financial Officer of Lyca Group – a role he held for over 11 years.

Michael has entrepreneurial Board experience in both public and private Companies, as a CFO as well as in Corporate Development. Michael also has experience as a Senior Management Consultant at Price Waterhouse London, in which he became a specialist in global cash management, as well as Corporate Finance consultancy experience in the United States, the Middle East, and India via his own boutique firm. Prior to joining the Lyca Mobile Group, Michael was Group CFO in a Hong Kong and Singapore Group that built a technology manufacturing operation in Northern France.

He has been Chief Financial Officer in Kalido, a technology company owned by Royal Dutch Shell, steering Kalido to an exit from Shell via an MBO backed by two leading Venture Capital organisations. Michael was also head of Corporate Development and External Financial Relationships, and the main Board Director for Staffware plc, an international technology BPM Group. Whilst at Staffware, he took it from AIM to a full Techmark listing on the London Stock Exchange and closed two international acquisitions.

In addition, Michael has senior Corporate Treasury experience: most recently as Group Treasury and Tax Director in Rank Group Plc, a major international leisure and gaming company in which he gained a significant amount of experience in the banking, bond, and credit markets. Michael has also been Treasury and Credit Director with the international technology group Madge Networks N.V which listed on NASDAQ and in which he led the finance team for the acquisition of a large Israeli subsidiary.