Leading unstoppable change and innovation

Nik Rizal was appointed to the Board of Boost Holdings Sdn. Bhd. (“BHSB”) as Chairman and Non-Independent Non-Executive Director on 22 June 2026. He also serves as a member of the Board Remuneration Committee of BHSB.

Leadership Role and Group Footprint

Nik Rizal is the Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Axiata Group Berhad, one of Asia's leading telecommunications and digital infrastructure groups. He is responsible for driving the Group's strategic direction, performance and long-term value creation across multiple high-growth markets in ASEAN and South Asia.

Nik Rizal brings more than three decades of experience spanning telecommunications, digital infrastructure, investments, capital markets, banking and corporate finance. His career uniquely combines leadership experience across a telecommunications group, a major regional financial institution, a national sovereign wealth fund and global multinational organisations.

Nik Rizal's combination of telecommunications leadership, sovereign investment expertise, capital markets experience and board governance credentials enables him to contribute a broad strategic perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing the global mobile and digital connectivity industry.

His experience spans connectivity, infrastructure investment, digital transformation, financial inclusion, sustainability and long-term value creation across emerging and developed markets alike.

Board Roles and Governance Experience

In addition to serving as Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Axiata, Nik Rizal currently sits on the boards of several listed and operating companies across the Group, including CelcomDigi Berhad, PT XLSMART Telecom Sejahtera Tbk, Robi Axiata PLC, EDOTCO Group Sdn Bhd and PT Link Net Tbk.

Through these appointments, he brings extensive board-level experience across telecommunications, digital infrastructure and digital financial services in diverse regulatory and market environments.

Prior Experience and Education

Prior to his appointment as Group Chief Executive Officer, he served as Group Chief Financial Officer of Axiata. The role provided extensive exposure to strategic investment, infrastructure financing, digital transformation, capital markets, regulatory engagement and cross-border business operations, equipping him with a holistic view of the issues shaping the future of the mobile and digital connectivity industry.
Before joining Axiata, Nik Rizal was Group Chief Financial Officer of RHB Banking Group, one of ASEAN's leading financial services groups, where he oversaw financial strategy, capital management, performance management and regulatory engagement across multiple markets.

Earlier, he spent a decade with Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund, holding senior investment leadership positions including Executive Director, Investments. He was responsible for investment and portfolio strategies across a broad range of sectors, including telecommunications, media and technology, and worked closely with leading regional companies on growth, transformation and value creation initiatives.
As part of his governance responsibilities, he served on the boards of Telekom Malaysia Berhad, Malaysia's national digital connectivity and fixed broadband provider, and Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad, one of Southeast Asia's leading media and content companies. These appointments provided valuable experience across the broader digital ecosystem, including telecommunications infrastructure, connectivity, digital services and content platforms.

Prior to Khazanah, Nik Rizal spent ten years with the Royal Dutch Shell Group in finance and strategy roles across Malaysia, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

Nik Rizal holds an MSc in Finance from London Business School and a BSc in Economics and Accounting from the University of Bristol. He is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), and a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA).

Sheyantha is the Group Chief Executive Officer of Boost Holdings, the fintech holding company under the Axiata Group. Sheyantha first joined Axiata in 2013 and served as the Senior General Manager, Finance and Strategy for Dialog Digital Services. Subsequently, he assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer of WOW.Ik, the ecommerce subsidiary of Dialog Axiata PLC leading the company to market leadership status. In 2017, he was appointed as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Axiata Digital Services (ADS). He played a pivotal role in overseeing the expansion of Digital Financial Services in Axiata, spearheading the growth of the micro-financing business in Malaysia and Indonesia as well structuring the consortium and incubating the project that led to the launch of Boost Bank.   

As Group CEO of Boost, he has operational oversight over all areas of the different business under the Boost umbrella. Prior to Axiata, Sheyantha spent over 14 years holding various senior management positions in the financial services industry in investment banking, financial advisory and Investment management. He also holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, a BSc in Information Systems and Management from the University of London as well as being a Chartered Management Accountant and a CFA Charter holder. Sheyantha is currently a Board member of a number of digital portfolio companies under the Axiata and Boost Group. 

Niraan was appointed as Independent Non-Executive Director of Boost Holdings Sdn Bhd (“BHSB”) on 7 May 2024.

Niraan is the CEO and an active Board member of VNLIFE Group JSC (“VNLIFE”) since January 2017. VNLIFE is a fintech in Southeast Asia that operates multiple financial services, including digital banking software, which provides services that help grow the digital bank, powering all the banks in Vietnam. Niraan chairs the Investment Committee of VNLIFE which has backed over 14 technology companies over the last 3 years, across South East Asia in areas like online travel, SME SAAS, marketing automation, smart warehousing, home automation, digital invoicing etc.

Niraan is also the Vice-Chairman and Board member of Vietnam Payment Solution Joint Stock Company (VNPAY), which was founded in 2007 and is a top leading company in the field of electronic payment in Vietnam with its core business areas in the sectors of Finance-Banking, Information Technology – Telecommunications.

Other positions held by Niraan are Chairman of Ticketbox (Vietnam), Independent Non-Executive Director of Perennial Energy Holdings Limited (Hong Kong), Portfolio Manager for First Degree Global Asset Management Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) (since 2021).

Niraan was previously the Managing Director C Group Head of Strategy of Sovico Group (Vietjet, HD Bank, HD Saison, Phulong Property), Head of Equity Capital Market South East Asia C Head of Equity-Linked Asia Pacific of Bank of America Merrill Lynch (Singapore office), Consultant – ERS Capital Markets C Audit of Deloitte (Melbourne Office). He had acted as Representative Capital Markets (South East Asia) for London Stock Exchange Group (LSED) in Singapore.

Niraan was also the former Board members of Sapo Technology JSC (Hanoi Capital Region) and Yeah1 Group Corporation (Saigon).

Rainer was appointed as Non-Independent Non-Executive Director of Boost Holdings Sdn Bhd (“BHSB”) and the member of Board Risk and Compliance Committee of BHSB on 6 August 2025.

Rainer is the Group Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer of Axiata Group Berhad (“Axiata”) since 2 May 2025. He brings 25 years of global business, technology and strategy leadership experience. He has built, transformed and grown businesses across digital sectors, including Telecommunications, IT Services, Media C Entertainment, Analytics C AI, and FinTech, in mature and emerging markets. His passion is sustainable company value creation.

Prior to Axiata, Rainer served as the Group Chief Operating Officer at Telia Company, the listed Nordic and Baltic telecom and entertainment market leader, where he also led the group transformation. Before, he was Group Chief Operating Officer at Dialog Axiata, leading its businesses and digital transformation, Chief Product C Innovation Officer at Reliance Jio in India to launch what is now the world’s largest data network, and worked in senior executive leadership positions at Deutsche Telekom AG, T-Mobile International AG, and McKinsey C Company. He served as Non-Executive Director at Rain South Africa Ltd., South Africa’s digital telco, as Chairman of the Board of Directors at Deutsche Telekom UK Ltd., and as Senior Advisor to Bain and McKinsey C Company. Currently, he also serves as Non-Independent Non-Executive Director of Axiata Digital Labs (Private) Limited, Axiata’s AI and Digital Transformation service provider.