MTN Group has announced key leadership changes, which it says are aimed at addressing succession, operational execution, and advancing the Ambition 2025 strategy.
Leadership changes affect MTN Group’s operating companies and its fibre business.
Effective 1 January 2025, Mazen Mroue, MTN group chief technology and information officer (GCTIO), will assume additional responsibilities as CEO of Digital Infrastructure.
According to MTN, this new role will incorporate the mobility and fibre businesses of Bayobab, along with executing the operator’s data centre strategy, as it positions the company for growth and profitability in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) across Africa.
In this dual role, he will continue to report to the group president and CEO and remain a member of the group executive committee, notes the company.
Since joining MTN in 1998, Mroue has held various senior positions within the group’s regional operations in Africa and the Middle East, including CEO and COO roles across multiple operating companies.
He has also served as a board member of various companies within the MTN Group. “Mazen’s strong technology and operational experience, combined with his track record of delivery, positions him well to fulfil this dual mandate,” says the company.
Meanwhile, Frédéric Schepens, current CEO of Bayobab, will be leaving the group effective immediately.
In terms of leadership changes across its operating companies, Wanda Matandela, chief commercial operations officer at MTN South Africa, has been appointed as the new CEO for MTN Cameroon, effective 1 March 2025.
Matandela, joined MTN in 2018 as chief enterprise business officer and drove the turnaround of the business, according to MTN.
With over 20 years of experience, including more than 13 years in telecoms, he has held strategic roles across the FMCG and financial services sectors. Matandela serves on the boards of Supersonic and MTN Rwanda.
Mitwa Ng’ambi, CEO of MTN Cameroon, will move to the same position at MTN Côte d’Ivoire, effective 1 March 2025, as Djibril Ouattara takes early retirement.
To ensure an orderly handover, Ouattara will support Mitwa during her transition for a few months. Mitwa brings over 15 years of telecom experience and transformational leadership, having served as CEO of MTN Cameroon since September 2022.
She is also the board chairperson of Mobile Money Corporation, MTN’s fintech subsidiary in Cameroon.
Prior to her role in Cameroon, Mitwa was CEO of MTN Rwanda, where she led the renewal of the company’s licence and spearheaded its growth and listing on the Rwanda Stock Exchange. Previously, she held leadership positions at Airtel Tigo in Ghana and Tigo in Senegal. Mitwa’s experience and track record will add impetus to the growth and turnaround of MTN Côte d'Ivoire.
“MTN Group president and CEO Ralph Mupita extends his best wishes and appreciation to all incoming and outgoing colleagues, expressing confidence in the internal succession bench-strength of the business. He emphasises the importance of driving execution and maintaining the company’s commitment to digital and financial inclusion priorities across its markets,” says the statement.
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