MTN has added to its enterprise business segment's talent with the appointment of Debbie Minnaar, who moves to the mobile operator from IBM.
Minnaar will assume the role of GM for products and services. She joins other recent appointments, including Alpheus Mangale, who left his role as Cisco SA GM to join MTN towards the end of last year.
Mangale's appointment was preceded by that of former Microsoft SA head, Mteto Nyati, who joined the company in September.
The appointments are part of MTN's aims to grow the unit, so it contributes at least 20% to MTN's revenue in three years' time, and to boost its growth rate from 25% year-on-year to 50%.
Minnaar was, until the beginning of this year, head of strategy and products at IBM, a role she held for a year.
Before that role, Minnaar spent four years spearheading IBM's Middle East and Africa expansion plans. MTN says, in her new role, Minnaar will be responsible for determining MTN's ICT offering to enterprise customers across the MTN Business footprint in Africa and the Middle East. She will also help the company to identify key partnerships around cloud and other services.
Nyati, who is the operator's group chief enterprise officer, says Minnaar has "the relevant experience, calibre of talent and skill set to give MTN Business and our customers the edge".
In addition to her extensive experience in the IT industry, gained across products, services and solutions, Minnaar has an MBA and Bachelor's of Commerce degree.
During her 24-year tenure at IBM, she established subsidiaries in 35 new territories across Africa and the Middle East, and co-developed a growth markets strategy for China, India, Brazil, the Middle East and Africa.