MTN has announced the appointment of Mteto Nyati as MTN SA CEO, effective today.
He succeeds Ahmad Farroukh, who resigned earlier this month. Nyati joined MTN as group chief enterprise officer last October.
"He brings extensive knowledge of the local ICT market," says Sifiso Dabengwa, MTN group president and CEO. "We believe the appointment of Nyati will greatly enhance our efforts to strengthen the confidence of our customers and reinvigorate our people."
In his role as group chief enterprise officer, Nyati has been responsible for leveraging the Group's integrated ICT offerings and leading the group-wide enterprise and ICT strategy to enhance MTN's position in the enterprise segment.
Nyati has a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the UKZN. In 2004, he was named a Yale University world fellow.
Last week, the MTN Group announced the resignation of Ahmad Farroukh as being effective end of this month.
The reason for his resignation was said to be "unavoidable due to personal and family reasons".
Farroukh joined MTN in 2006, with the acquisition of Investcom. He has fulfilled several roles during his tenure with the group. Farroukh is a former CEO of MTN Nigeria, and served in a similar role at MTN Ghana. Before assuming the role of group CEO, he was VP of the West and Central Africa region.
An MTN source says Farroukh's family, who live abroad, were not happy for him to remain at the helm of the company, as they fear for his safety due to the protracted Communication Workers Union strike. The source also explains Farroukh has been worrying about the effects of the industrial action on the company and is disappointed with its inability to bring the strike to an end.
However, analysts remain sceptical, saying an obvious lack of transparency surrounds the issue. Ovum analyst Richard Hurst believes there is "something else going on that we just don't know about".
Dobek Pater, a telecoms analyst with Africa Analysis, concurs there is more than meets the eye to Farroukh's resignation. "Saying personal reasons is the obvious generic excuse everyone uses. And I'm not so sure if it's just the strike either."
Pater points out Farroukh's tenure as MTN SA CEO has not been easy. "He has had to oversee retrenchments, cost-cutting exercises and turnaround strategy, which is still in the process and will likely take six months to a year before it starts having an effect."
Pater says there is also much pressure on MTN at the moment to become more competitive, especially in the enterprise space, where MTN Business needs to be more profitable.
Share