MTN Group has appointed Ralph Mupita as its new CEO to replace Rob Shuter, whose contract with the company comes to an end next year.
Mupita, currently group CFO, assumes duty next month and Shuter will thereafter support the incoming group CEO as required until the end of his fixed term contract in March.
Announcing the appointment this morning, MTN group chairman Mcebisi Jonas said: "After a rigorous and extensive search process, we are pleased to have appointed someone of Ralph’s calibre, experience and ability to fill the group president and CEO position.
“Ralph’s experience as the group CFO, strong knowledge of our businesses and markets, as well as successful background in financial services, M&A [mergers and acquisitions] and emerging markets, place him in an excellent position to lead the growth and sustainability of the business going forward.”
Mupita has served as MTN’s chief financial officer since April 2017 and has played a critical role in the development and execution of the group’s strategy, the company says.
Prior to joining MTN group, Mupita was CEO of Old Mutual Emerging Markets for five years, a business that provided financial services to individuals and corporates across 19 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia, managing over R1 trillion of customer assets under management at the time.
Commenting on his appointment, Mupita says: “Leading a business with MTN group’s history, scale and socio-economic impact is a privilege and honour, and I look forward to working with the group board and executive committee in driving growth and unlocking value for shareholders and broader stakeholders.
“MTN Group is well-positioned to take advantage of the digital acceleration shifts and opportunities across our markets, and we are well-placed to play an important and leading role in digital and financial inclusion of the African continent, working with our stakeholders and partners.”
As the telco’s CFO, Mupita set a huge target for MTN of bringing non-voice revenue above 50% in the next few years and has been pursuing fintech-related revenue of R90 billion per year.
Since his appointment as MTN CFO, he received four CFO awards, including CFO of the Year, for the part he played in turning MTN around. Last year, he took home the Strategy Execution, High-Performance Team and Finance Transformation awards.
Mupita was also instrumental in listing MTN Nigeria on the local stock exchange. The listing in Nigeria came at a time when the company was facing complex legal matters in the populous West African country.
At the time, it faced a $5.2 billion (R78 billion) fine from the Nigerian Communications Commission for failing to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards in the country.
After months of negotiations, MTN agreed to pay $1.671 billion (R25 billion) to the federal government of Nigeria, in six instalments over three years, to settle the fine.
Nigeria remains one the group’s key markets. In the recent reporting period, MTN added 6.8 million subscribers, taking the total number of customers connected on its network to over 71.1 million.
In the six months ended June, the telco’s data revenue rose by 57.6%, which MTN said was supported by an increase in data users and traffic. Revenue from digital and fintech services also rose by 121.8% and 29.6% respectively, while voice revenue growth was 2.8%, amid a change in traffic pattern following the COVID-19 lockdowns.
At group level, in the current period under Shuter and Mupita’s stewardship, MTN added 18 million customers to reach a total of 251 million and increased its data users by 17 million to 95 million and the telco says fintech customers increased by 7 million to 35 million.
Meanwhile, outgoing CEO Shuter is set to join BT Group’s enterprise unit as CEO after his departure from MTN.
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