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MTN drives gender-equal workforce with key appointments

Samuel Mungadze
By Samuel Mungadze, Africa editor
Johannesburg, 01 Jul 2022
Mapula Bodibe, incoming MTN Rwanda CEO.
Mapula Bodibe, incoming MTN Rwanda CEO.

MTN Group, which is actively driving gender diversity within its workforce, has appointed three women as CEOs, to run its operations in Cameroon, Rwanda and Uganda.

Mapula Bodibe, current MTN SA chief consumer officer, is set to lead MTN Rwanda; Sylvia Mulinge has been assigned to Kampala as MTN Uganda CEO; while Mitwa Ng’ambi is heading to Yaoundé to run MTN Cameroon. The appointments are effective from September.

The appointments of the three women executives follow a recent commitment by the Pan-African mobile operator to increase the number of women in senior levels.

Some 39% of MTN Group’s workforce are female and the company has pledged to create a gender-equal workforce by 2030.

MTN Group has since partnered with United Nations (UN) Women and joined the HeForShe Alliance in its efforts to drive gender equality.

MTN Group president and CEO Ralph Mupita says: “The appointment of these executives, all with strong track records of execution and results, adds to our confidence on delivery of our Ambition 2025 strategy.”

The mobile operator announced the executive moves yesterday, saying Bodibe, who is enroute to Kigali from MTN’s headquarters in Johannesburg, has more than 15 years’ experience with the group, including a stint in Uganda.

“She has a strong background in commercial strategy, consumer marketing, customer strategy, brand management and communications, product management and customer analytics,” says MTN.

Mulinge is a newcomer to MTN, joining from Safaricom, where she served as chief consumer business officer for the group. In Kampala, Mulinge will replace Wim Vanhelleputte, who will take on the new MTN Group role of operations executive for markets.

Ng’ambi will swap roles from Rwanda to Cameroon, to replace Stephen Blewett, who is leaving the group.

Ng’ambi oversaw the listing of MTN Rwanda, as well as the establishment of its fintech subsidiary. The company says she was instrumental in strengthening the business’s stakeholder engagement and has also worked in MTN’s Benin and Zambian operations.

“My thanks to Stephen for his valuable contribution to the MTN Group over the years and we wish him well as he journeys to new opportunities outside of the African continent. I welcome Sylvia to the Y’ello family and look forward to working with her, as well as with Mitwa, Mapula and Wim in their new roles, as we continue to execute on our Ambition 2025 strategy,” says Mupita.

MTN also announced the creation of a new senior MTN Group post; that of operations executive for Liberia, Guinea-Conakry, Guinea-Bissau and Congo-Brazzaville, effective 1 August, reporting to senior vice-president of markets Ebenezer Asante-Twum.

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