MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola now appointed Vice President of Francophone Africa

MTN Group has announced that Karl Toriola, the current CEO of MTN Nigeria, will assume an additional role as Vice President of Francophone Africa, effective November 1. The development is part of MTN’s strategic shift and leadership change across several markets.

According to the telecom operator, Karl Toriola’s additional responsibility is to ensure the growing market share of operations in the Francophone Market. The MTN Nigeria CEO will look to bolster the performance of the group in markets such as Senegal, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire.

“These leadership changes will support accelerated execution of our strategy and value creation over the medium term,” MTN said in a statement.

Toriola’s entry into the telecom space started when he worked at Ericsson Nigeria in 2000. He moved to Econet Nigeria in 2003 as Deputy Chief Technical Officer, rising to become Chief Operations Officer at then Vmobile Nigeria (now Airtel). 

Karl Toriola

Toriola joined MTN Nigeria in 2006 as Chief Technical Officer. He was appointed CEO of MTN Congo Brazzaville in 2011 and later, CEO of MTN Cameroon in the same year. He went on to become Vice President of MTN Group’s WECA (West and Central Africa) for 5 years until he was announced as CEO of the Group’s Nigerian market in October 2020.

Toriola holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria and a Master of Science degree in Communication Systems from the University of Wales, Swansea, UK.

Also Read: MTN Group to report strong growth in H1’25 financial period.

Other leadership changes across MTN Group 

In other management changes across the company’s African operations, Charles Molapisi will step down from his role as CEO and Executive Director of MTN South Africa. As part of the move, he will take up his previous role as Group Chief Technology and Information Officer.

Molapisi will be replaced by Ferdi Moolman, who was a key driver behind the group’s growth in Nigeria, where he was CEO between 2016 and 2021. Molapisi was appointed as MTN South Africa CEO in 2022, replacing Godfrey Motsa. 

Charles Molapisi

According to MTN, Molapisi has a strong background in network and IT and will remain on the group exco, taking up his previous role. It explained that he will be taking up responsibilities that focus on speeding up AI use case adoption and infusion across the business.

“These leadership changes illustrate the depth of talent and experience we have across the group. The changes will support the accelerated execution of our strategy beyond 2025 as well as greater value creation for stakeholders over the medium term,” said Ralph Mupita, CEO of MTN Group.

Moolman, who has continued to serve as a member of the Nigerian market, will also resign from that board to focus on the South African business.

In addition, the telecom operator said that it has been making preparations ahead of the upcoming retirement of MTN South Africa chairman Mike Harper next year. It explained that measures are in place to ensure a smooth transition to the entity’s board leadership.

In another leadership change, Tsholofelo Molefe, the Group Chief Financial Officer, will have her responsibilities expanded to incorporate the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) portfolio.

Kholekile Ndamase, currently Chief M&A and Business Development Officer, will step down from the group executive committee and have a new reporting line to Molefe in her role as the steward for the capital allocation framework.

Ebenezer Asante, currently senior vice president of markets, will also be taking up additional roles. He will be focusing on accelerating the growth and the contributions of the operations in Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Liberia. It includes other joint ventures in Eswatini and Botswana.

The Group is expected to publish its interim results on 18 August 2025, where it will report significant growth in earnings for the first half of the 2025 financial period. 

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