7 Women Leading MTN Nigeria’s Telecom Future

Women now occupy 41.4% of all leadership roles at MTN in 2024, up from 38.7% in 2023. That’s more than double the industry average of around 20% in Nigeria’s ICT sector. This achievement shows MTN’s commitment to empowering women at every level, from middle management to the executive suite. 

Through its “Ambition 2025” plan, the company has focused on things like technical training and updates to its governance policies to remove obstacles holding women back. 

As a result, MTN now has a strong pipeline of female talent influencing decisions, sparking new ideas, and helping to shape the future of telecom in Nigeria.

Here are the top 7 women leading MTN Nigeria’s telecom future;

1. Ugonwa Nwoye, Chief Customer Relations & Experience OfficerUgonwa Nwoye joined MTN Nigeria in 2018 as Head of Customer Insights, armed with a Master’s in Marketing Communications from the University of Lagos. By 2022, her knack for translating customer feedback into actionable strategies propelled her to the role of Chief Customer Relations & Experience Officer.

Strategic Initiatives:
Under her leadership, MTN launched a “Voice of the Customer” analytics platform that mines data from call centres, social media, and live chat to identify pain points in real-time. Nwoye’s team integrated these insights into quarterly service-improvement cycles, leading to:

A 15% year-on-year increase in customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores in 2023–2024.

A 10% reduction in average call resolution times, thanks to workflow optimisations driven by her data models.

Impact:
Nwoye spearheaded an omnichannel loyalty program, “MTN Y’ello Rewards”, tailored to different subscriber segments (e.g., youth, SMEs, high-net-worth individuals). Within six months of launch, the program registered over 2 million enrollments and drove a 12% uplift in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU).

Recognition:
In late 2024, she was shortlisted for “Customer Experience Leader of the Year” at the Nigeria Telecom Awards, an acknowledgement of her role in transforming MTN’s subscriber engagement model.

2. Oby Ugboma, Chief Risk & Compliance OfficerOby Ugboma’s legal background—an LLB from the University of Benin and a Master’s in Corporate Governance from Cranfield University—provided the foundation for her ascent within MTN. She joined as Senior Legal Counsel in 2016 and became Chief Risk & Compliance Officer in early 2023.

Governance Strengthening:
Facing an ever-evolving regulatory environment (e.g., Nigeria’s Data Protection Regulation, Central Bank of Nigeria directives), Ugboma led a compliance overhaul that included:

Risk Appetite Framework: Designing a matrix that classifies new business ventures by risk level, ensuring that any high-risk initiative (such as mobile money or fintech partnerships) undergoes stringent board review.

Automated Audit Trails: Implementing a cloud-based compliance portal that flags irregular transactions or contract anomalies, reducing manual oversight by 40%.

Results:
Her initiatives contributed to a 30% reduction in audit findings during the 2023–2024 cycle and helped MTN avoid potential fines related to SIM-card registration lapses. Regulatory bodies have since cited MTN as a benchmark for compliance best practices.

3. Uto Ukpanah, Company SecretaryAs MTN Nigeria’s Company Secretary since 2020, Uto Ukpanah has played a pivotal role in bridging boardroom strategy and on-the-ground execution. A fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, Ukpanah brings over 15 years of governance experience to the telco’s leadership table.

Key Contributions:

Board Composition: Orchestrated a review of MTN’s board charters, ensuring that women hold 40% of all independent director roles, a move that aligns with emerging ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) expectations.

Stakeholder Engagement: Established a bi-annual “MTN Governance Forum” where executive directors, regulators, and shareholder representatives debate policy shifts, such as spectrum licensing fees, well before formal filings.

Awards & Recognition:
In 2024, Ukpanah was named “Global Corporate Secretary of the Year” by the Corporate Secretaries International Association. She was lauded for her transparent board reporting and her advocacy for female representation in corporate governance.

4. Lynda Saint-Nwafor, Chief Enterprise Business OfficerLynda Saint-Nwafor’s background in engineering (B. Eng, University of Nigeria, Nsukka) and an MBA in Technology Management from Lagos Business School positioned her as a natural fit to lead MTN’s enterprise business unit starting in 2022.

Driving Enterprise Growth:
Saint-Nwafor realigned the SME and corporate sales teams under a unified “Enterprise Solutions Division,” standardising offerings from cloud infrastructure to cybersecurity. Her approach included:

Bundled Service Packages: Tailoring ICT bundles (e.g., fibre connectivity + managed security) that deliver predictable OPEX models for mid-sized enterprises.

Partnership Ecosystem: Forging alliances with Microsoft, Cisco, and AWS to provide value-added services, such as cloud migration support, at preferential rates.

Outcomes:
Under her leadership, the enterprise segment’s revenue grew by 40% from 2022 to 2024. Customer retention among top-200 corporate accounts improved by 18%, attributed to superior service-level agreements (SLAs) and dedicated account management.

5. Onyinye Ikenna-Emeka, Chief Marketing OfficerArmed with a Master’s in Brand Management from the University of Birmingham, Onyinye Ikenna-Emeka took charge of MTN Nigeria’s marketing function in late 2023. Her vision: modernise MTN’s brand image to appeal to an increasingly savvy, digital-first audience.

Reinventing Brand Strategy:

Digital-First Campaigns: Launched the #MTNXperience series of short-form videos and webisodes highlighting real-life customer success stories across sectors (agriculture, fintech, telemedicine). This boosted MTN’s Instagram engagement by 50% and doubled YouTube viewership.

Influencer Partnerships: Partnered with top influencers in entertainment and sports—leveraging their reach to drive digital adoption. For instance, a collaboration with a leading Afrobeat artist yielded a 25% spike in mobile-data uptake within one month.

Metrics of Success:
Ikenna-Emeka’s campaigns drove a 20% increase in conversions for bundled data+voice packages and raised brand-favorability scores by 12 points in market surveys.

6. Josephine Sarouk, CEO of Bayobab (MTN FibreCo)Josephine Sarouk, an alumnus of Stanford Graduate School of Business and a former broadband strategist at Google, was appointed CEO of Bayobab MTN’s wholly-owned fibre-infrastructure subsidiary in early 2023.

Expanding Fibre Footprint:
Charged with achieving 50% broadband penetration in underserved regions by 2025, Sarouk implemented:

Community Co-ops: Established local partnerships to share last-mile infrastructure costs, reducing deployment expenses by 25%.

Rural Connectivity Hubs: Launched “Digital Villages” pilot projects in Ondo and Oyo states, providing free Wi-Fi in community centres, which attracted an average of 1,200 daily users per hub.

Impact:
Under her tenure, Bayobab’s fibre network expanded to reach over 500 communities, translating to a 10% increase in overall broadband penetration in Q4 2024. This expansion also facilitated a 15% uptick in IoT (Internet of Things) solutions uptake among SMEs in agriculture and logistics.

7. Esther Akinnukawe, Chief Human Resources OfficerEsther Akinnukawe holds a Ph.D. in Organisational Psychology from the University of Ibadan and joined MTN Nigeria as HR Director in 2021. By mid-2022, she was promoted to Chief Human Resources Officer, tasked with aligning talent-management strategies with MTN’s Ambition 2025 goals.

Talent & Culture Innovations:

Y’ello Mums Internship: Akinnukawe championed this returnship program, which supports women re-entering the workforce after maternity leave. Participants benefit from flexible work schedules, mentorship pairing, and fast-tracked leadership training. Of the 200 women who joined in 2023, 70% transitioned to permanent roles.

Women in Tech Academy: Launched a partnership with Andela and Coursera to offer certification tracks in Cloud Computing, AI/ML, and Data Science exclusively for female staff. By year-end 2024, over 300 women had completed at least one certification, with 40 promoted into technical leadership posts.

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs): Under Akinnukawe’s guidance, MTN established the “MTN HER Network,” a cross-departmental ERG that organises quarterly workshops on leadership, networking, and wellness. Participation soared to 1,500 employees in 2024, up from just 400 in 2022.

Her initiatives contributed to an 18% reduction in female turnover rates between 2022 and 2024 and a 25% increase in women promoted to managerial positions.