By 
MTN Nigeria has appointed Karl Toriola as the new chief executive officer (CEO). Toriola, the current vice president for MTN Group’s West and Central Africa (WECA) region, is replacing Ferdi Moolman, who has led MTN Nigeria for the past five years.
Toriola’s appointment takes effect from March 1, 2021 while Moolman is leaving the Nigerian operations of the telecoms giant to assume duty as MTN Group chief risk officer.
The MTN Group, a South African multinational telecommunications company, has presence in over 20 countries. The Group is Africa’s leading operator and its Nigerian market is its largest operation with more than 78.8 million subscribers as at July 2020. According to Nigerian Communications Commission, MTN leads the Nigerian market of over 199 million subscribers and accounts for more than 40% of the market share.
Toriola is the second Nigerian to be named as CEO of MTN Nigerian after Mike Ikpoki. in 2013. Toriola replaces Ferdi Moolman who has been CEO since
Ikpoki who was appointed CEO in 2013 resigned in 2015 leading to the appointment of Moolman.
Toriola joined the MTN Group in 2006 He has held a number of senior operational roles including chief technical officer of MTN Nigeria, CEO of MTN Cameroon and MTN Group Operations Executive.
Toriola has at various times in his career in MTN Group. had oversight responsibility of 16 of the Group subsidiaries and serves on various MTN boards, including MTN Nigeria.
In an official announcement this week, the Group states:
In his five years as VP of MTN’s WECA region, Karl has overseen the steady progress of the operating companies in the region, notably the turnaround of MTN Ivory Coast and MTN Cameroon over the past two years.
In addition, the WECA markets have made significant commercial and strategic strides, including the improvement of market share and the development of mobile financial services. The latter in particular is an important driver of the group’s medium- to long-term growth strategy.
Since joining the group in 2006, Karl (48) has also held a number of senior operational roles at MTN, including chief technical officer of MTN Nigeria and CEO of MTN Cameroon. He is also a board member on a number of companies within the group, including MTN Nigeria. Karl’s successor as VP for WECA will be announced after the group strategy review is completed by the end of November 2020.
Exemplary leadership, extensive experience
“Karl brings extensive technical and commercial experience, as well as a deep understanding of the Nigeria market to the role,” commented MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita. “Karl started his MTN career in his home country at MTN Nigeria 14 years’ ago and has all the attributes necessary to lead this very important business into the future.”
“Ferdi has been an exemplary leader of MTN Nigeria and has put the business on a sound growth platform for the future,” said Mupita. “He brings significant strategic, financial and operational experience to the new group risk role, where we want to ensure that our enterprise-wide risk management systems are continuously strengthened and remain resilient as we drive our growth strategy.”
