Ikpoki, Nigerian Becomes MTN CEO

Michael Ikpoki, currently the chief executive officer of MTN Ghana has been named as the new chief executive officer of MTN Nigeria, making him the first Nigerian to lead the largest mobile operator in the country.

Ikpoki replaces Brett Goschen, who took on the role of MTN group chief financial officer and executive financial director on the Board on Monday.

Ikpoki was appointed CEO of MTN Ghana in April 2011 after successfully running MTN Nigeria’s Sales and Distribution channel as its executive from 2006.

He joined MTN in 2001 as a Regulatory advisor after a six-year stint with the Nigerian Communications Commission’s legal division.

A seasoned business executive, Ikpoki is well read, with an academic profile that includes General Management Programme at Harvard Business School; Sales, from INSEAD Business School; Finance and Analytics, from Lagos Business School and LLB from Rivers State University of Science and Technology.

Other appointments announced by MTN Group  include Serame Taukobong, erstwhile chief marketing officer (CMO) of MTN SA, who is the new CEO of MTN Ghana.

Brian Gouldie, chief customer sales, Service and Distribution Officer at MTN SA, is the new CMO of MTN SA.

Farhad Khan, executive for the Group Enterprise Business Unit, takes over from Gouldie as chief customer sales, service and distribution officer at MTN SA.

Philisiwe Sibiya, executive in group Finance, is the new chief financial officer of MTN SA.

“MTN has a strong leadership bench strength. As part of its talent management and leadership development, MTN invests significantly towards building a sustainable supply of quality leaders. We are therefore pleased to make these announcements drawn from our leadership succession pool,” said MTN group president and CEO, Sifiso Dabengwa.

All the appointments are with immediate effect.