Dr Ernest Ndukwe, Chairman of MTN Nigeria Communications PLC, says the company now ranks among the top 20 mobile operators globally.
He disclosed this while speaking in a panel discussion at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) in Abuja on Wednesday.
Speaking on the topic “Titans on the move: Africa Multinationals”, Dr Ndukwe said, “just to put it in perspective, if MTN group is rated in terms of mobile operators in the world, it comes within the first six in the whole world and when you look at MTN Nigeria, it also features among the top 20 mobile operators.
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“And the secret must be said that MTN today is the largest telecom operator in Africa, just because it dared to venture outside South Africa when it all started.”
Dr Ndukwe said the company is not afraid of going to new places once there is business to do, adding that “when you ask what motivates the expansion, it’s actually that, if I may call it the appetite, the managers of the company, the owners of the company have for moving their businesses and seeking new opportunities in various African countries and beyond Africa.”
He said the company is thriving despite the ‘hostile’ business environment in Nigeria because of its solid structure.
“One thing that makes a business succeed is the way the business is structured, the kind of board members you have, the kind of visionaries you have in the business, your recruitment processes, and things like that.
“You can’t get something out of nothing. If you look at the MTN story in Nigeria, one of its strongest success stories is the fact that it’s the most stable mobile operating company in Nigeria. It did not have board squabbles.
“It did not have a company changing name ever so often. It has very strong boards. And recruitment of staff is done based purely on merit.
“When it was time to recruit people at the initial stages, they went international looking for Nigerians in the diaspora who were ready to come back and chose people based on their capacity to deliver.
“Secondly, it has structures in place where people have powers to do certain things themselves and take responsibility for their actions. Once you have a well-managed company, the company tends to survive very well in any environment, not just in Africa,” he said.
The panel discussion spotlighted the private sector’s catalytic role in unlocking cross-border growth by deepening trade, trust and collaboration across sectors and language divides.
