Nhleko was good at recognising the need to chase market share, expand territories and execute a high-growth trajectory
“It was always a high-growth, high-risk business, so risk management was key, but that fell away to some extent when he left [as CEO],” said Takaendesa.In 2015 MTN had its first major run-in with an African government. Nigeria slapped a $5.2bn fine on the operator for failing to disconnect unregistered SIM cards in the country.
While that fine was later reduced, the company later ran into more troubles in the West African state — its biggest market — and in other African countries, including Benin. “Phuthuma had structures in place to manage risk — for example, he had regional executives to monitor big geopolitical developments — but those were removed in favour of a country structure,” Takaendesa said.
Emeran said telecommunications operators were under fire across the world from new technology. In addition, regulators wanted the best for consumers but they also wanted efficient communications networks for economic growth. Companies needed different skillsets from executives and their boards.“You could argue that the issues in Nigeria were because of a lack of understanding or a lack of risk management, specifically from a regulatory perspective.
The newly announced advisory board, on which Nhleko will join a number of high-profile individuals from across Africa would better place the company to negotiate regulatory environments across its different territories.Nhleko continues as chairman of Pembani Group, and serves on the board of Anglo American and BP. Formerly he was on the board for Old Mutual, Nedbank, Bidvest Group and Alexander Forbes among a number of notable positions. He is reported to have a net worth of R1.7bn.
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