MTN Group has appointed two new country CEOs to take over the helm of affairs in Benin and Cameroon. The two appointees are Stephen Blewett and Uche Ofodile. Blewett will be the CEO of MTN Cameroon while Uche Ofodile will be the CEO of MTN Benin.
Stephen Blewett
Blewett is replacing former CEO, Dutchman Hendrik Kasteel, who served in his executive position for less than 2 years and left the Group due to personal reasons. Before joining MTN Group, Blewett gained experience in many roles all relating to business, sales and marketing.
He worked as the Sales Manager (Lubricants), Shell South Africa (Johannesburg area). He also worked as both field and brand manager over a period of 6 years. He became national sales manager before moving on to the telecommunications industry.
He joined Vodacom in 1999 and moved on to m-Cel in 2001. Other companies he has worked with in the telecommunications industry include Telkom and MTC Namibia. He was appointed the CEO of MTN Benin in 2015 and has served in the position until his latest appointment.
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According to the vice president for MTN’s West and Central Africa region, Karl Toriola, Blewett has achieved remarkable results in the MTN Benin team. Under his leadership, MTN Benin recorded double-digit revenue growth for three years running.
Uche Ofodile
Uche Ofodile, who is to replace Blewett as the CEO of MTN Benin, was formerly the CEO of MTN Liberia. She has over 12 years of experience working in roles which include Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Commercial Officer, and Chief Executive Officer.
She worked at Vodafone Ghana and was responsible for moving the company to 2nd in from its former position as the number 4 in Ghana’s telecommunications market. She joined Facebook as African regional head for Express wi-fi where she drove the wi-fi initiative further across Africa.
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Besides Vodafone, Uche has worked in other telcos including, Tigo DRC and MTS First Wireless. She joined MTN Group as the CEO of MTN Liberia in April 2018.
In moving to MTN Benin, she leaves a business with double-digit year-on-year revenue growth, enjoying a nine-point market share improvement against its competitor, according to Karl Toriola.
The new appointments show a restructure of C-level human resources in a way that gives the MTN Group an edge in its various African markets.
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