MTN Group has unveiled a fresh round of senior leadership appointments across its African operations, signaling a strategic realignment aimed at strengthening execution of its Ambition 2025 growth agenda and deepening its pipeline of continental leadership.
At the centre of the changes is the appointment of Mitwa Ng’ambi as Group Chief People and Culture Officer. Ng’ambi, who currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of MTN Côte d’Ivoire, will join the Group Executive Committee by September 2026. Her elevation follows more than 15 years within the MTN ecosystem, including previous leadership roles in Cameroon and Rwanda, where she oversaw a successful licence renewal and stock market listing.
In another key transition, Larry Annetts has been named Chief Executive Officer of MTN Zambia, replacing Abbad Reda. Annetts brings nearly three decades of experience within MTN, having joined the group in 1995 and previously held senior roles including Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Consumer Officer at MTN Nigeria, as well as a leadership position at Irancell.
Reda, who has led MTN Zambia, will now take on the role of CEO at MTN Côte d’Ivoire, continuing a career that spans over 20 years across multiple MTN markets. His background includes executive roles in Ghana and Liberia, underpinned by formal training in engineering and business leadership, according to Brandspur Brand News.
The leadership changes come ahead of the planned retirement of the group’s current Chief Human Resources Officer later in the year, with the appointments formally announced from MTN Group’s headquarters on June 1, 2026. Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita said the reshuffle reflects the depth of talent across the organisation and is designed to accelerate strategy execution while creating long-term stakeholder value.
With operations spanning more than 20 markets, MTN’s latest executive moves reinforce its long-standing approach of developing and deploying internal African talent to lead its businesses, as competition intensifies across the continent’s telecommunications sector.
