Mr. De will stand in for Bayo Adekanmbi, the substantive CMO who is current on sabbatical having won a global inter-school PhD research competition.

According to a press statement by MTN, Bayo is expected to execute the field work of his doctoral research work in London and Mumbai. The Doctoral research competition is an initiative driven by the research and development units of many leading global companies, with a common objective of identifying new ideas that will shape the future.

The new MTN Nigeria’s CMO Linkedin profile reveals that he holds a double edged title of Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Director for MTN Ghana and has worked in this capacity for over four years.

Mr. De is credited to have successfully repositioned MTN as a ‘Data network of choice’, with focus on ‘Non voice’ services.

He says, “Inspite of 9 players, and market penetration of over 100%, we have grown our data Market share to over 57% with YoY revenue growth of 50%. We have grown our ARPU and non-voice contribution with focus on ‘digital world’, mobile money, M commerce in a flat market. We are the most awarded Telco in Ghana with our innovative products and customer focus”.

With good knowledge of the Ghanaian market, a critical part of the African continent, the new CMO will be expected to have a smooth sail in Nigeria taking a cue from Mr. Adekanmbi’s exciting and novel market engagement initiatives during his stint as CMO before proceeding on sabbatical. These initiatives include memorable campaigns like Season of Surprises, Best 11 Promotions, BetterMe Series, APPtitude for app democratization amongst others.

The new CMO for MTN Nigeria is a Science graduate with MBA (International Business) from top Indian institution. He has garnered 19 years work experience cutting across Telecoms, Consumer durable and ISP companies. He brings to Nigeria hands-on experience in Consumer Marketing and Operations at leading companies in Asia and Africa.