Mr Phuthuma Nhleko
Mr Phuthuma Nhleko is the Group President and Chief Executive Officer: MTN Group Limited, a South Africa listed multinational telecommunications company.
Mr Nhleko served as MTN Group Chairman in 2001 and subsequently took up the post of Chief Executive Officer in July 2002. Under his leadership, for the nine-month period April to December 2005, the MTN Group generated R27.2 billion in revenue and recorded 23, 2 million subscribers across its then 10 cellular network operations in Africa.
Today, the MTN Group is a multinational telecommunications group, operating in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East, following the US$ 5.5 billion acquisition of Investcom LLC. As at the end of October 2006, MTN recorded more than 34,7 million subscribers across its 21 cellular network operations - Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Iran, Liberia , Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville), Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan , Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia.
Mr Nhleko has served on the boards of Old Mutual Life Holdings (SA) Limited and on various boards of JSE listed companies which include among others: Johnnic Holdings Limited, Nedcor Limited, the Bidvest Group Limited and Alexander Forbes Limited.
Prior to joining MTN he served at Standard Corporate Merchant Bank as a senior member of the corporate finance team (1991 - 1994). He was also the Executive Chairman and one of the founding members of Worldwide African Investment Holdings (WAIH), an investment holding company with significant interests primarily in the petroleum and telecommunications/IT industries in South Africa.
