MTN Group COO Jens Schulte-Bockum is preparing to step down from his roles following the conclusion of his fixed-term contract on March 31, 2024.

Schulte-Bockum, who will continue to serve as a nonexecutive director on the boards of MTN South Africa, MTN Nigeria and Bayobab, will be succeeded by MTN Ghana CEO Selorm Adadevoh on April 1, 2024.

“As Jens concludes his fixed-term contract as GCOO, we are pleased to be able to make strong internal appointments within the group to fill key roles. This is testament to our robust succession planning,” said MTN Group president and CEO Ralph Mupita.

While Adadevoh’s new designation has been amended to better align with the group operating model, he will join the group exco and assume all of Schulte-Bockum’s executive responsibilities in an orderly handover and transition process to be carried out over the next few months.

Prior to assuming the role of MTN Ghana CEO in 2018, Adadevoh held key positions within the Digicel Group, including CEO, COO and global director for mobile financial services, as well as previously holding various senior positions at Millicom/Tigo in Ghana, including roles as CCO, mobile financial services head and product innovation head.

Meanwhile, effective April 1, 2024, Stephen Blewett will assume the role of MTN Ghana CEO, succeeding Adadevoh.

Blewett rejoined MTN in July 2023 from Digicel, where he held the position of COO, as the operations executive for markets, with executive responsibility for the smaller West and Central Africa (WECA) markets and providing broader operations support to the senior VP for markets across the overall WECA region.

Prior to Digicel, he spent seven years within the MTN Group in CEO roles for MTN Benin and then MTN Cameroon. He currently sits on various boards within the WECA market operating companies, some of which as chairperson.

“I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Selorm and Stephen on their appointments. On behalf of everyone at MTN, I wish them well in their new roles and look forward to their ongoing contribution in the delivery of our Ambition 2025 strategy,” said Mupita.