Phuthuma Nhleko is a renowned businessman credited with transforming MTN into the African telecommunications powerhouse it is today. His tenure at the helm of MTN included several bold decisions.
Phuthuma Nhleko was born on 7 April 1960 in Gauteng. He completed his schooling at St Marks High School in Swaziland, where he achieved his O levels in 1977.
After finishing school, he moved to the United States, earning a BSc in civil engineering from Ohio State University in 1983 and an MBA in finance from Atlanta University in 1987.
Nhleko began his career practising as a civil engineer in Ohio and South Dakota in the United States. He later returned to Southern Africa as a senior road engineer for the Ministry of Works in Swaziland.
Upon his return to South Africa, he took on the role of Project Manager at the Urban Foundation.
In 1994, Nhleko founded Worldwide African Investment Holdings, an investment holding company with interests in the petroleum, telecommunications, and information technology industries.
In 2001, Nhleko joined MTN Group, initially as its chairman. In 2002, he was appointed CEO, a position he held for nine years.
During his tenure, MTN’s market capitalisation grew from R20 billion to over R250 billion, transforming it into a leading telecommunications player.
He explained that one of the highlights of his career at MTN was expanding the company.
During the early 2000s, MTN only had a presence in a few African countries. “We then, in a very calculated manner, decided to take a long term view as to where this company needed to be five years from there,” Nhleko said.
“We realised that if we didn’t start stretching ourselves outside South Africa, we were unlikely to maintain the growth in earnings that we had at the time,” he said.
MTN pursued licences in Saudi Arabia and Iran, ultimately securing the Iranian licence but missing out on Saudi Arabia.
The company then attempted to acquire CTEL, but a last-minute bid from Kuwaitis derailed the nearly completed deal.
About a year later, MTN successfully acquired Investcom from the Mikati family, further strengthening its position in emerging markets.
These moves, along with their entry into Nigeria around 2001, marked a significant phase in MTN’s growth.
He told TechCentral that their team took a domestic-centric company and turned it into a significant emerging market player.
Today, MTN is one of the world’s largest telecommunications providers, with around 287 million subscribers in over 20 countries.
Nhleko made several bold and controversial decisions, including supporting the introduction of Huawei as a supplier for MTN.
“When I was at MTN in the early 2000s, the likes of Ericsson of Sweden, Motorola of the US and Alcatel of France provided 100% of MTN’s telecommunications equipment,” he explained.
He gradually supported the introduction of Huawei, the Chinese telecoms operator, in countries such as Nigeria and Uganda.
“This was very much against and on the consternation of the telecommunication engineers at MTN.”
“If I had predicted then that in 2020 Huawei would be the largest telecommunications equipment provider in the world with the largest market share, but also the leading innovator in 5G surpassing the likes of Ericsson, I would’ve been accused of indulging in copious amounts of a green leafy substance.”
“Huawei has indeed become that leader,” Nhleko said.
In 2007, Nhleko was appointed to the board of directors of the GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade association for mobile phone operators, serving a two-year term.
In 2015, following the resignation of Sifiso Dabengwa, Nhleko briefly returned as CEO of MTN.
Under his leadership, MTN successfully negotiated a reduced fine with the Nigerian government, settling for $1.7 billion (R29.61 billion today) after initially being fined $3.9 billion (R67.93 billion today) for missing a deadline to disconnect unregistered customers.
Today, Nhleko remains active in the business sector. He has been chairman of the Phembani Group since 2011.
He also serves as chairman of Tullow Oil and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and is a director of Engen, TBWA South Africa, and Phembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund Managers.