Last week, MTN, the largest telecommunication operator in Nigeria announced the appointment of Shoyinka Shodunke as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of its Nigerian unit.
Shodunke who was appointed alongside Adia Sowho (Chief Marketing Officer), becomes the first Nigeria to take that position.
His over 20 years career began as a Systems Analyst with Texco Overseas Petroleum Company (now Chevron Nigeria) in 1996. We worked there for five years and joined MTN in 2001. Shodunke went to commit about 19 years working in different capacities for the telco.
First time at MTN Nigeria
Shodunke joined the Information Technology (IT) unit at MTN rising to become the Senior Applications Manager. At the time MTN had just secured its licence in Nigeria and was beginning to roll out its infrastructure across the country. Shodunke is one of those who contributed to transforming credit management and post-payment using recharges – Recharge a Contract. As a result of his role in the design and implementation of the postpaid credit and payment management process, Shodunke was given a CIO’s award for excellence.
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CIO of MTN Zambia, Uganda
In 2008, Shodunke was sent to Zambia to resume as CIO and later to Uganda in 2011 where he served as General Manager of the company. While in Uganda, he was responsible for the architecture and planning function in MTN Southeast Africa IT. He helped the company secure application standardisation, designed and deployed shares services business processes and applications across Southeast Africa operations and multiple countries including the first Pre/Post-paid system convergence.
Back to MTN Nigeria
Shodunke returned to MTN Nigeria in 2012 to become the General Manager IT Service Deliver and later the acting CIO. MTN describes the period as the most critical as regulators in the country had mandated SIM registration for subscribers. Shodunke is said to have successfully sailed the company through the SIM registration process and the convergence implementation.
4 years in Cameroun
The SIM registration success saw Shodunke moved to MTN Cameroun in 2016 where he became the first CIO and later Chief Information Technology Officer (CITO). Shodunke left MTN in 2020 to join Vodafone Ghana.
At Vodafone
Shodunke joined Vodafone as Director of Technology Vodafone Ghana.
“My role at the moment is primarily driven by the technology trends and my role is mainly transformational so it’s important I’m properly aligned to the demands of the market and the objectives of the organisation itself. This means it’s essential to have daily alignment of the overall strategy and ensuring whatever is happening that you’re on track,” he said.
On return to MTN Nigeria
MTN says Shodunke is returning with extensive leadership experience coupled with knowledge and expertise in strategic business planning, system development, P&L accountability/ fiscal controls, portfolio, vendor and change management, IT/Network Operations, business & technology transformation, Cloud & SaaS Solutions, and service delivery.
“He has a solid track record, with many landmark achievements such as; moving Vodafone and MTN Cameroun to number 1 on their respective net promoter scores; a driver in a successful convergence implementation within a 2-year time frame and winning the undisputed best network for MTN Cameroun at the Ookla award (First ever triple award for fastest network, coverage and best network and the Rhode and Schwartz award for the best and fastest network for voice and data),” the telco said.
Shodunke holds a Bachelor of Technology in Mathematics Statistic/Operations Research from the Federal University of Technology Yola, Nigeria, a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Northampton, United Kingdom and a Post Graduate Diploma with a major in Global Management from the University of Salford Manchester, United Kingdom.
