Frontline telecommunications company, MTN Nigeria has announced Adia Sowho its first female Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for the first time since it commenced operations in Nigeria about two decades ago.
Speaking on the appointment of Adia alongside that of Shoyinka Shodunke who becomes the first indigenous Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the company, Karl Toriola MTN Nigeria CEO, commenting in the company’s unaudited results for the half-year ended 30 June 2021, said: “…we further localised our predominantly Nigerian management team with the appointment of Nigerians to two key senior positions (Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Information Officer) previously held by expatriates.”
Adia brings over 20 years of experience spanning the telecoms and consulting industries. She began her career in 2001 at U.S. Cellular Corporation in America as a Radio Frequency Engineer, before moving to Deloitte Consulting LLP, Chicago, the United States of America as Management Consultant in 2007. In 2010, she returned to Nigeria and joined EMTS/Etisalat Nigeria/9Mobile holding multiple leadership positions as Head Strategy and Business Development, Head Digital Media and then Director, Digital Business until her departure in 2018.
She then joined Migo formerly Mines.io, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A as Managing Director for their Nigerian Office and then Vice President, Growth between 2018 and 2020. She joined MTN from Thrive Agric, Nigeria where she served as the Chief Executive Officer, bringing to MTN key knowledge and expertise in commerce, strategic business planning and growth, digital infrastructure and a track record of designing, building and scaling tech-driven platform companies in emerging markets delivering +$100M businesses.
Adia holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Electrical Engineering with a major in Communications from the University of Sheffield, the United Kingdom, and a Master of Business Administration from Kellogg School of Management (one of the oldest business management schools in the world with its 2-year MBA Programme ranked No. 3 in the U.S. by Forbes and No. 4 globally by The Economist) with majors in Strategy, Analytical Consulting, Strategic Marketing and Entrepreneurship.
Her achievements include building the pilot operation for MIGO an AI-driven digital credit start-up and delivering a 10X revenue multiple that supported Series A and B fundraises. She also turned around Thrive Agric, an Agricultural platform startup that defaulted on financial obligations as a result of the pandemic by managing stakeholders, developing a business case and deploying funding to prevent the company’s collapse.