MTN Ghana CEO Michael Ikpoki has been moved to MTN Nigeria as CEO, as MTN South Africa’s Chief Marketing Officers (CMO), Serame Taukobong moves to Ghana as CEO. A statement from the MTN Group quoted Group President and CEO as saying “MTN has a strong leadership bench strength. As part of its talent management and leadership development, MTN invests significantly towards building a sustainable supply of quality leaders. We are therefore pleased to make these announcements drawn from our leadership succession pool.” Serame Taukobong is a talented executive with extensive marketing, operations and sales experience. He was appointed Group Marketing and Sales Executive for MTN International in 2002, after moving from M-Net Channels, where he was Marketing Director. Two years after joining MTN, he became the Chief Operations Officer at MTN Uganda. In 2006, he assumed the role of Sales and Distribution Executive at MTN Irancell, where, among his achievements, he established a distribution footprint of over 7000 points of presence. He returned to MTN Group as Executive for Global Brand and Sponsorships in 2007. Taukobong became the CMO of MTN SA in 2009, responsible for revenue generation, product innovation, customer development, retention & management, company strategic development, company-wide business development, overall brand communication, sponsorship and PR and strategic revenue development. In 2011, he was voted Sunday Times Marketer of the Year. Taukobong was the brains behind the famous Ayoba campaign, which has won numerous awards in South Africa and globally. Meanwhile, Michael Ikpoki replaces Brett Goschen at MTN Nigeria, who took on the role of Group Chief Financial Officer and Executive Financial Director on the Board on Monday. Ikpoki was appointed CEO of MTN Ghana in April 2011 after successfully running MTN Nigeria’s Sales and Distribution channel as its Executive from 2006. He was adjudged Telecom CEO of the Year only this year for leading the company to sustain its growth in spite of the implementation of Mobile Number Portability and heithe admission of a sixth player into the market. A colleague telecom boss actually lauded him for sustaining the growth of the company in spite of the stiff competition. Ikpoki is leaving MTN Ghana as the only telco making profit after tax in Ghana, at a times when players in the industry are generally undergoing austerity measures characterized by job and budget cuts. He is currently on a trip to South Africa, from where he would return to Ghana and say his final goodbyes.