👨🏿‍🚀 Daily – MTN’s CEO roams into new territory |

MTN Nigeria CEO, Karl Toriola, is getting a bigger desk and more headache. 

Starting November 1, 2025, he will begin a new but familiar role as the Vice President of Francophone Africa for the MTN Group. Toriola will be doing all this while keeping his role as CEO of MTN Nigeria, the largest and most profitable subsidiary of MTN Group.

The appointment is part of MTN’s broader leadership reshuffle as the group refines its Ambition 2025 strategy to remain strong in three core areas: connectivity, fintech, and digital infrastructure. 

Catch up: Toriola has led MTN Nigeria since 2021 but before that he already held leadership roles in Francophone West Africa since 2010. The move is basically him going into more familiar territory and making sure MTN Group remains on track in its core priorities. 

State of play: Toriola isn’t the only one at MTN being moved around. The reshuffling also sees Ebenezer Asante, previously Senior Vice President of Markets, now heading operations in Ghana, Southern, and East Africa. With these moves, MTN Group is trying to create regional power centers. 

Zoom out: MTN Nigeria under Toriola’s leadership has pulled some impressive numbers recently. In H1 2025, The telecom company also saw a net profit of 414.9 billion naira ($271 million), reversing a ₦519.1 billion ($339 million) loss last year. The larger parent company MTN Group wants to prepare for post-2025 growth by putting proven operators like Toriola in charge of regional clusters. His new role could also mean that Nigeria and Francophone Africa will be managed as interconnected markets rather than separate territories. All eyes on what’s next from MTN Group.

Here’s a poser to open this blurb: When a large investor sells its holding in a venture, what does it typically signify? 

“We don’t trust you anymore.”? Or, “we have bigger priorities that don’t involve you”? Nedbank’s pull from Ecobank might be the latter.

On August 15, Nedbank, South Africa’s fourth-largest commercial bank by assets, sold its stake in Ecobank to Cameroonian financier Alain Nkontchou, for $100 million. Nedbank previously held a 21.2% stake in Ecobank, which it acquired in 2014 for $500 million. 

Nkontchou’s investment firm, Bosquet Investments, which controls $1.2 billion in private assets, will assume control of Nedbank’s stake once the deal is approved.

Ten days before the sale, Nedbank announced its plan to fully exit Ecobank, refocus its investment in its home turf, South Africa, and explore deepening its operations in East Africa. Part of that move has seen Nedbank acquire iKhokha for R1.65 billion ($94 million) to deepen its play in merchant payments.

Between the lines: While Nedbank is taking a $400 million haircut to offload the stake, the deal might be more about its priorities and less about Ecobank’s health. In 2024, Ecobank reported a solid year, with $658 million in profit before tax and a return on tangible equity (ROTE) of 32.7%, a key metric that indicates how effectively a bank converts its capital into profit. 

Zoom out: Ecobank itself is reshuffling its pan-African ambitions, after selling off its underperforming business in Mozambique. Ecobank has historically struggled, but the recent numbers suggest it might be turning a tide.

Ghana seems to have a serious beef with MultiChoice and its prices. Just last month, the government ordered the pay TV giant to slash its prices by 30%. 

Now, the country’s Communications Minister, Sam George, is charging MultiChoice Ghana $920 per day for refusing to hand over pricing breakdowns to justify their subscription rates. The fine started last week Friday, after MultiChoice missed the August 11 deadline to provide detailed bouquet prices, tax components, and comparisons with six other African markets. 

What’s Ghana’s deal really? Well, the government wants to see if MultiChoice’s prices are actually justified or if they are just milking Ghanaian customers. The minister has given them until September 6 to either provide the much-needed data and agree to price cuts or risk having their operating license suspended. 

More regulatory trouble: Another regulator, Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA), has also issued a shutdown notice after MultiChoice failed to cut subscription fees by 30% by the August 7 deadline. The pay TV giant was given another 30 days, until September 8 to meet the deadline. 

Big Picture: African governments are getting more aggressive with companies over consumer pricing, especially after recent macroeconomic hurdles. In June 2025, Nigerian regulators successfully pressured MultiChoice into slashing prices by 50%. Regulators want to protect the consumers, but MultiChoice has eyes on more and more profits. Who will win? 

Rising regulatory hurdles could also pose a challenge for Canal+, the French media group that secured approval in July to acquire MultiChoice for $2 billion as part of its Africa expansion drive.

Chams, CWG, and eTranzact have been busy — generating ₦59.93 billion ($38.5 million) in H1, 2025, a 29.17% rise from last year. Together, the trio earned ₦15.95 billion ($10 million) in gross profit, a 43.49% jump from H1 2024, and their stocks are riding the wave. CWG’s share price is up 117.45% this year, eTranzact has gained 63.85%, and Chams has climbed 35.71%.

CWG leads the pack with ₦36.77 billion ($24 million), powered by software, IT infrastructure, and managed services for banks, telcos, and governments across Africa. Its software revenue alone doubled to ₦19.95 billion ($13 million), with nearly half coming from outside Nigeria.

Chams followed with ₦9.88 billion ($6.4 million), largely from payments and identity card sales. The 40-year-old firm, which counts INEC, Customs, NHIS, and several banks as clients, is now doubling down on SIM card production and cross-border payments.

eTranzact, meanwhile, posted ₦13.28 billion ($9 million), a 5.43% decline as airtime sales slowed, but gross profit rose 39.58% thanks to lower costs. Airtime remains its backbone, but its fintech play — PocketMoni, PayOutlet, and SwitchIT — is where the company is betting its future.

Taken together, the results show how listed tech firms are finding ways to keep revenue flowing while diversifying income streams.