Encomium
MTN Nigeria, in partnership with the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce (NSACC) hosted business leaders and corporate decision-makers recently at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos. The breakfast session focused on deepening domestic capacity and reviewing 25 years of shared economic growth. Central to the deliberations was a panel examination of how MTN Nigeria has catalysed the growth of local enterprises, serving as a benchmark for local content development and commercial collaboration between Africa’s two largest economic powers.
Opening the panel discussion, the Chief Executive Officer of BlackHouse Media (BHM), Ayeni Adekunle, highlighted the global ambitions that cross-border partnerships between Nigerian and South African corporations can unlock. Reflecting on how corporate access enables local communications consultancies to scale across borders, Adekunle emphasised that local content policies must aim to build African brands capable of competing globally alongside Western and Asian conglomerates. “My vision is for local Nigerian and African companies to do so well, to be so empowered, and to be so visionary that they can operate all over the world,” Adekunle stated, adding that bilateral chambers must serve as springboards for African enterprises to enter the global corporate mix.
Detailing the practical demands of servicing a major multinational, Udeme Ufot, Group Managing Director of creative agency SO&U, described how MTN’s high operational pace and strict standards forced indigenous service providers to refine their internal processes, expand their workforce, and elevate service delivery. Recounting his agency’s journey over two decades of engagement with the telecom giant, Ufot noted that the institutional rigor required to service such accounts permanently transforms a vendor’s capabilities, “MTN compels you to raise your business to world-class standards, a game that ensures you can play anywhere in the world, leaving you with capabilities that endure long after.”
Corroborating the narrative of domestic value creation, Yemi Chukwurah, Chief Executive Officer of Seams and Stitches, highlighted how structured corporate procurement builds capacity across local manufacturing and supply chains. Chukwurah noted that MTN’s deep integration into the Nigerian economy demonstrated how cross-border investments become genuinely local through local workforce engagement and vendor development. “MTN might have originated as a South African company, but it is more Nigerian right now because of collaboration, local content, and the Nigerian minds who have built it into an authentic local business.”
Afolabi Sobande, Group Chief Operating Officer of Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), emphasised that technical partnerships between technology companies like MTN and local IT infrastructure firms prove that African companies can jointly drive continental tech sovereignty. Sobande explained that CWG’s execution of high-level managed services for major telecom operators showcases the strength of indigenous tech talents when given commercial access. “Nigeria and South Africa can take Africa to the world, and that is what MTN has demonstrated.”
Ultimately, the speakers demonstrated that shared growth goes far beyond transactional supply contracts; it builds enduring capability, expands headcount, and exports local talent onto the global stage. As highlighted across the session, leveraging this quarter-century legacy of capacity-building will remain critical as indigenous firms expand their footprint across the continent.
