[South Africa] Dirk Karl appointed MTN Group procurement and supply chain head

MTN Group has appointed Dirk Karl to head up group procurement and supply chain management, effective no later than 1 November 2017.

Karl joins MTN from Buyln, the procurement joint venture between Deutsche Telekom and Orange, where he was Senior Vice President for Network Technology.
The appointment comes as the organisation continues to focus on delivering EBITDA growth in its key markets of Nigeria and South Africa, through the Project IGNITE initiative, communicated to the market earlier in the year.

“We undertook a global search to identify the best candidate to build a world class network and commercial sourcing organisation for MTN Group. Sourcing skills and strategies are critical to delivering second-to-none networks for our customers, whilst supporting EBITDA margin evolution and cash generation for the business. With Karl’s wealth of experience, industry knowledge and skills, particularly in the area of network sourcing in emerging markets, I am confident that we are well placed to deliver on procurement and supply chain ambitions,” says MTN Group Chief Financial Officer, Ralph Mupita.

Prior to joining Buyln in 2011, Karl was Senior Vice President and Global Head of Strategic Sourcing for Deutsche Telekom. Additionally, he has held a number of senior management roles in various global corporates, including General Motors, ING Group and T Systems, in a career spanning more than two decades.

Among his notable achievements, Karl led the transition from corporate sourcing departments in both Deutsche Telekom and Orange to a newly created joint venture company. In a previous role, he introduced and executed worldwide best price alignment initiatives for suppliers, and was also responsible for pioneering the strategic development and launch of a new demand management tool to enable sufficient category bundling, common technology projects and joint resource management across 49 countries in Europe, USA and AMEA.

At MTN, Karl will be responsible for developing and executing global procurement and sourcing strategies, as well as leveraging MTN’s scale to identify opportunities to drive greater commercial success across our footprint.

Karl says he is looking forward to taking on the role, adding, “I am excited to join a company of MTN’s scale and stature, and more so, to be given the opportunity to be part of the team that will contribute to the organisation’s future success.”

www.mtn.com