Starting as the first-ever female CMO of the telecommunications giant, Adia Sowho’s tenure brought new marketing dimensions and standards. She resigned from her position as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of MTN Nigeria after three years of service.
The rather abrupt quit comes amid allegations of misappropriation and unnecessary expenditures reported by 247ureports. MTN Nigeria has maintained that Sowho’s departure was a mutual agreement without commenting on the allegations.
Her career is marked by innovation and timely changes. Sowho began as a Radio Frequency Engineer at US Cellular Corporation and later worked as a management consultant at Deloitte Consulting LLP before joining the Nigerian telecom sector with Etisalat Nigeria, now 9mobile.
At Migo, she introduced instant lending solutions, enabling users to secure 10,000 loans per day. Her management at ThriveAgric earned the company recognition as one of the fastest-growing companies according to the Financial Times in 2024.
Her Contribution to the Growth of MTN Nigeria
Beginning her MTN Nigeria journey in August 2021, she infused the organization with ‘startup energy,’ transforming the company’s Consumer Business unit, which recorded over 20% year-on-year growth consistently.
The data segment grew by 50%, and MTN launched 5G services, becoming the first Nigerian telecom company to do so. Her efforts in partnering with OTT providers and OEMs promoted smartphone adoption and affordable device ownership, expanding MTN’s customer base and fostering an inclusive digital economy.
She emphasized the importance of marketing to the right audience and delivering the right products by studying customer behavior. This approach improved customer satisfaction and business advancement.
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She also championed prescriptive analytics, enabling the operator to predict customer needs and fine-tune strategies quickly. This digital transformation enhanced the understanding of customer behavior and decision-making processes.
By removing barriers that prevented employees from working in a coordinated and integrated manner, Sowho fostered cooperation across groups, accelerating the pace of delivering new solutions to the market. These cultural changes ensured MTN remained competitive and innovative.
In a LinkedIn post, she spoke about the significance of partnerships, customer-oriented approaches, and organizational flexibility. She expressed appreciation to her team, colleagues, and especially Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria, for recognizing her potential.
Her Departure is by Mutual Consent
Her departure is by mutual consent, but her impact will resonate within the company for years. Ugonwa Nwoye, the current Chief Customer Relations Officer, will assume the position of acting CMO to maintain the pace set.
Sowho’s experience at MTN Nigeria demonstrates that transformative change can be achieved through effective leadership and innovation. She successfully managed to overcome challenges, seize opportunities, and motivate her team to high levels, setting a model for the telecommunications industry.
Her future endeavors may take her to other organizations, but the legacy she left will shape the company’s future. Her term of service has ended, but the policies and measures she implemented will continue to guide MTN Nigeria as it evolves its telecommunications services in the digital age.
Adia Sowho Biography
Call her a management guru, a tech expert, an engineer and even a marketing wonder, and you would be absolutely right every single time. Described as a result-oriented professional by her colleagues, Adia Sowho is the first female Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of MTN Nigeria, the largest telco in the country.
She was also the one who stepped in to pilot ThriveAgric back to profitability after the company fell into financial distress due to the pandemic.
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Before MTN, Sowho had what one might rightly call a rich career starting from a background in engineering, to years of career experience designing, building and scaling tech-driven platform companies in emerging markets. Definitely a woman of many parts, you would agree!
Academic, Professional Qualifications, and Work Experience
- Graduated with a degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering and thus began her adulting in 2000
- In 2001, She got her first job as a Radio Frequency Engineer at a mobile operator. Adia was responsible for deploying and maintaining cell sites across several states in midwestern US. After a few years and multiple technology changes, Adia needed a new problem to solve because essentially the core task remained the same. But technology advancements made the toys to solve them better
- In 2004, she went to business school and took a swath of classes that cut across the spectrum of business so that she could solve as many problems as were thrown at her in the future.
- Adia Sowho became a management consultant in 2007.
- The global economic crisis affected a lot of people in 2009, she was one of them. So after a couple of years solving different problems for different telecom companies, she came back to Nigeria.
- In 2010, Adia Sowho got a job at EMTS (formerly Etisalat Nigeria, now 9 Mobile) as the Head of Strategy.
- In 2018, she served as Managing Director of Migo (formerly mines.io), and also as Vice President of Growth till 2020. At Migo, she helped build the pilot operation for this AI-driven digital credit start-up and designed and implement a platform business model that reached 1 million customers in two years and expand into Brazil.
- Adia Sowho was appointed as the interim CEO in August 2020. Within a year, she filled the gaps and the platform bounced back, paid back all its investors and was ready to move forward. It was quite easy to identify the owner of the Midas touch.
- In 2021, Adia Sowho joined MTN in September as their first female Chief Marketing Officer.
Other things to know about Adia Sowho
Sowho supports Africa’s tech ecosystems as a startup mentor and speaker, working with various Africa-focused VC firms to better prepare their portfolios for scale. Her records continue to blaze the trail and raise the bar for others.
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Sowho also serves as Non-Executive Director with Hover Developer Services, Inc. an early-stage technology venture since 2020; as well as Non-Executive Director with Sankore Investments, an investment and advisory firm.
A recommendation by Donelle Broskow, Workforce Development Analyst at United States Cyber Command reads;
- “Because Adia maintained her career while earning her MBA, she quickly mastered how to work well in teams with other high-achieving colleagues, while managing a full MBA course load, which required many hours of outside-of-class work each week – for homework and team projects. At the Kellogg School, our philosophy of academic excellence, teamwork and professionalism is embedded in how we approach who we admit into the School. Adia embodied these characteristics while at Kellogg, as well as currently as she serves as a Kellogg alumni ambassador.”
Another former colleague of hers, Roger (Gang) Cao, rounds off his recommendation by saying “I put my faith in Adia as one of my best coworkers”.
Adia Sowho is happily married to Abiodun Awosika, and they have three sons. Her journey from engineer to senior marketing executive demonstrates exceptional leadership and talent.
