Karl Olutokun Toriola
Karl Olutokun Toriola is a telecommunications engineer who is currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria. Karl Toriola had previously worked with other telecommunications firms including Vmobile Nigeria, (now Airtel Nigeria) and Ericsson Switzerland.
Toriola earned a bachelor’s degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering in 1994 from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria; and a master’s degree in Communication Systems graduating in 1996 from the University of Wales, Swansea, United Kingdom. He has completed several programmes at the Institute of Management Development (IMD), Switzerland (2006);
Harvard Business School, USA (2008); London Business School, United Kingdom (2009); Wharton Business School, USA (2011); and INSEAD, Singapore (2013).
Karl has over 24 years of experience serving at MTN Group, WECA region; MTN Cameroon, Vmobile Nigeria; Ericsson Nigeria & AG Switzerland. He started his telecommunications career in 1995 with Ericsson Switzerland and later, Ericsson Nigeria in 2000. At Erricson Nigeria, he worked as Support and Integration Manager for GSM, coordinating mobile networks rollout in Nigeria. In 2004, Karl joined Vmobile Nigeria as Chief Operations/Regional Officer and supervised technical functions following the termination of the Econet Wireless International Technical Services Agreement.
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Karl first joined MTN Nigeria as Chief Technical Officer, Network Group (NWG) in 2006 before holding various positions across the MTN Group. In this position, he coordinated Technology Strategy, Capital Projects and Network Rollout. In 2011, Karl became CEO, MTN Congo Brazzaville, in an interim capacity and was later appointed CEO, MTN Cameroon. Then, he raised the company’s market share from 51% to 62%, leading it to emerge top telecommunication firm in Cameroon. He also negotiated the addition of a 3G and 4G network, a Fibre license, and the transfer of part ownership of the WACS submarine cable system to the Government of Cameroon. Karl further obtained Investors in People (IIP) Gold certification for MTN Cameroon, making it the first subsidiary of MTN Group to secure the certification.
In 2015, Karl served as Group Operating Executive, MTN Group where he supervised MTN subsidiaries in 12 countries. In January 2016, he became Vice President, West and Central Africa. He was appointed the CEO, MTN Nigeria in October 2020 and assumed office on the 1st of March, 2021.
Karl sits on the board of several companies including UAC of Nigeria Plc, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, Nigeria Economic Summit Group, (NESG) and serves as a Member of the Governing Council, Lagos State University (LASU). He was previously Chairman, MTN/Areeba Guinea and Board Member, American Towers Uganda.
He is the recipient of several awards including the 2009 Best CTO and Best Network awards.
Karl Toriola is a multilinguist, who speaks Yoruba, English, French, and German fluently.
Connect with him on LinkedIn