MTN announces Burak Akinci as Ayoba's new CEO

Burak Akinci | image supplied

Akinci, who will report to the group's chief digital and fintech officer Serigne Dioum, joins MTN from Turkcell, where he was CEO of BiP. He has over 20 years of experience in marketing, digital businesses and technologies, and led the build-out of the BiP platform. In his new role, he will be based in Cape Town.

“We are thrilled that an executive of Akinci’s calibre is joining us. His appointment accelerates our work to build the largest and most valuable platforms as we target greater digital and financial inclusion across the continent,” said Dioum on the appointment.

Commenting on his appointment, Akinci said: “I feel honoured and very excited to join MTN family and Ayoba. I believe in the digital vision for Africa driven by MTN and I am confident that, with this great team, we will build the best communication platform and super app of Africa.”

At the end of March 2021, MTN had 5.3 million monthly active Ayoba users across 20 markets and a plan to grow this to 100 million in 2025. The company aims to capture more than 10% of the gross merchandise value of the digital economy in its footprint as it moves beyond the traditional telco-led Mobile Money (MoMo) offering with Ayoba, which is an OTT (over the top) service that does not require users to be MTN subscribers. MTN is also targeting 100 million MoMo users by 2025, up from 46.6 million at end-March.