The MTN Group has appointed Dirk Karl to head up its procurement and supply chain management, effective from 1 November 2017.

The company hopes his appointment will drive its focus on delivering EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation) growth in its key markets of Nigeria and SA.

Karl will be responsible for developing and executing global procurement and sourcing strategies, as well as growing MTN's scale in identifying opportunities to drive commercial growth across its footprint.

The company says it undertook a global search to identify the best candidate, who it says would build a world class network and commercial sourcing organisation for the 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." says MTN Group CFO Ralph Mupita.

Mupita says Karl has a 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," he adds.

Prior to joining MTN, Karl will be leaving his senior vice president position for Network Technology at Buyln, the procurement joint venture between Deutsche Telekom and Orange. Before joining Buyln in 2011, he was senior vice president and global head of strategic sourcing for Deutsche Telekom.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Karl was the CIO of General Motors' European and Latin American Operations from 1999 to 2005. From 2005 to 2010 he became the CPO & general manager of The ING Group, a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation.

MTN states that 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.

"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," says Karl.