MTN Group has appointed Vodacom's chief officer of strategy and M&A, Yolanda Cuba, as group chief digital and fintech officer.

In a statement, the mobile operator says Cuba will join the MTN Group executive committee reporting to the Group CEO, Rob Shuter.

In this role, she will lead the group's strategic expansion of its financial services and digital solutions efforts and transformation into a digital operator, says the company.

It notes that Cuba brings extensive telecommunications and leadership experience to MTN Group. She joins MTN Group from Vodacom, where she served as chief officer of strategy and M&A, it points out.

She was previously the CEO of Vodafone Ghana for a three-year period, a role that saw her named Telecom CEO of the Year in 2018.

"This role gives me the opportunity to drive digital innovation and financial inclusion across the group's vast footprint. I'm really looking forward to the new challenge and being part of the MTN leadership team," says Cuba.

Shuter says: "We are very pleased to bring an executive of Yolanda's calibre into MTN Group. Yolanda is a highly qualified and experienced executive, with a unique combination of operational telecommunications experience as well as finance, financial services and digital skills. I am confident that Yolanda's leadership will place us in good stead as we intensify our efforts to build a digital ecosystem and scale our fintech offering across our markets.

"Under Cuba's leadership, MTN will continue to progressively grow the fintech and digital opportunities in Africa as we see these areas as major drivers of our BRIGHT growth strategy."

Cuba's start date will be communicated in due course.