MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita has joined the board of Dangote Fertiliser and the petrochemicals leadership team at Dangote Industries Limited, as the group accelerates plans to expand and list the business on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX).
The appointment was confirmed by Dangote Fertiliser managing director Vishwajit Sinha and publicly welcomed by MTN Group in a statement that signals strong institutional backing for the move.
“Congratulations to our Group president and CEO, Ralph Mupita, on his appointment to the Fertilizer and Petrochemicals leadership team at Dangote Industries Limited and to the board of Dangote Fertiliser. This appointment reflects our shared commitment to Africa’s long-term progress,” wrote MTN Group on its LinkedIn page.
Mupita’s appointment comes at a critical moment for Dangote Fertiliser, which is preparing for an initial public offering widely expected to be one of Nigeria’s most significant listings in recent years.
The fertiliser business currently produces about 3 million tonnes of granulated urea annually and has set an ambitious target of becoming the world’s largest producer by 2028. To support that goal, Dangote is expanding its $2.5 billion Lagos complex and plans to begin construction of a new fertiliser facility in Ethiopia this year.
For Dangote Industries founder Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, the strategy is consistent with a long-held vision of industrial self-sufficiency.
Over decades, Dangote has built a diversified conglomerate spanning cement, sugar, salt, fertiliser, petrochemicals and oil refining, anchored by massive, capital-intensive projects designed to reduce Africa’s reliance on imports.
Mupita brings a distinctly telecoms and capital-markets lens to that vision. Since becoming MTN Group CEO, he has overseen Africa’s largest mobile operator during a period of regulatory complexity and digital transformation.
He also led the landmark 2019 listing of MTN Nigeria, which helped unlock local ownership and positioned the unit as one of the NGX’s most valuable companies.
As Africa’s population grows and food demand rises, agriculture is projected by the African Development Bank to exceed $1 trillion by 2030.
Dangote’s bet, and now Mupita’s, is that capacity, infrastructure and smarter execution can turn that opportunity into a sustainable industrial advantage for the continent.
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