Telecom
MTN Celebrates Brand Refresh with Grand Industry Event
MTN Nigeria officially celebrated the Group-wide brand refresh with a press briefing on February 27, 2022, at the Eko Hotels & Suites Grand Ballroom, Lagos.
L-R: TV Presenter, VJ Adams; Popular Radio Personality, Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi; Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Nigeria, Adia Sowho; Chief Sales & Distribution Officer, Adekunle Adebiyi, and General Manager, Brand & Communications, MTN Nigeria, Emamoke Ogoro at the MTN Brand Refresh held at Eko Hotel on Sunday 27 February 2022.
The company announced its brand repositioning using a contemplative slogan — “What Are We Doing Today?” It also articulated the context behind the new logo many had seen since 16 February 2022.
Present at the event were key members of the MTN leadership team, celebrities and well-established opinion leaders across relevant industries, media stakeholders and high-value customers.
This is the second brand overhaul since the MTN Group was founded in 1994. Back in 2004, the changes made to the brand resulted in MTN taking ownership of the colour yellow that is now synonymous with MTN. Importantly, it also helped to elevate the brand to where it is today, recognised as the most valuable in Africa.
The Company’s new logo forgoes the italics, the red underscore and the solid coloured oval present in the previous logo for a minimalist look that retains the oval (now represented as a solid outline) with the letters M-T-N nestled in it. These can be used against a sunshine yellow or plain white background in either black or yellow font colours.
The rebranding is an extension and visual representation of MTN Group’s refreshed strategy, dubbed Ambition 2025 and premised on Leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress. Through the delivery of this strategy, MTN aims to accelerate growth by building the largest and most valuable platform businesses and driving its industry leading connectivity operations.
Karl Toriola, chief executive officer, MTN Nigeria, explained that the rebranding exemplifies MTN’s commitment to continuously create value for all its stakeholders, with the new logo contextualising the company’s identity as a digital citizen, open to change, young at heart, inviting, digitally dynamic and progressive.
“We want to play our part in harnessing the potential and supporting the progress of our people by driving digital and financial inclusion.
“It is a well-known fact that the youth are central to achieving this potential. Whilst we remain focused on all our customers and stakeholders, our brand evolution demonstrates an enhanced focus on the youth,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, Adia Sowho, MTN Nigeria’s Chief Marketing Officer, expressed her excitement with regards to the brand refresh, emphasising the company’s predilection for building digital platforms that enable Africa’s progress.
“The new brand identity is modern, simple, bold and digitally dynamic. It kicks off with a provocative and simple question, “What are we doing today?” With a clear and concise brand strategy that Opportunity + Energy = Progress, MTN understands that to truly unlock the full benefits and potential of the digital world people require a combination of drive, progressive thinking and the right tools,” she said.
“This rebrand highlights MTN’s commitment to continuously evolve and explore innovative initiatives that provide value to all our stakeholders.
“A pioneer of progress from the beginning, MTN looks to drive this progress further through action and doing.
“In delivering its vision, MTN aims to drive a positive shift in Africa and harness the continent’s boundless opportunity,” she continued.
In the wake of increasing geopolitical tension, Cassava Technologies has unveiled its National Sovereign Cloud offering for African governments.
The solution, the company claims, will help the continent’s governments ensure data is kept on infrastructure that remains under local legal and operational jurisdiction.
According to the official announcement, made yesterday, the solution provides “secure, locally-governed digital infrastructure that enables the deployment of AI-enabled public services”.
The overarching solution encompasses cloud, cyber security, AI computing infrastructure, as well as local language AI models and skills support for governments.
The announcement comes amid increasing uncertainty over the hosting of sensitive national data on cloud services operated by foreign hyperscalers, which are subject to legal frameworks, such as the U.S. CLOUD Act. The CLOUD Act opens the door to allow American authorities to access data stored on the servers of US hyperscalers, wherever those servers are physically located.
Cassava has claimed separately that currently, “approximately 33% to 45% of the world’s data is hosted in the USA”.
The company added: “A sovereign cloud reduces exposure to extraterritorial laws, improves cyber resilience, and ensures that model weights and training data for public AI remain under national custody.”
The Africa Data Centres Association’s 2026 Economic Report states that “data sovereignty has evolved from a legal aspiration into a strategic policy lever”.
Ahmed El Beheiry, Group COO and Group Chief Technology and AI Officer, Cassava Technologies said: “Across Africa, governments are accelerating their digital transformation agendas and are increasingly focused on ensuring that data and digital infrastructure remain secure and sovereign.”
Announced at the Mobile Word Congress in Barcelona, this week, the Sovereign Cloud offering launch accompanied the launch of Cassava’s Cloud Partner programme.
The partner programme targets mobile network operators and system integrators across Africa to resell and distribute AI, cloud, and other digital services using Cassava’s infrastructure and technology platforms.
El Beheiry added: “We are expanding Africa’s sovereign AI ecosystem to build solutions that address the continent’s unique challenges while creating new opportunities for growth and digital inclusion.”
The programme offers partners access to NVIDIA Cloud Partner solutions, Cassava’s AI Factory, its own native AI solutions and its AI Multi-Model Exchange, which supports both Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini models.
Mazen Mroue, a non-executive director at MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, has resigned effective February 27, 2026, to prioritise other responsibilities within the MTN Group, the company announced in a Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) filing.
MTN Nigeria
The notice, signed by company secretary Uto Ukpanah, stated: “This is to enable Mr. Mroue to focus on other priorities within MTN Group Limited. The Board wishes to express its appreciation to Mr. Mroue for his immense service to MTN Nigeria and wishes him success in his future endeavours.”
Mroue joined MTN Nigeria’s board on June 1, 2022, bringing over 28 years of telecom experience. A veteran MTN executive, he previously served as CEO of MTN Uganda and MTN Liberia, non-executive director at MTN Cyprus, and held leadership roles at MTN Ghana.
Since February 2022, he has been MTN Group’s Chief Technology and Information Officer, overseeing technology strategy and governance. Earlier, as MTN Nigeria’s COO from August 2018 to January 2022, he also sat on the MTN Nigeria Foundation board.
The exit follows MTN Nigeria’s stellar 2025 results, posting a ₦1.70 trillion profit before tax—reversing a ₦550.3 billion loss in 2024 driven by forex woes—marking one of the telco’s strongest rebounds.
Google has rolled out support for Yorùbá and Hausa languages in its AI-powered Search features—AI Overviews and AI Mode—enabling millions of Nigerians to get quick answers, summaries, and conversational web exploration in their mother tongues.
The update forms part of Google’s push to cover 13 African languages, including Afrikaans, Akan, Amharic, Kinyarwanda, Afaan Oromoo, Somali, Sesotho, Kiswahili, Setswana, Wolof, and isiZulu, selected based on high search activity across the continent.
Now, a Kano student can ask complex questions in Hausa, while an Ibadan trader seeks business tips in Yorùbá—both receiving culturally nuanced AI responses via text or voice on Android, iOS, or web.
Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Google’s West Africa Communications Manager, said: “Building truly global Search requires nuanced local understanding. With Gemini-powered AI, we’ve made advanced capabilities relevant in Yorùbá and Hausa, so Nigerians converse naturally with Search in their mother tongues.”
To use: Open the Google app, tap AI Mode, and query in Hausa or Yorùbá for personalised guidance—breaking language barriers and making technology reflect Nigeria’s diverse identity.
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