Dangote Appoints MTN CEO Ralph Mupita To Fertiliser Board

Dangote Industries has appointed the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Group, Ralph Mupita, to the board of Dangote Fertiliser Limited.

The appointment was confirmed by the Managing Director of Dangote Fertiliser, Vishwajit Sinha, in an email response to enquiries from Bloomberg.

This is as the Group plans to expand the business and list it on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX).

The move is widely seen as a strategic step ahead of the company’s proposed initial public offering (IPO), which is expected to take place later this year.

Dangote Fertiliser currently produces about 3 million metric tonnes of granulated urea annually from its $2.5 billion production complex in Lagos.

The company has ambitious expansion plans aimed at making it the world’s largest fertiliser producer by 2028.

Mupita’s appointment to the Board adds deep capital markets and corporate governance experience at a time when the company is preparing to open its ownership structure to public investors.

He is credited with spearheading the landmark listing of MTN Nigeria on the Nigerian Exchange in 2019, one of the most significant capital market transactions in the country’s recent history.

Since the listing, MTN Nigeria’s revenues have more than quadrupled, and the company has grown into one of the NGX’s most valuable stocks. With an estimated market capitalisation of about $8.6 billion, MTN Nigeria currently ranks as the exchange’s second-largest listed company, behind BUA Foods.

Mupita has led MTN Group, Africa’s largest telecommunications operator by subscriber base, for over five years, having joined the company in 2017 as Chief Financial Officer.

Before MTN, he held senior leadership roles at South Africa-based financial services group Old Mutual. He is also an engineer by training, a background that aligns with the industrial scale and technical complexity of Dangote’s operations.

As part of this strategy, Dangote has disclosed plans to expand the Lagos facility and commence construction of a new fertiliser plant in Ethiopia this year, further strengthening the group’s footprint across Africa.

Beyond fertiliser, the Dangote Group is also preparing to list its refinery business, according to earlier statements by Aliko Dangote.

The planned IPOs are expected to help the group raise fresh capital, deepen transparency, and broaden ownership to include domestic and international institutional investors.

Mupita’s appointment comes against the backdrop of rising demand for agricultural inputs across the continent.

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Africa has the fastest-growing population globally, and according to the African Development Bank, the agricultural sector could grow into a more than $1 trillion market by 2030.

However, productivity remains constrained by low fertiliser usage, limited access to finance, and weak infrastructure, creating a significant opportunity for large-scale producers such as Dangote Fertiliser.