Head of - HOD Partnership Channels Enterprise Business Unit at MTN

Job Description

• Strategically lead the growth and management of MTN’s ICT Partner Development and Sales ICT. Responsible for developing and executing strategies to build incremental revenue streams through recruiting and enabling key partners and alliances
• Implement a comprehensive strategy to drive exponential growth through partnerships across all segments, including Large Enterprise, Public Enterprise, and Small Medium Enterprise (SME).
• Identify and secure new partners, leading to increased market coverage and the introduction of new revenue streams.
• Ensure the alignment of regional operations with national strategies, optimise the partner ecosystem and lead the execution of go-to-market initiatives.
• Plays a critical part in expanding MTN’s market presence and enhancing its financial performance through strategic partner engagement.

Responsibilities
Strategy Development and Implementation

• Develop and lead the Enterprise Partnership Channel ecosystem and strategy, ensuring alignment with MTN’s national business objectives and overall growth targets.
• Identify alliances/partners which may be beneficial to EBU’s business operations based on the strategy.
• Engage with Strategy team to align on strategic partners (and partner strategies) that may play in EBU.
• Align closely with MTN group to leverage existing global partnerships and devise SA specific partnerships where necessary.
• Conduct in-depth analysis of market trends, customer needs, and competitive dynamics to inform strategic direction and identify growth opportunities.
• Drive the implementation of the strategy across all business segments, ensuring seamless integration with regional operations and support functions.
• Continuously assess and refine the strategy to respond to changing market conditions, technological advancements, and evolving business needs.

Partner and Alliance Development Leadership

• Manage the day-to-day operations of the partner development channel, ensuring alignment with strategic objectives and efficient execution across regions.
• Provide feedback through regular engagements with Head of Regions on Regional Enterprise performance and client account initiatives.
• Utilise regional and industry insights to collaborate with teams to tailor customer centric enterprise solutions.
• Collaborates with EBU sector heads to agree on highest priority clients and deals Identifies opportunities to improve existing processes, governs these processes and remove redundant steps within them.
• Coordinate end-to-end integration of partner offerings with EBU offerings to ensure the best can be offered to clients.
• Ensure new partners are onboarded timeously.
• Negotiate preferred deals with partners in collaboration with the Legal team.
• Connect with legal team to draft the best terms between EBU and partners based on the desired outcome of each partnership.
• Identify opportunities to monetize products/services from partnership ecosystem.
• Work closely with Product/Solution Managers to identify opportunities where alliances/partners can contribute to product strategies and vice versa.
• Work closely with ICT team to understand the latest offerings and where partnerships can be leveraged to support these.

Partner & Alliance  Performance Management

• Ensure regular tracking of partner performance with measurements and metrics
• Manage partners’ performance based on their identified KPIs
• Manage partnerships across their lifecycle to ensure profitability
• Ensure implementation of special projects, in this space, on a priority basis
• Review and update contracts with partners, periodically  to ensure that the arrangement is performing optimally
• Ensure that partnerships and partner offerings are scalable
• Manage revenues, costs and margins of partners
• Coordinate end-to-end integration of partner offerings with EBU offerings to ensure the best can be offered to clients
• Align with sales and support team to determine how key alliances/ partners can support sales and vice versa

Governance, Policies and Procedures

• Establish and enforce governance frameworks, policies, and procedures to ensure compliance with industry standards and MTN’s internal guidelines.
• Monitor and manage compliance within the partner development channel, mitigating risks and ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements.
• Implement industry best practices in partner management, ensuring the highest standards of operational excellence and partner satisfaction.
• Manage and provide solutions to escalations that have multiple processes / functions impact on critical path of project/ programme delivery
• Continuously review key risks, issues and dependencies and set mitigation actions. Ensure the successful management of Commercial Operations programme risks, the measurement thereof and poses corrective action where necessary
• Conduct regular reviews and audits to ensure adherence to governance policies.

Stakeholder Management

• Engage with Regional Enterprise Heads to understand their priorities and plans, support and guide their thinking through best practice advice and provide direct support in engaging priority regional accounts.
• Communicate effectively with EBU and external stakeholders to align expectations and objectives.
• Manage stakeholder expectations and address concerns promptly and effectively.
• Engage with the Legal, Finance, Marketing, Sales, ICT Product and Risk teams within MTN SA to understand the regulatory requirements to ensure alignment and support for the partner development strategy.

Budget, Cost Control & Reporting

• Manage, monitor and control the budgetary needs for Programmes/ Projects , in line with business objectives
• Review and submit reports for the Exec addressing periodic activity, budget compliance, feedback and key departmental results to facilitate decision making
• Manage and optimise the budget, ensuring all expenditure is in line with the agreed budgets
• Monitor costs and determine initiatives to increase efficiencies and optimise resources - maximise cost/benefit ratios
• Where relevant, ensure Vendor and IT costs are effectively managed

People & Culture Management

• Provide technical, procedural and policy guidance to staff, colleagues , partners and vendors
• Attract, develop and retain appropriate talent. Build talent by identifying and developing new leaders for the respective environment
• Create and implement personal development plans
• Enable and model healthy employee relations and collaborative teamwork
• Manage diversity, develop, and embed an Employment Equity plan for the business area
• Contribute to building a culture  of continuous evaluation and improvement. Drive a culture of high performance, accountability and consequence management
• Act as an ambassador for the Enterprise  team by living the Brand values and vital behaviours and changing and influencing employees’  behaviour
• Make the environment the best place to work. Foster professionalism, loyalty and commitment to the organization. Build the Company’s brand to be the employer of first choice.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 4-year tertiary degree
• Post Grad in Business/ Commerce, Marketing, Sales or a related field
• MBA or masters is advantageous
• Fluent in English and language of country preferable
• Minimum of 7-10 years in a senior management role within the ICT, Telecommunications, or related technology-intensive industries
• At least 5 years of experience leading and managing teams, with a focus on developing high-performing, customer-centric teams.
• Work experience across diverse cultures and geographies is advantageous.
• Strong leadership skills and experience leading a team of sellers focusing on enterprise accounts.
• In depth knowledge of the Partnership ecosystem
• Good understanding of commercial partnership contracts