Senior Manager - Program and Business Management Enterprise Business Unit at MTN

Mission

• This role will direct, control and orchestrate  the activities of the CEBO office and the CEBO direct reports on projects and commitments, the responsibility will be to analyse and give counsel on execution of defined strategies as well as put in place business measures for the CEBO. Perform a meaningful role in long-term planning and establishment initiatives aimed at operational distinction for the CEBO office.

Context: 

• Highly competitive market with new and established competitors
• Fast moving industry
• Legislative changes
• Changes in the ICT market affects developments in future revenue environments
• Interdependency of systems and the need to understand other systems
• Changes in the business as a whole will impact on the business plan, processes and reporting
• High cross-functional dependency  to deliver timeously
• Compliance requirements from MTN Group for the various diciplines that include planning, reporting and revenue assurance

Key Performance Areas:

Task Complexity:

• Orchestration of CEBO and Leadership Team Projects and Commitments  
• Project Management of wide-ranging multi-disciplined Business projects from concept to completion
• Focus on ensuring accurate alignment amongst stakeholders, recommending mitigating approaches when needed 
• Understand the breadth of the projects within the CEBO’s scope of activities and agree on schedule of projects with RACI . Tact, diplomacy, and persistence are essential qualities in executing this dimension of the role. 
• Develop and maintain an inventory of critical path projects in which the CEBO is especially interested and/or for which awareness and involvement is essential
• Work with EBU leadership team to align their actions and communications in support of agreed upon goals. The BM role will be to work with all staff to ensure that the CEBO’s needs are conveyed, that progress is being made in a timely way, and that any demands on CEBO’s schedule are understood and agreed upon. The BM will also work to ensure the leadership team’s needs are conveyed to the CEBO for consideration.
• Be prepared to apprise the CEBO of project status and variations from schedule or scope.

Program Management and Independent Leadership of special CEBO initiated projects

• Scope, plan and execute multiple, often quick-turnaround projects with minimal outside assistance
• Conduct post implementation reviews to measure actual outcomes to previous benchmarks
• Present ideas for special projects that might facilitate the CEBO’s/leadership’s objectives
• Work with appropriate stakeholders, including outside parties, to undertake analysis, present findings to CEBO, EBU leadership team, MTN SA Executives or Board, as appropriate
• If necessary, oversee transfer of the project to other stakeholders within the organization
• This task ranges  from written reports to be authored by the CEBO to convening thought leaders on various topics. While the vast majority of CEBO initiated projects will find homes among the EBU leadership team and their staffs, some confidential or time sensitive issues will need to reside within the office of the CEBO and be led by the BM and the CEBO. From time to time, the MTN SA CEO and the Board asks the CEBO to come back with specific analyses, these too, would fall within the BM’ scope.

Communication on behalf of the CEBO and Leadership team 

• Learn, support and champion agreed corporate messages; business process management and continuous improvement methodologies; and work stream priorities
• Adopt a consultative approach to working with the business to identify opportunities for improvement in business operations, processes and resources
• Responsible for drafting and preparing Communications from the CEBO on Exco Meetings updates , Board meetings, ensure  follow up correspondence related to the CEBO’s various meetings with senior leadership, partners and staff, to various engagements involving external audiences. 
• Drafting of key communications and accurately reflect the CEBO’s position in internal meetings to help drive understanding 
• Help facilitate decisions the leadership team need receiving feedback on from the CEBO. 
• Support the needs of the leadership team in their ability to raise critical issues with the CEBO and receive needed responses, guidance and decisions.

Support the EBU leadership team’s communications with the CEBO: 

• Enhance the operational procedure, systems and principles in the areas of information flow and management, business processes and enhanced management reporting
• Preparation for, and facilitation of, “critical path” CEBO meetings (e.g., with MTN Business leadership, current or potential MTN Business partners, MTN Group Executives, Business leaders, government officials, and peer executives). 
• While members of any one of these groups may initiate these meetings through the CEBO’s Executive Assistant and be responsible for inviting and preparing participants, the BM is accountable to ensure that the meeting objectives are realistic, that preparation is appropriate, and that the CEBO is well prepared. 
• This responsibility is less about logistics and more about content and the BM’s judgment about the appropriateness and sufficiency of the intended preparation. 
• Ensure the CEBO’s time is leveraged most effectively in a meeting context. 
• This may mean querying and pushing back on senior leaders and assisting in their preparation for their interactions with the CEBO.

Proactive resolution to Business challenges and Issues 

• Develop recommendations by following a process of testing impressions; conducting feasibility studies and cost benefit analysis; identifying impacts to other parts of the business; conducting internal and external research to resolve business challenges 
• Engage in root cause analysis often without prompting from the CEBO or others on issues and opportunities that could impact the MTN Business executive agenda
• Confirm hypotheses through tactful and discrete engagement with the relevant parties
• Develop alternative approaches to addressing the problem or opportunity
• Succinctly update the CEBO on the issues, supported with facts and recommendations
• Engage in coalition building in support of mitigation approaches
• This responsibility involves elevating those issues about which the CEBO should be aware and framing/positioning ideas to resolve the problem/mitigate the risk. 
• This is among the most challenging aspects of the job and will require the BM to focus on the underlying interests of the parties working with the CEBO, understand their intentions, and creatively identify alternative means of handling pressing issues.
• Apply change management and influencing skills to overcome stakeholder resistance to change and to help imbed the required
• continuous improvement culture

Role Complexity:  

• Although the BM and CEBO may have complementary roles, they handle very different day-to-day responsibilities. The BM is a critically important role, enabling the CEBO to work most effectively with internal and external stakeholders and fulfill their commitments to MTN Business’s partners, MTN SA CEO, customers, employees, and the Board of Directors. This is not an administrative role; it is highly strategic and facilitative one that requires a combination of focus and flexibility as well as a willingness to play an active, behind the scenes role.

Collaboration:  Refers to formal and informal relationships

• Responsibility towards:  who are they and what do they receive from the incumbent.
• Direct reports: To be defined matrix reports:  
• Key customers: EBU Functions 
• Key suppliers:  MTN SA and Group Wide
• Relations, etc.: Marketing, Sales & Service, IS, Network Group, Group functions, external and internal auditors IS; BI; BRM; MTN subsidiaries; Network Group; HR; Legal and Regulatory; Financial Management

Minimum Requirements  -

Education:

• 4 Year Tertiary qualification and a MBA, MDP required.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years work experience required
• This role provides privileged access to the inner workings of MTN Business and to highly sensitive information. The successful candidate will be discrete, high-energy, agile-minded, strategic, proactive, a direct communicator, highly-organized and committed to the vision and values of MTN. In addition, the following standards will generally define the successful incumbent:
• Results/action-orientation; program/project management skills
• Organizational and political agility; developed negotiation skills
• Unquestionable personal code of ethics, integrity, diversity and trust
• Able to successfully navigate within varying degrees of ambiguity in a fast-paced environment
• Strong strategic/financial analysis skills
• Mission-driven; passionate about MTN and related constituencies.
• Good sense of self and strong personal presence
• Market research experience a plus
• Willingness to work hard and take direction but also creatively solve problems for which the answers aren’t always obvious 
• Knowledge of MTN and key stakeholders to help navigate in the role
• Must have ISPA and ICASA knowledge

Training:
MTN products and services
Governance and compliance

• General working conditions (e.g. shift work, drivers license, specific tools, special clothing, environmental requirements, etc.)
• Must be willing to travel
• Willing to work long hours
• Constant pressure to meet extremely tight deadlines
• Be able to attend meetings outside the office
• Valid Passport and flexibility to travel internationally

KPA Quality Standards

• Manage end to end  issues from an integrative, executive leadership perspective 
• Responsible for leadership and decision-making related to the simultaneous execution of a complex growth strategy and the transformation of MTN within the ICT sector.
• Ensure SMART decisions making on all high level revenue and Client related initiactives and deliverables 
• Ensure compliance to all MTN Governance, Regulatory and Commercial 
• Solution Driven to achieve results