Tullow Oil plc has appointed Phuthuma Nhleko as an independent non-executive director and chairman-designate.
He replaces Dorothy Thompson CBE who will retire as chairman and from the board by the end of 2021.
Mr Nhleko has extensive experience in emerging markets having worked across Africa over the past three decades.
He was chief executive of MTN Group from 2002 to 2011, during which time the group gained more than 185 million subscribers.
In 2013, Mr Nhleko returned to MTN as a non-executive director and chairman until 2019 and was executive chairman from 2015 to 2017.
He remained part of the international advisory board for the business until August 2021.
Mr Nhleko was a non-executive director at BP plc (2011-16) and Anglo-American plc (2011-15), and previously served on the boards of Nedbank and Old Mutual in South Africa.
He is currently chairman of investment group Phembani Group which he founded in 1994, and is chairman-designate of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Ltd, a NED of Engen Petroleum and IHS Towers.
Mr Nhleko is a South African national and holds a BSc in Civil Engineering from Ohio State University and an MBA from Atlanta University.