Call her a management guru, a techie, an engineer, or even a marketing wonder, and she’s always absolutely right. Described as a results-oriented professional by her colleagues, adia sowho she was the first female Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of MTN Nigeria, the country’s largest telecommunications company.
He was also the one who stepped in to make ThriveAgric profitable again after the company fell into financial difficulties due to the pandemic.
Prior to MTN, Sowho had what might correctly be called a rich career that began with an engineering background and years of professional experience designing, building, and scaling technology-driven platform companies in emerging markets. Definitely a woman of many parts, would you agree!
Adia attended the University of Sheffield where she earned a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. She studied further for her MBA in Analytical Consulting, Strategic Marketing, Management and Strategy, and Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She also attended an executive program at Singularity University in 2018.
Adia the radio frequency engineer
Adia Sowho’s career began in 2001 as a Radio Frequency Engineer at US Cellular Corporation, Chicago metropolitan area, just after earning her first engineering degree. She would spend the next five and a half years designing wireless coverage solutions, implementing network optimization measures, and managing network performance with statistical analysis.
Erik P. Neitzel, a former colleague who worked with her at US Cellular, described her work as exemplary. Her recommendation on her profile reads: “Her technical acumen and attention to detail were directly responsible for the superior quality of the area network she designed.”
First in Management and then in Marketing…
By 2007, she had moved to Deloitte Consulting LLP as a management consultant, developing data-driven solutions for operational, financial, and marketing problems within the telecommunications, media, and technology verticals for clients.
He moved to Nigeria three years later and joined Etisalat Nigeria (now 9mobile). She spent eight years at Etisalat in various roles, including Head of Strategy and Business Development, Head of Digital Media and Director of Digital Business. Within that period, she launched the company’s first Digital Business unit, developed the vision and strategy, built the team, and grew revenue in 4 years to $100 million. He also helped expand the partner base, served as the primary point of contact for the Google and Facebook partnerships, and built the business’s suite of mobile digital products and services of 23 million subscribers across mobile financial services, advertising , content and API. , among others.
Retiring from 9mobile in 2018, she served as CEO of Migo (formerly mines.io) and also as Vice President of Growth through 2020. At Migo, she helped build the pilot operation for this AI-powered digital credit startup and designed and implemented a platform business model that reached 1 million customers in two years and expanded to Brazil.
When ThriveAgric, an agricultural investment platform, was experiencing a financial crisis in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Adia Sowho was appointed interim CEO in August 2020. Within a year, she filled the gaps and the platform rebounded and paid off all its investors. and was ready to move on. It was quite easy to identify the owner of the Midas touch.
Adia Sowho joined MTN in September 2021 as Chief Marketing Officer and still holds the role to date. She has been described as the new face of MTN’s tech makeover, and her rich experience is just one of the reasons.
Other parts of wonder woman…
Sowho supports Africa’s tech ecosystems as a startup mentor and speaker, working with various Africa-focused venture capital firms to better prepare their portfolios to scale. His records continue to lead the way and raise the bar for others.
Sowho also serves as a non-executive director at Hover Developer Services, Inc., an early-stage technology company since 2020; as well as a non-executive director of Sankore Investments, an investment and advisory firm.
A recommendation from Donelle Broskow, United States Cyber Command Workforce Development Analyst says;
- “Because Adia maintained her career while earning her MBA, she quickly mastered how to work well in teams with other high-performing colleagues, while managing a full MBA course load, which required many hours of work outside of class each week, for tasks and team projects. At the Kellogg School, our philosophy of academic excellence, teamwork, and professionalism is ingrained in the way we approach the people we admit to the School. Adia embodied these characteristics while she was at Kellogg, and currently serves as a Kellogg Alumni Ambassador.”
Another former colleague of hers, Roger (Gang) Cao, completes his recommendation by saying “I trust Adia as one of my best co-workers”.
… Meet Adia Sowho, a multifaceted woman Read more in … Naijaonpoint.