Paul Norman, Group Chief HR and Corporate Affairs Officer at telecommunications company MTN, is a qualified psychologist and MBA graduate with vast corporate experience spanning more two decades.
Although he ran a small psychology practice in his early working years, his management clientele led him to work that involved doing assessments of job candidates for executive placement agencies and companies that wanted to get the best out of their people. His appointment to MTN was coincidentally part of that process, whereby he had written a report about a potential candidate, but the CEO hired him instead.
“I was called into a meeting because the CEO at that time wanted more information about a report I had written on that individual but, after speaking with me, he said I would suit the role better and he offered me the job on the spot,” says Norman, recalling a meeting that happened 20 years ago. MTN is only 23 years old now, so his tenure says a lot about how ingrained he is in the company.
“I was only going to stay for 3 years, but the industry has been so exciting and our work here has been very purpose-driven. MTN is all about improving the quality of people’s lives and that really resonates with me”.
Now operating in 21 African countries, MTN has come a long way in his time at the company and Norman believes he has been able to remain at the company because of the nexus of technological developments that arise, allowing him to continue challenging himself and others. They’ve built a comprehensive extensive talent pool, which before didn’t exist and the company has developed its own corporate university, through which over 200 expatriates have been trained.
“The whole concept of the digital divide has been central to our work, and now we’re entering the era of digitization., which itself is taking technology to new heights,” says Norman.
