Tullow Oil appoints Phuthuma Nhleko as chairman designate

Tullow Oil has appointed Phuthuma Nhleko as an independent non-executive director and chairman designate.

Nhleko will join the board as a non-exec director with immediate effect and will take over as chairman from Dorothy Thompson "following a suitable handover period" and after she steps down and retires by the year end.

Tullow said Nhleko brings extensive emerging markets experience to the group, having worked successfully across Africa over the past three decades. He was chief executive of pan-African telecommunications company MTN Group from 2002 to 2011.

After stepping down as CEO of MTN, Nhleko was a non-executive director at BP from 2011 to 2016 and Anglo American from 2011 to 2015. He also served on the board of Nedbank and Old Mutual in South Africa.

Nhleko is currently chairman of Phembani Group, an investment firm he founded in 1994, and chairman designate of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Dorothy Thompson said: "Phuthuma brings to Tullow excellent and relevant experience, having successfully built a truly pan-African business. He is a widely acclaimed business leader with a deep understanding of Africa and a broad set of relationships across the continent. He also brings experience from listed companies across a number of international markets, including the UK and Africa."