MTN Mobile Money Uganda has appointed Phrase Lubega as its new Managing Director, a strategic move designed to bolster the telecommunications giant’s fintech ambitions in East Africa.
The appointment, which remains subject to regulatory approval, marks a significant leadership transition for the mobile financial services provider as it seeks to deepen its reach within the regional digital economy.
Lubega joins the organization with a career spanning over three decades, marked by senior roles across the telecommunications, information technology, and financial services sectors.
His professional background includes extensive experience in scaling mobile financial infrastructure and implementing digital innovation strategies across the African continent.
The leadership change comes at a pivotal time for MTN as the group looks to consolidate its fintech presence.
Serigne Dioum, CEO of MTN Group Fintech, emphasized that Lubega’s deep market expertise would be critical as the company focuses on expanding access to inclusive and secure digital financial solutions.
The appointment is viewed by market observers as a continuation of the company’s efforts to leverage internal institutional knowledge to navigate an increasingly competitive fintech landscape in Uganda.
Sylvia Mulinge, Board Chairperson of MTN Mobile Money Uganda, noted that Lubega’s familiarity with the broader MTN footprint, combined with his background in corporate governance, aligns with the company’s objective of driving sustainable value for its stakeholders.
Lubega steps into the role following an interim period managed by Sarah Bateta Okwi, to whom the company extended formal appreciation for her stewardship. His mandate will involve steering the next phase of growth for the mobile money platform, which remains a central pillar of MTN Uganda’s broader business model.
By elevating an executive with a track record of driving digital transformation, MTN signals a commitment to maintaining its market position while navigating the evolving regulatory and technological demands of Uganda’s financial services sector.
As the company awaits formal regulatory clearance, the industry will be watching to see how Lubega’s leadership influences the integration of advanced financial products and the ongoing push for financial inclusion in the market.
Prior to this appointment, Phrase served as Interim Managing Director of MoMo Payment Service Bank in Nigeria, where he was responsible for shaping and executing the bank’s long-term strategy and digital banking model.
Under his leadership, the business achieved strong revenue growth, improved operational efficiencies and successfully launched new products to enhance competitiveness in the market.
His extensive career within MTN Group includes senior leadership roles such as Group Executive: Fintech Commercial Operations and General Manager: Commercial and Go-To-Market, where he played a critical role in driving Mobile Financial Services growth across the Group’s footprint, contributing to customer growth, improved retention and expansion of MTN’s mobile money operations across multiple countries.
Lubega takes the helm of a business unit that has established itself as the primary growth engine for MTN Uganda, offsetting a structural slowdown in traditional voice services.
According to the company’s full-year 2025 financial results, fintech revenue—which is overwhelmingly driven by the mobile money ecosystem—surged 17.3% year-on-year to Ush 1.11 trillion ($297 million), up from Ush 947.5 billion the previous year.
This upward trajectory sustained its momentum into the first quarter of 2026, with quarterly fintech revenue advancing another 7.4% to Ush 274.5 billion, despite localized operational challenges including temporary internet disruptions during the January general elections.
The scale of the platform underscores its systemic importance to Uganda’s financial infrastructure. In 2025, MTN Mobile Money processed a total transaction value of Ush 195.5 trillion ($52.8 billion), representing a 23.3% expansion from 2024, across 5 billion individual transactions.
The ecosystem supports 14.7 million active subscribers, linked to a domestic commercial network of approximately 268,300 active agents and 128,500 registered merchants as of early 2026.
A critical priority for the incoming managing director will be the continued scaling of high-margin “advanced services,” which include digital micro-lending, savings products, and merchant payments. These services now contribute 30.6% of total fintech revenue, up from 28.7% in 2024, signaling a structural shift away from basic peer-to-peer transfers toward a broader digital marketplace.
As MTN concludes its Ambition 2025 strategic cycle and eyes deeper regional financial integration, the performance of the mobile money division remains central to sustaining the parent company’s medium-term service revenue growth targets and maintaining an EBITDA margin above the 50% threshold.