MultiChoice has employed 200,000 Nigerians in 27 years of operating in Nigeria – Adewunmi Ogunsanya

MultiChoice Nigeria appears to be one of the biggest employers of labour among Nigeria’s private sector players with the employment of 200,000 Nigerians in the last 27 years of entering the Nigerian market.

Its Chairman, Adewunmi Ogunsanya (SAN), revealed this in an interview with ThisDay newspaper on Sunday July 5.

According to Ogunsanya, in the 27 years of MultiChoice existence in Nigeria, it has “employed, directly and indirectly, about 200, 000 Nigerians. Many of them have been top notch. Many of them continue to work for us.”

This is contrary to claims in some quarters that the workforce of the company with its headquarters in South Africa is largely dominated by expatriates and also perceived as a foreign company despite its huge investment in Nigeria and employment of almost 100 percent of Nigerians as its staff.

Ogunsanya said the claim that MultiChoice is a foreign company is based on little or no knowledge of how international business works.

“It’s borne out of a misunderstanding of what it means to be a Nigerian company. MultiChoice Nigeria is a Nigerian company, registered in Nigeria with shareholders from around the globe, including Nigeria,” he said.

He stated that as a Nigerian and one of the shareholders of the company, he believes everything has its roots and like other multinational companies, MultiChoice also originated from South Africa.

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“All multinationals are like that, but this company, the one that I am Chairman of, is a Nigerian company and operates as one. Go across our operations and tell me how many non-Nigerians work there, almost zero,” Ogunsanya said.

He added that he believes there may be more Nigerians working for MultiChoice in other countries than non-Nigerians working for MultiChoice in Nigeria.

Unlike many other multinationals operating in Nigeria with expatriates as their Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), MultiChoice is one of the few multinationals with a Nigerian, John Ugbe, as its CEO. The Group Executive Head of the company’s human resources, Ayo Ajala is also a Nigerian.

Aside from giving more priority to Nigerians on its workforce, Ogunsanya said in the past five years, “MultiChoice Nigeria has contributed around N630 billion to the Nigerian economy, adding value to the society through the contribution of more than N363 billion to the country’s GDP. Investment of N700 million on corporate social investment and over N82 billion invested in the creative industry.”