From grass to grace, MTN CEO shares how he turned down $150k bonus, yet he still became a CEO

The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh may be in a better place today but certainly, he did not have it easy. He had to make some pretty tough decisions which included turning his back on some 'juicy' offers and giving up his job at a point, so his integrity could be kept intact.

Mr Adadevoh has revealed that he had to turn down a lifetime offer of $150,000 because the job he was being asked to do was against his values.

The CEO made the revelation while speaking on issues of values and principles at the SpringBoard Convocation in Accra, Ghana on March 16, 2019.

According to him, he walked away from a huge $150,000 bonus because it frowned on his values.

“Last year, I walked away from $150,000 bonus because what I had to do did not align to my value. I quit my job in Haiti because I couldn’t take that money from anyone. It did not align to my value, no alternative,” he said.

Recounting the number of times he had to miss on chances to become a millionaire or a more successful person in life, the MTN boss said, “Integrity is the value that made me quit my job. There was a cost to it and that wasn’t my first time. It happened three times in my life where I walked away from becoming a millionaire or something else but because of my values, I stayed broke and today, I’m the happiest person in the world because I have no weight”.

He emphasized on the need to live with values and have integrity. Although challenges which will question one's values may seem unavoidable, it is important that one is disciplined enough to take bold decisions and uphold their principles.

“Success without value is not success, and if you really want to make it in life, you need your values to be what defines what your limit, he said”.

Selorm Adadevoh’s work experience

MTN appointed Mr Selorm Adadevoh as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Ghana.

He took over from Ebenezer Asante who is now the Vice President of the MTN Group.

He was also the Chief Commercial Officer and head of Mobile Financial Services (MFS) for Millicom (Tigo) Ghana.

He brought a wide-ranging skill set to his new role with MTN, including experience in the technology industry where he has leveraged technology innovation to drive P&L /EBITDA improvement.