The man running one of the only profitable state-owned companies in South Africa
Serame Taukobong’s leadership of Telkom has seen the group post a massive rise in earnings following a tough spell, with the group now one of the few profitable state-owned companies in the country.
Taukobong was born in 1970 at the Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto. He attended the Molalatladi Lower Primary School in Soweto, Marist Brothers Sacred Heart, and Marist Brothers St Henry’s in Durban.
He then went on to study at the University of Cape Town, where he finished a BSc degree in chemistry.
Taukobong’s studies didn’t end there, and he completed executive management courses at GIBS IMD in Switzerland, INSEAD in Singapore, and the Wharton School of Business.
His first job was as a lab assistant at Genref Refinery in Durban, where he earned R750 per month.
He worked in the commercial sector, joining Lever Brothers (now known as Unilever) as a marketing assistant.
He continued his rise in business, becoming a marketing manager at SAB and the Chief Marketing Officer of M-Net.
He joined the ICT sector in 2004 when he was appointed MTN Uganda’s Chief Operations Officer. He then held senior roles at MTN Irancell, MTN South Africa, and MTN Ghana.
Following the success of MTN’s “Ayoba” campaign in the 2010 World Cup, Taukobong became affectionately known as “Mr Ayoba,” and won several awards for the campaign.
He moved to Telkom in 2018, where he was appointed CEO of its consumer business.
Despite having private shareholders, Telkom is majority owned by the South African government. It is also one of the few ‘big name’ state companies making a profit.
The government owns 40.51% of Telkom, with the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies serving as the group’s shareholder representative.
The Public Investment Corporation’s total interest in the ordinary shares of Telkom, held on behalf of its clients, now amounts to 10.25%, bringing the state’s overall share to over 50.76%.
Under his leadership, Telkom’s mobile business increased by over 300%. He was then appointed Telkom Group CEO in June 2022.
Strong recent performance
Despite its mobile focus, Taukobong aimed to steer Telkom toward becoming an InfraCo, emphasising the extensive fibre network of Openserve.
Tough decisions were also made to streamline the business, including retrenching over 1,000 staff in 2023 and selling its Swiftnet masts and towers unit.
These tough calls have boosted the group’s earnings, with the latest financial results for the financial year ended 31 March 2025 showing an over 300% rise in earnings.
The PIC’s sale also came just before Telkom announced a massive performance improvement, with the group hitting R7.5 billion in profit in 2025.
The group started paying dividends again, and even declared a special dividend following the sale of Swiftnet for R6.5 billion.
The group cut dividend payments for three years in 2020 to conserve cash and buy much-needed spectrum. However, it required another two years to return cash to shareholders.
In addition to group data revenue remaining strong, implementing several operational strategies led to a massive increase in EBITDA and cash flow growth.
Telkom’s EBITDA rose by 58.7% to R15.9 billion, while its profit for the year increased by nearly 300% to R7.5 billion.
The group’s basic earnings per share jumped by 385.5% to 1,528.1 cents per share, while headline earnings per share rose 44.8% to 544.5 cents per share.
This strong performance continued into the 2026 financial year, with the group expecting 6.5% growth in EBITDA to R2.8 billion.
Taukobong is confident that the group’s strong performance will continue throughout the rest of the financial year. The group’s share price has risen by 58% since the start of the year.
This strong performance has also benefitted Taukobong, who pocketed total remuneration of R33 million, a far cry from his R750 per month when he started.
Financials
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