Irene Charnley

Irene Charnley (born 6 May 1960) is a former trade unionist and businesswoman from South Africa.

Career Charnley first made her mark on the African business community as a negotiator for South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers where she spent 13 years coordinating various divisions of union operations. She went on to become an executive director for the MTN Group, which is Africa's largest telecommunications company. Under her leadership several African and Middle Eastern countries (including Nigeria and Iran) were connected into the MTN network. A more recent award made Charnley one of the top 50 businesswomen outside of the United States.