By: Fred Yaw SARPONG
The Daily Express
fsarpong@theeventpr.com
MTN Ghana Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of MTN Ghana has an objective of seeking to enhance socio-economic development of Ghanaians and making sure the citizens benefits from their social activities.
Since the foundation was set up in 2007, it has enhanced the brand of MTN Ghana in all areas of their operation especially to lift the image of under-served communities in Ghana.
Apart from the foundation promoting strategic partnerships through good corporate citizenship collaborations with other national/ international partners, its key successes is the partnership it has cemented with the staff of MTN Ghana.
Even though, the Foundation belongs to the staff and they must devote themselves to the activities of the organisation, the effort and enthusiasm they exhibit towards activities of the foundation are remarkable.
One of the objectives of foundation states that “to foster MTN teamwork values among MTN Ghana staff through a proactive engagement.” This means that teamwork from the staff of MTN Ghana has made the foundation more visible to many communities across the country.
“We recognise that our growth and success is inextricably linked to that of our communities. We are passionate about contributing to the social development of these communities through our MTN Foundations, focusing primarily on the digitisation of education,” said the benevolent group.
One of the key activities of the foundation is the introduction of the 21 Days of Y’ello Care, championed by the staff of the company. The 21 Days of Y’ello Care is a voluntary program where all employees of the MTN Group will within that period work voluntarily for a greater purpose: to improve the quality of life in the country they operate, of which Ghana is not an exception.
“Our employees and our customers are part of the same communities. It’s our social responsibility to find ways of uplifting those communities,” MTN Global.
The 21-Days Y’ello Care program is also an initiative as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). MTN Ghana emerged top of the 2010 and 2011 Challenge. The Ghana team won US$100,000 for each year ring-fenced for community projects. Other awards the team won over the years include innovation, integrity, relationship awards, and many more.
Because of the relations the MTN Foundation has with the staff, ICT expertise and resources in the company are used to improve access to education and healthcare, to develop entrepreneurs and enterprises, and identify national priority areas for special attention.
It is important to note that the successes of MTN Foundation and other MTN allies’ services are strong concerted efforts and enthusiasm of the staffs of the leading mobile network operator.
Recently, MTN Ghana recognized some group of people who have helped to champion the activities of MTN Ghana. Apart from MTN Mobile Money Agents, the corporate affairs of the company were recognized for their dedicated works towards the company.
For instance, Madam Gina Asare Fiagbenu, Senior Manager for Corporate Communication and some of her other colleagues like Olivia Mifetu were awarded as the year 2017 comes to an end.
With dedication and hard work, MTN Ghana Foundation can boast of 142 projects which mainly focused on Education, Health and Economic Empowerment. In the educational sector, the company has over 80 individual projects such as ICT and Libraries, dormitories for Senior High Schools (SHS), classrooms for both Junior High Schools and SHSs, scholarships for all educational levels, especially those in tertiary and SHSs as well as Youth Development and Leadership.
Looking at the development in the health sector, the Foundation has over 52 projects across the country, just to improve the health of Ghanaians. One can mention hospitals, adoption of wards and maternity blocks, paying for surgeries of many Ghanaians who are unable to pay for their hospital bills and as well as providing hospital equipment to smaller hospitals (CHPs Compounds) in the country.
Securing job opportunity in Ghana sometimes seems to be difficult. There are a large number of Ghanaians who are not into any gainful employment, especially the teeming youth. The MTN Ghana Foundation has a project dubbed Economic Empowerment, where the foundation equips a group of Ghanaians by providing several assistance to them, so that they can be on their own and be able to earn something for living. The Foundation has done this through micro enterprise, ICT incubation, support women into shea butter production, requisite training for women into oil palm and funding for the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Telecoms.
At a meeting with the Journalists for Business Advocacy (JBA) group in Accra recently, Madam Gina Asare Fiagbenu explained that there are lot of things the Foundation has done just to give back to the society in which they operate.
She mentioned over 1,000 students benefiting from the Foundation’s scholarships, 16 schools built, 21 ICT centers provided, 15 hospitals and health centers, three dormitories, five libraries, three disability projects, 16 incubators donated and six capacity building programs. The others are, six sponsored programs like National Best Teacher Awards and Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) annual awards, provided 25 boreholes in some communities, three enterprise development projects, three business incubation and coding and among other projects.
Gina pointed out that all the 10 regions of Ghana have benefited from the 142 and other projects with over US$13.4 million spent in a period of 10 years of the Foundation’s activities in the country and these activities have impacted millions of Ghanaians directly and indirectly.
She indicated that as the Foundation celebrates its 10 years of operation in Ghana, there are a lot of projects and activities they will consider. “We have a quality board that makes sure that projects we undertake are beneficial to Ghanaians and communities at large,” she stated.
Mrs. Asare Fiagbenu said one of the major projects the Foundation will consider early next year is to offer scholarships to 300 public tertiary students across the country. Every year, the Foundation will offer scholarships to 100 students in a period of three years. The package will cover accommodation, tuition and books.
In order to cement its activities and bring on board every partner, MTN Ghana Foundation makes sure that projects undertaken involves Chiefs, Opinion leaders, government officials, administrators and other stakeholders.
Meanwhile, the company is coming up with a social media campaign dubbed “Ten Good Deeds.” The campaign will require audience to nominate someone who needs a little assistance in their own special circumstances. MTN Foundation will review the entries and pick 10 lucky nominees who will be provided with the assistance that they need. This will be done within a reasonable scope.
Some of the awards won are the Best CSR Company of the Year- Ghana Investment Promotion Council- the annual Ghana Club 100 Awards (2010); Best CSR Award at- 1st Mobile World Ghana Telecoms Awards (2011); Over all Y’ello Care Champion (2010,2011); National Blood Transfusion Service (Highest Corporate Blood Donor); The Africa CSR Award- 18th Africa Achievement Awards (2011); Best Corporate Social Responsibility Award- 2nd Mobile World Ghana Telecom Awards (2012); MTN Heroes of Change as CSR Programme of the Year; Ghana CSR Excellence Awards (CSR Company of the Year 2016); Ghana CSR Excellence Awards (for Sustainability, Environmental and Social Impact (2016); CSR Company of the Year (GITTA) 2017.
The Journalists for Business Advocacy is an affiliate of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and its objective is to equip journalists in the country to promote and advocate for small businesses in the country.
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